Worker Man's Les Paul Jr: The Maxitone Story
Maxitone LP Jr P90 thing
So here's a guitar I wasn't expecting to see on my bench. Maxitone was to its time what Harley Benton is to this modern time, and this guitar is the beginning of a project that will develop slowly over the next posts, which in my parallel universe could mean weeks, months or even years, who knows.
Like I always say, I'm not a guitar historian, nor do I have hidden erections to become one, so what I share here is only my two cents. If I'm wrong and you can't just stop rolling your eyes, please share your knowledge and I'll pat you on the head like a good golden retriever, deal?
So, as far as I know, Maxitone was a house brand for a music shop. We're talking 60s to 70s timing here, and these were cheaper, budget instruments made in Japan, you know, the country where all things got made, the cheap source of mass produced items, sounds familiar yet? So this music shop decided to sell their own instruments as an option to the more familiar names, these guitars being nothing but copies of the big names, Gibson, Fender and the likes, does that sound familiar too? Couldn't find much info on this model in particular, but as you can clearly see it's a Les Paul Jr or Double Cut Special copy, clearly modified for mass production, hence the bolt-on neck. The body to my eye seems to be birch, a wood known to be used in Japan at the time, probably just what was available to them. Fretboard though seems to be rosewood, maybe Brazilian (likely Indian), because back in the day I guess people just thought those trees would grow back fast like sugar cane or something. Neck maybe laminated maple.
Maxitone LP Jr P90 thing
The guitar wasn't heavy at all, the neck quite comfortable, very Gibson-like to be honest, very 60s. The ergonomics of the instrument are just LP Jr, DC Special style comfort. Mind you, this guitar came in to have a Bigsby tremolo (vibrola, fuck I still hate that word so much) removed and a tailpiece added, but most probably this guitar had a wraparound setup back in the day. Most likely has a polyester finish, forgot to test that so can't verify. For its age these frets seem too big, so maybe it was refretted at some point. I've seen old cheap shitty guitars, many, perhaps way too many, but this one's alright, nothing to bitch about honestly.
Like I said before, in terms of hardware this guitar came in to have a licensed Bigsby removed, so my guess is a wraparound was the original bridge, therefore I can't comment on what's on it right now because that's not part of the review. But thinking deeper, a wraparound can't be the original bridge because of the post location, so originally this guitar must have had a tune-o-matic, but I just can't imagine what else besides that. Tuners on the other hand look cheap, but they do their job, so even that was fine for the time.
Electronics are very cheap indeed, cheap pots, cheap capacitors, keeping to the book of staying as cheap as possible, but if you pay attention those are PVC wires, and that's not right for the age of this guitar. Soldering points look shiny too, so something happened here, can't figure out what to be honest, but because of the PVC wires this guitar has to be more like from the 70s.
Pickups were good, not magically good, but good nevertheless, balanced and articulated, with character. I wouldn't change them, but again can't say if they're original either, there were no markings on the bottom of them. Why didn't I take a picture of this? So how do I remember they didn't have markings? Is the coffee machine on? Is the fleshlight in the washing machine?
This is the part where I put on cowboy boots with very pointy tips and start kicking some balls. So today we, musicians, guitar players, cork sniffers and wild pigs, we all want to believe that made in China is bad, that house brand budget instruments are only good for people "learning," or those on a pension, or whatever. Yet we all have the balls to say that Japan makes probably the best guitars in the world, and then guitars like this Maxitone become a cult thing.
My point is, stop believing your Custom Shop Smurf Lab or Japan All Abalone Galore is the top of the food chain, stop believing that where the CNC sits dictates the quality of the instrument. A cheap guitar can be the jewel that unlocks your passion to a new level, the ones from the past and the ones you can buy today. And at the same time, a five figure guitar can just hang on the wall saying nothing back to you, and you just can't get past the fact that even though the guitar's supposed to transform you into Goku Super Saiyan Blue, it doesn't, because it's a thing, and things have no soul. Sure, your high brow collection is great, and if you can afford it, then that's amazing, but stop living for comments, filling Reddit with your cork sniffing superiority complex, because when you press enter, the joke's on you.
Maxitone LP Jr P90 thing
So with all that rage out of my system, I'll finish the post saying this is a good guitar. If you can find one around, it might be a good option, assuming you get it for the right money, just don't inflate the cult price paying some ridiculous amount, it is indeed a working man's fun tool... Use what you have, and have what you use.
