Built by Arai/Matsumoku about the same time as the Lyle, it sounds and resonates very much like it. This was another like the Lyle with the truss rod twisted loose by He-Man. The broken truss rod was only the beginning of the adventure!

Chapter one: I spoiled myself and ordered a Warmoth neck for it. They come in unfinished and I decided to blackface it like the original. Three coats of stain, and six coats of clear nitro and it was ready for the blackface. I tested for reactions on a scrap piece of wood with success. I laid down the first 3 coats of black lacquer and left it to set. When I came back I found I had just done the headstock in "wrinkle paint" with a bonus "crackle" to it! I managed to circumvent the problem with a good coat of gray primer.

Chapter two: As I was trimming the neck pocket to accept the wider heel, Bear, my cat jumped up on the workbench at the precise moment I was shaving a layer. As he stepped on the Dremel it shot to Indy 500 RPM and the sanding drum put a real nice flare to the edge of the pocket! No, I did NOT kill the cat, but I sure cussed up a storm.

Chapter three: Finally together after one bad pot and two re-wires! As I adjusted the skew of the neck I heard and felt ,to my horror, one of the neck screws "pop". As I began to drill out the broken screw tip for an easy-out, the bit shattered, and the neck flipped up out of my grip and crashed horribly. Dented blackface, broken tuner, and worst yet, a corner of the rosewood broken off right up to the 24th fret! The potty-mouth ran for an hour! With some rosewood sawdust, epoxy, and a tuner, it now lives as "Hell Guitar!"