Released today, Christmas Day, exclusively in Japan, is this handsome new Epiphone.

This is the Tak Matsumoto Signature DC Custom.  Tak is one of Japan’s leading guitarists and he’s managed to wangle this signature model from Epiphone.

It’s based on the popular model from Gibson’s Custom Shop and is a bit special.

Its a double-cut mahogany body with a glued-in mahogany neck.  The neck joint is of the long-tenon type which gives excellent neck/body coupling and contributes to a great tone and longer sustain. The body is bound in multi-ply (w/b/w/b/w/b/w if you must know) binding and the rosewood fingerboard is also bound in white.

Moving up to the headstock, it’s also bound and – as well as the usual Epiphone shape – it features a big Gibson-style split-diamond inlay.  A gold truss rod cover, engraved with Tak Matsumoto, matches the gold plated hardware down at the body end.  As you’d expect, this comprises of a stop tailpiece and tunomatic bridge which look quite rich against the black-finished body.

The pickups are a surprise.  They’re US-made Gibson Burstbuckers.  A Burstbucker 2 at the neck and a 3 at the bridge.  They’re tied to individual volume controls and a master tone.  The usual three-way toggle handles switching.

Other nice touches are straplock buttons and some vintage-looking snot-green tuners.  Very nice.

The guitar ships with a Tak Matsumoto branded hard-case and a certificate of authenticity.

No word just yet on pricing but Epiphone tout an ‘affordable price point’.