MAKO TJ-2 Traditional

I don't know when this guitar was made. I picked it up at a flea market and it needed work. I paid fifteen bucks.
It has the flying v shape with an asymetrical v, i.e. it is more like a checkmark.
It has two humbuckers and a 3 way switch as in a Les Paul configuration.
The tremolo is a dive bomber, unless I remove springs, but since it has a hocky stick head, and the strings go from the nut slots to the pegs at an angle, I dont think it will go back in tune very well when used until it is used for a long time, or has slot filing done.
The finish is silver and the neck is set in , not bolt on.
It has Grover pegs, one was not complete, and I will replace it.
The fingerboard is flat, and this is a very fast neck that allows playing at high registers because of the v shape. The notes played at the high positions are well articulated and clear.

This guitar has a great angry sound. When played clean it has alot of headroom, great dynamic range and really, for a cheaply made instrument, it has a great sound, and it plays easily.

Since I bought the guitar for only 15 dollars at a flea market, I wasnt worried about the fit and finish. I just wanted to get it home, take it apart and fix it so I could play it.

The guitar seems very reliable but the tremolo is cheap and not very smooth. I have tremolos on other guitars that are much better, so who cares. I just like to rip on this guitar and it lets me do that.

Company is defunct. At this point and for this price I am on my own. Fine with me.

I have been playing for 32 years. I have about 13 electric guitars, including Fender Strats, Jag, Jazzmaster, G&L Comanche, Ovation 6 and 12 string deacons, Ibanez JS1000, and a few cheapies like this one, which I love to fix and set up. I like to take junk and make it sound great.
This guitar is great because I dont worry about it, If someone steals it, good luck to them. I dont have to worry about scratching it, or handling it with kid gloves.
The problem with spending near 1000 bucks for any guitar, is you worry about it too much. And this gets in the way of good fun playing.
Cheapies like this make guitar playing more fun, because they are very well made and inexpensive.

This one is a Randy Rhoads style based on the Jackson model and it's all stock except for the strings. I bought it new in 1987 for $400.00. I don't know where Mako is manufactured as this is the only one I've ever personally dealt with. It's got a 22-fret, neck-through-body, with a 25 1/2" scale. I'm not sure what wood was used in the neck and body, but it's got a rosewood fretboard. The tuning machines are Grover mini's, 6-inline. The electronics are all Dimarzio from pots to pickups. The pickups themselves are dual Super Distortions in the neck and bridge positions. It has a grey-silver finish with red pinstripes designed exactly like Randy's. It has a Fender-style vintage tremolo bridge and a three way selector, one volume, and two tone controls.

When I purchased this guitar I was a die hard Ace Frehley fanatic and was just starting to experiment with Randy Rhoads' incredible style. The Super Distortions work good for the Frehley style except that these types of guitars don't really have the swampy bottom end like a Les Paul. This is okay if you're also trying to achieve more of a treble sound like Rhoads. Over all, it offers the best of both worlds. I don't use this guitar much anymore since my own individual style has changed over the years....I mainly use a Strat these days. Even though I can't say I'm a Mako fan, this guitar is definitly first rate and has served me well over the years without any major work....just your basic set up from year to year.

This was my first real electric, so even if I could remember how well it was factory set up, my opinion wouldn't really count. I've played a lot of different guitars over the years and I can say that this one is as good quality as any of them. I use 10-42 strings with a fairly medium action (about .010") which works well for this guitar. It's a very fluid feeling guitar and it doesn't make you work that hard to pull some really good bluesy lead licks out of it. It also has a good solid tone for any of the above mentioned artists, as well as some of the newer guys, i.e Zakk Wylde, etc.

I've used this guitar extensively for home recording, live playing, and everything else in between. It's got it's battle scars, but over all the finish is still good, it hasn't been abused or thrown around, and the electronics are in real good shape. The frets, as you can imagine, are a little worn, but not that bad. It's never let me down, with or without a backup. About the only modification I would make to it if I were inclined would be to add a set of strap locks.

Never dealt with the company.

I've pretty much expained all this above, but for one last thing. Ultimately, you have to play several guitars to really find what will suit your style of playing and what you want it to say about you. If your interests are in heavy metal, gut wrenching, rock and roll, then this guitar wouldn't be a bad choice. Grind away all of the hash and trash of what guitar makers today are out there peddling to get to the heart of what makes a guitar rock and the Mako is what you'll have left.