MAKO TS-3 Traditional

Has all of the features of a basic Fender Strat (3 -250k pickups, 5-way switch, 1 volume + 2 tone knobs, classic wammy bridge). The neck is very nice maple on maple and has 22 frets. the body is black with a high gloss finish and a white pick gaurd. Pickups and knobs are all colored ivory. The head is also black w/ a high gloss finish and has fancy gold lettering spelling "Mako Traditionals TS-3". I bought it w/o a back cover and it only had one spring remainig attached to the tremelo.I do not know the maker of its electronics but the are very similar and interchangable w/ a srtat.

Its has a rich, full, and ass kicking sound, even when hooked up to a backstage 10-watt Ibenez beginner amp. When played on a full force amp like a Pevey, 250-500 watt amp, it sounds like god's talking to you.what's more, Its sounds great on all five settings, except somtimes it shorts out. The wirings and switches need to be replaced. However the pickups could never have been in better condition.

The guitars finish is awsome but the body is just plywood. the nut on the neck was replaced because the stock one was too high for my taste. However, when equipped with a lower nut the guitar becomes very responsive and all of the extra noise is left behind.The tuning pegs are a little loose which causes the guitar to come out of tune a lot. I find that putting new strings on it, tuning it, and waiting for about a week gets rid of any tuning problems because once the strings are streched it never comes out of tune.

Once the wiring, volume and tone knobs are replaced, and a knew 5-way switch is installed i would not even think about bringing a backup guitar to a gig. the guitar is over 20 years old but its still sings like a goddess and it looks like a finely aged wine,

I don't think the company that made this guitar still exists.

I've been playing for 7 years and this guitar is my favorite. I'm planning on rebuilding this guitar(Internally- 5-way switch, volume and tone knobs, and pick gaurd, but im keeping the stock pickups). I also own a Jackson Bass, an Ibenez Gio, and a Fender DG-7 Acoustic. If my Mako was stolen and i had the option af buying it back for $100, I would. My favorite thing about this guitar is its awsome sound. The only thing i wish it had was a locking neck.

I estimate this guitar was made around 86-87. From all the research I've been able to find on this guitar, it was made in Japan. It has a 21 fret maple/maple neck (that I really love). The body seems to be plywood but this is really not bad in the case of this guitar. It's typical Strat-1 volume and 2 Tones. S/S/S configuration with a Vintage Synchro type tremelo. The finish is a beautiful Satin Candy Apple Red that's been well preserved somehow. One of the neatest touches is that it came equipped with Grover Tuners. Way Cool!

This is one of the few guitars I own that I actually found that leaving the pickups stock was the best choice. I don't have a clue as to who makes these pickups but they are incredibly well voiced-not to over powered. They play and respond like some Alnico II's I have on several other Strats I own. Low pull and very sustaining. This guitar sounds fantastic for the money I paid for it. Changing the pots from the 500k's that came on it to 250k's sweetened an already beautiful sound even more. I've played this guitar through A Carr Rambler w/ 12" Kingpin Speaker, a Line 6 w/factory Celestion (in spite of the label, we all know what's in there and a Fender SF Twin Reverb. the sound quality is astounding.

The neck was perfectly straight. Just enough relief to keep the buzz away. (That's how I like my strats-action close and fast) Everything on this guitar was remarkably solid for a piece that is almost 20 years old. Nice touches were the contrast between a well figured maple grain neck and the Candy Apple Red Paint treatment on the body and headstock. The gold lettering gives this guitar a rather classy look. (headstock) The Grovers are Black, the pickguard and back trem covers are 3 layer black/white/black and the Tremelo is black as well. It was missing to saddles when I bought it so I replaced them all with Nickel plated WD Vintage Strat Saddles (Stamped ones) it added a nice shiny touch down at the bottom. This guitar is very solid.

As i say, this thing is very solid. It's construction is simplistic enough until I'd use it without a backup-no doubt. It has lasted for almost 20 years and looks practically new so I have no worries

I've heard that Mako tanked around 87-88 after it was acquired by Kramer and production was moved to Korea. It was put to rest shortly after that. Given that , I can't comment on customer service.

I've playing for about 35years and I own a lot of guitars. Some expensive-some not so expensive. I don't own too many guitars that I have not modded electronically (pickups) This is one of the few that I've purchased that really needed nothing and came from the factory sounding great. This guitar was in a very old established pawnbrokers shop and it looked to have been there for 20 years. (I mean it needed a cleaning badly but it cleaned up very nicely) The store lost 2 of the saddles in the process of restringing the guitar and I was told that owners didn't want to invest the money in finding new ones since Mako had gone out of business. They sold me the guitar -as is- for $25.00. It had no strings and the two missing saddles. I spent $40.00 for the saddles, $5.00 for a set of DARCO/Martin strings and $18.00 for three CTS pots and i got what has proven to be the best sounding Strats I own. I will be keeping this guitar forever as the origins or historical data about Mako seems to be elusive. This thing might actually be worth something one day. Who knows? No one is gonna' steal it cuz I sleep with this bad boy ! LOL I was gonna fix it and sell it to one of my students but after I finished with it, there was no way I'd let it go. This definitely must have been one of the "lawsuit" Strats (like Tokai and a couple others) It's just too good.