Another pawn shop axe, this neck-thru Skylark still remains somewhat of a mystery. I am 75% positive it was made by Matsumoku for a number of reasons. First the active circuit is identical to the high end Aria Pro II Thor Sound series and the manufacturing techniques look to be the same. Unfortunately, some YoYo had dorked with the active circuit and I have no idea how it was originally wired. I am using the stepdown transformer in the circuit to bleed the highs back into the signal when the rotary tone switch is used. (I need a schematic or diagram for the Aria Pro II TS or RS to fix it). The bridge is a Ray Bridge like the Cardinals except that the saddle screws are centered, not offset. The battery compartment is in the exact same location as the Thor Sound.

I have since been in contact with two other Skylark owners and between the three of us we have hammered out that the guitar was made by Matsumoku and it was distributed through the JC Penney Catalog. Originally a batch was made for one of the large music mail order houses but the deal fell through. The buyer for JC Penney bought the entire lot sight unseen. That was the first and last of the Skylarks. There was at least one bolt-neck model, a set-neck model, and a neck-through model (such as this one). It has definitely turned out to be a rare bird indeed! I love this kind of mystery.

Update: Thanks to rich_daddy_65 on the message board he gave me enough to go on to return the wiring and preamp to stock and the preamp still works! I have no idea why Frankenstein decided to scramble things in there, but it's back to 100% now! Thanks for all the help DD65!