A Pair of Belters ~ Mogwai's 1967 Fender Coronados - Retro Twinset

Mogwai have been championing the cause of instrumental post-rock since 1995. As a band whose signature sound is constructed mainly of complex driving guitar tones and thunderous melodic bass lines, it'll come as no surprise to you that they possess quite an armoury of amazing instruments.

Always ready to spring into sonic excellence at the insertion of a jack plug, they are after all, as Chuck Berry was fond of pointing out, tax deductable!

What we have here are 2 Fender Coronados, a 6 string and a matching 12 string variant, both dating from 1967. The Coronado was designed by Roger Rossmeisl, who had previously also designed instruments for Rickenbacker.

He went on to create numerous models for Fender, in an attempt to capitalize on the  popularity of semi-acoustic guitars following the high-profile use of instruments, such as the Epiphone Casino and  the various models Gretsch guitars by bands such as The Beatles.

These Coronados are not often seen, certainly not in such great condition and a brace of 6 string and 12 string guitars is even more rare. 

Truth be told they didn't need much work. The 6 string was a bit rattly and buzzy souding so that needed more attention than the 12 string. Both instruments went through our standard setup process that every guitar receives in our workshop.

We gave them a general clean, polished the frets, adjusted the truss rod , action and pickup height for optimum performance and playability.

Following a restring they sounded and played great.The 6 string needed the most work  as there were a few rattles to diagnose and  take care of. The plastic pickup surrounds were quite brittle so we had to be careful.

We decided to insert some ultra thin neoprene foam under these pickup surrounds to help reduce any possible rattle here. The tailpiece mounting rubbers had hardened up over the half century or so since manufacture so we utilised a similar approach here.

The bridge though not quite as nasty as Fender's Jaguar/Jazzmaster effort is definitely from the same drawing board so we had to carry out a semi permanent solution here to stop the front or rear edges of the bridge channel fouling the strings. The solution worked a treat.

The pickup magnets were so powerful on this guitar that they were having an effect on the heavier mass strings, creating a most unpleasant and ill balanced surging sound when amplified.

Usefully the pole pieces for each string were independently adjustable so this was dialled out by some judicious use of a screwdriver.

So there you have them...all gig ready and prepared for their live appearance on stage with Stuart this summer. 

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