This elegant thing is definitely a keeper! One of the classiest Matsumoku 335 clones I've laid hands on. The flaws on this jewel are few and small. There is a bit of binding separation on the fingerboard on the bass side of the very upper registers. A few small dings, and the normal polishing swirls, but otherwise extremely clean. The bridge and tailpiece were rather pitted and the plating worn off down to the cast in a few places. With a little careful fine sanding and a good bit of polishing I was able to hide nearly all of it, although some portions of the hardware now appear both gold and nickel.

The pickups were as to be expected for an instrument of this age, and the output was in the same range as a Gibson of the period. The one thing I didn't like about them was they were not nearly as warm as you would expect for a hollow body. To maintain the aged appearance I removed the covers from the original pickups and fit them to a pair of older Schaller (or Mighty Mite) pickups and then dipped them to reduce feedback. It now has that wonderful warm, bassy sound I love in the neck position, yet still has enough bite in the bridge position to satisfy most Teddy fans. The neck is absolutely perfect. Thin yet not too narrow. The body is rather resonant for being blocked and has no trouble with natural harmonic sustain. I wonder why they went to the trouble of booking the flame maple, but didn't match it? No big deal, it's still gorgeous!

The knobs that came with it were those cheapy looking amber bell knobs. I never liked them because it felt like I wasn't making positive contact with the knob, no matter how tight I gripped it. StewMac has some new ones that are a nice cross between Strat and Gibson tophats but with the knurled rubber grip like the old Yamaha knobs of the 80s. I think they go well with the classic looks of a hollow body.