Shaftesbury has been the house brand name for Rose Morris from the '60s to the present day. Guitars were sourced from both Japan and Italy. This is the Model 3402 which was first listed around 1970-71 but soon discontinued. Online information suggests that it was made in Japan by Matsumoku who were probably also producing similar instruments for other brands. The body is a very accurate copy of the DA with an arm bevel and a fairly tight lower cutaway which can be awkward when trying to get at the top frets. The 24 fret neck is of laminated construction with an "open book" type headstock rather than the offset of the original. Tuners are the original and work well. The fingerboard is rosewood with dot markers. Frets are in very good shape with little wear and the action is nice and slinky.

From what I can find out it seems that the pickups were made by Maxon and although humbucker-sized are actually single coil. Selection is by a three position toggle switch into single volume and tone controls. The tuneomatic bridge is now a roller type and was probably changed because the original mazak one fell apart! It looks to me as if the tailpiece has also been changed along with the knobs. The chrome on these is in very good condition. The formica scratchplate is original and does not suffer from cracking as is quite common.

Condition is excellent with only one serious scratch on the arm bevel. I have tried to photograph it but it's quite hard to do with a transparent guitar! There is a non-original hard case with the guitar which is better quality than the ones usually supplied with Japanese guitars of this era.

This is a genuine vintage Japanese guitar with only the changes I have mentioned above, for sale at a realistic price.

Please get in touch if you have any questions. Thanks for looking and please have a look at my other items.

I had a question from someone suggesting this was made in Italy. My reply is below.