Can we bring back to life a Woolworths 'Top Twenty' guitar as used by Robert Smith of The Cure?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

here we go playing it! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fanGdaWee9uAa80

[@robt5818]

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed seeing a "less expensive" guitar treated with such respect.

[@jasonbannan4024]

Wow, I love the care you gave it without modification. A bit of history. I hope you enjoy it.

[@NeuroplasticityReprogram]

Sounds excellent. Much better than exepected. Nice playing! & Great Work on the restoration! Did not know Robert used one of these pickups in his JazzMaster. That's absolutely fascinating.

[@paulhancock7670]

I had one same as that in early 70's, brand name was Zenta, and was a Woolies special. Thanks for the memories :)

[@DavidMorgan-e1s]

Bought one of these in a charity shop 6 years ago .Cleaned the contacts on the Jack socket and it worked . Sold it for £100

[@Kennykibble]

1st guitar I ever bought in 1995 for £20. Weirdly find memories of it

[@nissesguitars]

So cool! Just recently picked up a beat up '74 Teisco SG that I want to bring back to life. Your video has been extremely helpful, thank you! 🤘😎🤘

[@jeremyacton4569]

I have a near mint one of these, which was sold in South Africa with the 'Vibromatic' brand on the headstock. These pickups are KILLER through a fuzz pedal. Thanks for a cool video.

[@MarkyGuitar-dv8wm]

Hi Matt, Mark (Vendemmian) here. I just recently got back into playing and also restoring cheap and cheerful pieces of junk guitars, so have been watching a few videos like this and hence your vid came up as recommended! Glad i found it as was really good. Good to see you, hope your all good! Best wishes! :-)

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Cheers buddy. Glad your back playing again. Since lockdown I have been doing more with a soldering iron than a guitar!!!

[@MarkyGuitar-dv8wm]

@@MatthewNorthMusic Yes saw your other videos (not watched yet but will).

[@TomTobin67]

When I'm working on a guitar, I keep the parts in a biscuit tin. You get a big one and it can hold everything.

[@jamestaylor3715]

SHE BREATHS!!! hahaha This has made my day man I’m so glad to see this dude 💕

[@ianthomson9363]

I have one of these- I think it's exactly the same model. I bought it from a friend about 20 years ago, gave it a clean and it looks almost new. It even has the trem arm and cover! It has no name on the headstock and I've always referred to it as an Audition, as sold in Woolworths, but I suspect it originally had a 'Top Twenty' sticker. It sounds good, it plays surprisingly well with no fret wear even after around 50 years, and it's very light- ideal for long gigs!

[@benlogan430]

Mines marked Decca and it’s the reverse (long horn on bottom) with one middle pup. Same bridge, pups, neck and scratch plate. Cool guitars that sound dang good too!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

There are loads of them with different branding.

[@rogersilcox524]

I had that exact guitar from Woolies.

[@ralphbenites1819]

So cool.I’ve got a teisco del Rey with spectrum pick ups two hopefully to get it playing again Thay made matching drum kits to

[@davidmotoole]

Another KZbin creator suggested using a bridge for Jaguar, Mustang or Jazzmaster guitar to allow you to fine tune intonation on a top twenty or similar MIJ guitar. I have a few of them and will be trying out this modification.

[@stevescutt2865]

Hahaha very nice ! Nice rendition of 3 imaginaary boys too. Woolworths Top 20 guitar lives again !!

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

It does!

[@fleadoggreen9062]

Really cool show

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

thank you.

[@PatriceBlondet]

Great video. I have very little knowledge about electric guitars (I prefer acoustic ones) but I had a lot of fun watching you cleaning this guitar.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Thank you it was good fun to do

[@mikethebloodthirsty]

I just acquired one of these, jesus, I thought mine was in bad condition!. I just cleaned it, and made a new scratchplate. This looks like someone had used it as a shovel.

[@CTBAB]

Great video, thanks for posting. Do you remember which capacitor you used? I believe you said you would use 220 nanofarad but wanted to doublecheck. I just bought a few of those pickups. Thanks.

[@MrFlint51]

I have a very similar guitar with the name Vision; however the tuners kept slipping and the intonation was awful. I changed the bridge for a Strat type with no tremolo arm and individual tuners

[@tracyc7813]

This video makes me want to find one for myself then put a Jazzmaster pickup in the middle.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Haha good call

[@BeesWaxMinder]

Really like ya playin' too!

[@mrskint55]

I had a semi acoustic guitar from woolies I think It was 1971 when I bought it and it cost £21 ,I often wonder if someone has it ,and if it’s still playable.

[@MichaelSmith-rn1qw]

I have a very similar guitar with the Sorrento brand name. I posted pictures on thefenderforum, if interested I can provide a link.

[@DK_9035SB]

isnt that the store in O Brother?

[@bronzesnake7004]

Hey Mat. Just subbed! I actually have the twin to that wee bugger, same condition with one exception, my scratch plate looks like one of those albums people heated in an oven and molded into a keys n candy dish in the 1970's after smoking a bag of weed! You've inspired me to bust it out of storage and bring her back to life! Cheers from Canada brother! Jack ~'()'~

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

My pleasure

[@timblissATT]

Nice one! I love breathing new life into old guitars. Unusual pot values, would have expected a much darker tone.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Volume pots don't affect tone. These were just what we're on the guitar not original but they work !

[@goodun2974]

​@@MatthewNorthMusic, actually, the resistance values of pots CAN effect the tone: The lower the value of the pot the more it tends to interact with the tone control capacitor and the natural capacitance and inductance of the pickups, rolling off some high frequencies. 250k to 500K are far more commonly used as guitar controls. Low value pots also tend to load down the pickups and reduce their output somewhat album. These particular pickups might, however, be less sensitive to potentiometer loading than others.

[@goodun2974]

​@@MatthewNorthMusic, ps, nice job on the switch repair; as an audio repair tech (now retired), I used to repair old "unobtanium" switches frequently. Just one caution ---- superglue works poorly with some plastics such as nylon and polyethylene, therefore it's a good idea to bridge and reinforce the glue joint in some fashion, perhaps with staples or a piece of solid wire (cut-off component lead) melted into the plastic with a soldering iron or by using a hot air pencil to fuse the plastic together along the seams where it was broken. This does require a light handed touch, which you appear to have. When removing old rusty screws it really helps to take a sharp dental pick and scrape out any rust and debris clogging up the screwheads, so that your screwdriver will make a better fit with them, especially because they may have already been chewed up by the previous repair/modification "technician". Also, because this is a Japanese guitar, the Phillips screws might not be a standard American or European Phillips but could instead be JIS, Japanese Industrial Standard specification, which "look like" a Phillips screw but have a different angle and shallower depth. This is something that, I am told, people who work on Japanese motorcycles have often discovered the hard way after stripping out the screws holding the carburetor in place!. A lot of Japanese Hi-Fi equipment from the 1960s through the 80s was constructed with JIS screws as well which are sometimes, but not always, identified with a little dot or divot pressed into the screwhead. Anyway, people who aren't Japanese motorcycle mechanics probably don't keep a pair of special JIS-specific screwdrivers (Vessel is the best known brand) in their toolbox, and so in a case like this you should try several different screwdrivers (making sure they don't have chewed tips) and see which one makes the best fit with the screws. I found one particular Milwaukee brand impact-drive-rated Phillips bit that makes a particularly good fit with JIS screws.... And I always remove and replace tiny screws like this by hand and not with a cordless screwdriver. I hate having to drill them out, especially when they're passing through a piece of plastic that could easily be melted by the friction heat of a drill bit. I have several methods for removing chewed up screws with stripped out heads, but that's almost a separate book in and of itself! By the way, Gorilla Glue, in my experience, is more of a marketing triumph than a chemical-engineering triumph, and I've not generally been impressed by their products. If you want some really good CA glues, try Titebond (available in Water-thin and Medium viscosity), or "Hot Stuff" by Satellite City. Devcon and Loctite also make good "superglue".....

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

All good info thank you

[@goodun2974]

@@MatthewNorthMusic , you're welcome! It's worth noting that players like Ry Cooder and David Lindley discovered that these cheap Japanese guitars, and especially the pickups, have a distinctive tone that you don't get from Strats or Les Pauls. Lindley was often seen onstage with mutant Teisco guitars with 3 or 4 pickups and switching that looks like it would be appropriate on a juice blender (he also frequently played Danelectro and Supro/National/Airline guitars on stage). Cooder was putting gold-foil pickups into the neck position of his Strats at least a decade before anyone else (and a lap-steel pickup in the bridge position ---- do a little research into the history of the "Coodercaster", which other players have also adopted and built). Granted, they're not really suited for metal or high gain rock, but their tone can really cut through a mix, even onstage in a full band (check out the 3 full length concerts of Lindley with his raucous reggae-rock band ElRayo-X on KZbin for a look and listen at his favorite pawnshop specials in a loud live-band setting). These guys may have had the pickups wax-potted to reduce microphonics.....

[@JasonBromleyMusic]

Great vid...thanks so much 👍

[@flamingseven8447]

Need one of those pickups ,Anyone help me out?

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

They sell for stupid money on eBay at the moment.

[@danton8302]

@flamingseven8447 I've got a set they, could do with refurbishment, if you're still interested?

[@flamingseven8447]

How mch are you asking ?@@danton8302

[@silverwings1843]

So strange the the gold foil pickups of the 60s Japanese guitars have a following now.

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

It's the Robert Smith factor they do sound good on clean tone I wouldn't use them on a high gain overdrive will just feedback and not in a nice way

[@goodun2974]

​@@MatthewNorthMusic, a decade or more before anyone ever heard of Robert Smith, Ry Cooder was putting gold foil pickups pulled from Japanese guitars in the neck position of his Strats (and a string-through lap steel pickup for the bridge position). Google "Coodercaster", or look it up on KZbin where you'll find several videos about them.

[@marchughes6161]

‘Grendel’ 😂

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Dilly Dilly silly Billy 😊😅

[@marchughes6161]

‘Fugazi’ !

[@dogzillamonster]

Am guessing these were Woolies Specials too :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYbLeYdmfdJ6l8U

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

Same guitar different pickups

[@dogzillamonster]

@@MatthewNorthMusic Very similar, yes. Different pickups but different bridges too. I want to save the first one for just sentimental reasons, may need to transfer a few things across, possibly the neck for a better nut and/or those tuners too, to make my sentimental original work as best as possible. Thanks for any input and ideas about what to do. The bridge on the first one looks like a bit of a nightmare, it may not be authentic.

[@redmodpedals9100]

thise are oretty strage values fir guitar pot

[@MatthewNorthMusic]

But you know what it really doesn't make a lot of difference

[@redmodpedals9100]

@@MatthewNorthMusic they will wark he sound quite a bit, cutting out many frequencies, maybe it's because the pickups are quite bright