Duo.

Yep, it's two for one day here on the blog. Since I mentioned the other day I was having a bit of "fun" restringing my guitars I figured I might as well post some pics of them.



On the left we have an Aria Pro II TS-300 Thor Sound. Why they went with the name Thor Sound is something I don't know. This is apparently a 1980 instrument given the K80 serial number, and came from the now defunct Matsumoku guitar factory in Matsumoto, Japan. Despite its appearance this is actually a bolt on neck guitar, and was the low end of the Thor Sound range, which also had glued neck and neck through models. I bought if off eBay some years ago from a seller in Florida.

On the right we have my long time companion, a Fender Japan '57 Reissue style Stratocaster. I bought it from Saskatoon's The Music Box way back in 1987, so it dates from somewhere in the 1985 to 1987 range. These guitars were made for Fender by Fujigen Gakki, probably the best known Japanese guitar plant and makers of instruments for Ibanez and Greco amongst others. It was supposedly used when I bought it, so I have no idea if the pickups are stock or not. (Music Box eventually became the Saskatoon outlet of Long and McQuade.)



Here's a closer shot of the bodies. The sticker on the Strat's pickguard is of Homer Simpson, and came out of a bag of Hostess chips probably a decade or more ago. Too bad you can't see the see through quality of the finish on the TS-300, which shows off some nice wood.



And here are the headstocks, with the Thor Sound logo clearly visible.