Vantage VA900, made in Japan 1981. Here we have a whole lot of MIJ craftsmanship and a little dose of madness all worked into one glorious whole. Vantage was a 'house brand' of the famed Matsumoku plant; they were around from the late 70s to the early 80s and put out some pretty sweet musical machines. The VA900 was the top of the line, fully loaded flagship model; this was definitely an expensive guitar in it's day. First up, the neck: this has a terrific 24-fret, 12"radius five piece maple/walnut sandwich combo neck. It's very stable, fairly slim without being impractical and extremely quick in the hands. The peculiar wide horns and neck-thru construction mean access to the high frets is smooth and easy; handy for all your excessive 80s lead lines. The dark stained ash with a matte finish was the height of luxury and sophistication in it's day; these days it still looks classy in a retro-shred gaudy kind of way. We had to arrange some electrical patch up work on this one; it's got a tidy pair of PAF humbuckers, both splittable to single coil (the bridge one even splits to either coil on a 3-way switch); so there's eleven different combos available using the pickups and switching currently on deck. The active circuitry has been long since removed, so you're left with the delightfully rich and thick tone of some vintage voiced passive humbuckers and a big old slab of ash and maple... juicy. This would surely add some heft to your recordings or a little WTF-coolness to your live show... it has many ad-Vantages. (oh gosh, sorry!)

Model: Vintage VA900
Made: Japan, Matsumoku plant, 1981 (serial 1120663)
Finish: matte oak
Body: ash wings, maple/walnut 5-piece centre
Neck: 5piece maple/walnut combo, neck-thru, 12" radius, 25.5" scale
Weight: 4.015kg
Pickups: G&B PAF style covered humbucker x2, 7.9k(n) & 8.4k(b) ohms
Mods: tuners replaced, pickups replaced, active circuitry removed, re-wired with new splitting switches, knobs replaced
Case: none

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. Headstock has a minor chip on the end and bottom edge and some light dimples on the front. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples on the back only. The back has a couple of notable scratches near the battery cover and top edge as well as some minor scuffs around the place, nothing nasty. The sides have a few dimples on the shoulder, near the jack and on the bottom horn, no major marks. The front is pretty tidy, just some light dimples behind the bridge and near the shoulder and some play scratches on the horns. Overall: very good condition (8/10).

Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Frets have some normal wear, inc the start of some minor pitting, but there's no major buzz issues and they don't need immediate attention, 6/10 for fret life left. Wearing fresh 10-52 Moonshiners strings.