Marchis SG - Made in Japan Gibson SG Copy - 'Lawsuit Era' 1970's Guitar - Day 1

Day 1 - Aquisition

I have been looking for a 'project guitar' for a while, something that was in rough shape that I could fix up and bring back to its former glory. I am, by no means a professional luthier, I have no qualifications, but I can setup a guitar pretty good and I learn real fast, so I was looking for a hobby guitar work on and fool around with and maybe re-sell at a profit. I had read that MIJ (Made in Japan) guitars were some of the better vintage copies of the Gibson and Fender brands out there, particularly the 'lawsuit era' guitars. Guitars that were made to Gibson and Fender specs, particularly by the Ibanez company but as they used the same headstocks and similar logos. They were eventually sued by Gibson to cease and desist making these instruments, they did and Ibanez guitars turned into that they are today. And so the 'Lawsuit Era' guitar was created. Some, but not all MIJ guitars are 'lawsuit era' guitars, so the motto here is buyer beware.

I found a guy in the classifieds, selling a 'black and red guitar' - $100. With a barely in-focus shot of someone holding an SG type guitar, with 'Marchis' on the headstock. That was it.

Marchis headstock with the signature Gibson 'Open Book'.

I did a little research and found next to nothing about the guitar manufacturer, all I could find for sure was it seemed to have been a Japanese manufacturer from the 70's, perhaps connected to the Fujigen, Dyna or Matsumoko factories - but no confirmation on that. What limited info I could find (I didn't find much), some people said they were 'Brilliant Japanese workmanship', another said a popular artist used one, so they 'can't be that bad'. OK, well with all that I contacted the guy to see if I could take a closer look - I had pretty much decided if it had 'Made in Japan' stamped on the neck plate that I'd buy it.

In the original 'blurry' picture it had some awful bullet hole decals stuck to the guitar and in my experience this is usually done by the previous owner to hide some defect, so I'd have to check that out when I got there, there was also something going on at the 'nut' of the guitar that I couldn't make out in the photo, I took another mental note to make sure I checked that out.

I arrive at the guys house, he seemed nice enough, his knowledge of the guitar was lacking, he bought it a long time ago, didn't play it much, he had no idea how old it was or where it came from, it sounded like he bought it at a pawn store. First thing I asked "What about these decals?" I asked.

The bullet decal, covering a hole.
Also notice the input jack missing a washer.

"Oh those? ermm - I think one is covering up a hole, I think someone moved the jack input for some reason, wasn't me, it was like that with the decals when I bought it".

Weird...

"Why would they do that do you think?"

He just shrugged.

OK...

The nut had what looked like a band aid stuck under it for some reason, the room was dimly lit, so it was hard to really tell (and I forgot my glasses...darn it!). It was just the nut, so easy fix.

It looked like a Gibson SG - just like one, exactly like one, I turned it over and the neck plate had 'Made in Japan' stamped right on it. Score! Could be onto a winner here. However, she was in bad shape, I knew there was a hole under the decal, the bridge was rusted, the nut had some kind of injury that needed what someone thought was and there was the usual dents and dings, around the guitar and nastier scratch with what looked to be a burn mark on the back. It was in rough shape, but nothing I couldn't handle, right?

The surgically repaired nut.

"Best I can give you is $40..."

"Yeh, OK man - whatever you want..."

So out I walked with a slightly mistreated and abused 'Made in Japan' Marchis SG for 40 bucks. It had been what I thought at the time, a good deal... how wrong I was.

Marchis SG - looks just like a Gibson SG...right?