The PE series was an attempt to modernise the Les Paul shape and style and the Matsumoku factory put a lot of effort into making these to the best quality possible.
Catching the eye of Neal Schon in the early 1980's, a PE model was featured in many live Journey performances during their Japan tours. There are some rumours that following these shows Aria Pro II produced a few guitars for Schon that featured a genuine Floyd Rose in the same way as his modified Gibson Les Paul Deluxe did. While there's no way we can confirm whether this is one of those guitars built for Schon, we did received a two of them at the same time from the same source in Japan with very professional Floyd Rose installations that appear to possibly be from the Matsumoku factory as pictured.
As for the guitar itself, it's a PE-R80 featuring a "Japan Brown" finish on a mahogany body with a maple top and back set to a maple neck with a 22 fret striped rosewood fingerboard (628mm scale length, 43mm nut width), weighs 4.1kg's.
Loaded with the original MMK-75 humbuckers (only used in the highest end Matsumoku guitars) controlled by two volume and two tone knobs, a three-way selector and a pair of "dual sound" mini toggles. The Floyd Rose tremolo system and locking nut are both vintage models as pictured and the rest of the hardware appears all original.
Very good vintage condition as pictured with only basic signs of wear for a 40 year old guitar. The neck is straight and the frets are shiny and play smoothly with some light pitting/playwear. Perfect for a Journey collector, a player, or a detective that wants to research the history!
