Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Kawai Aquarius Flyer 1983

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  1. althoffmMay 22, 2010 at 2:01 AM

    Dear Bertram,

    I am an owner of a Kawai Aquarius which I bought one 2nd hand in 1989 in a small guitar shop in Berlin (then still called West-Berlin).

    Thanks to your blog I was able to identify & "date" my Kawai as a AQ-500 model in LPQ from 1983.

    The guitar is currently not in mint condition and needs complete overhauling. It has been resting in its case for quite some time, only to be used as a "back-up" to my primary guitar, which is a Ibanez 540S.

    I always loved the sound of the Kawai, especially with the ability to switch the 3 humbuckers as much as you like. You get quite a distinctive tone. The main problem I had was to keep the tuning stable / in tone.

    Beginning of the 90ies I exchanged the mechanics in order to try improving the slightly instable tuning and I also modified the electronics myself, changed the old switches and replaced some of the wires.

    I also committed the "faux-pas" to cover the pick-guard and the neck-plate with plastic foil (Yes, me idiot! Those things you make and consider "cool", when you are young). Of course the foil did not go off very well recently, having been stuck to the guitar for nearly 15 years.

    So, having seen Sven's Kawai on your blog my plan is to rebuild the guitar, strip the body from the lake-placid blue, have it looked after by a guitar-builder in my region.

    I am trying to find you some old pictures that I took from the "original" look, when I bought the guitar in 1989. I will certainly SPARE you the picture of the beauty in its current disassembled state.

    All for now,
    Martin

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