Up for sale, a 1981 Kawai F-1 double-neck in near-mint, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original hardshell case and hangtags. Taking it’s design cues from Alembic, this finely-crafted Kawai double-neck features dual neck-through construction with five-piece maple/mahogany necks, body wings comprised of a mahogany core sandwiched between maple on top and back, 24-fret rosewood fretboards, and a vast array of electronics for exceptional tonal sculpting functionality.
The original quartet of humbuckers are wound to ~8k ohms, warm and full with smooth trebles, airy lows, and a tailored midrange for optimal clarity, capturing the broad spectrum of sounds including the chiming, harmonically-dense twelve-string neck. The active preamp enables a huge amount of control, with a wide array of tones on tap. The pickups can be coil tapped for single coil sparkle and shimmer, with an independent split toggle for each neck, meaning one neck can be full and rich while the other is brighter and sharper, as well as independent phase switches for slinky out-of-phase tones. There’s a six-position rotary Varitone switch, and an on/off Gain switch that goes all the way into distortion territory when the Preamp Volume knob is dialed up. This Kawai weighs 13lbs 15oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with fresh 10-46 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.
Neck Specs:
-Wood: Five-piece maple/mahogany
-Shape: Medium C, full shoulders (twelve-string slightly chunkier)
-Six-string depth: .860” 1st fret, .940” 12th fret
-Twelve-string depth: .880” 1st fret, .965” 12th fret
-Fretboard: Rosewood slab, 24-fret, snowflake inlay, 12” radii
-Frets: Medium jumbo, virtually no wear
-Scale Lengths: 24 3/4”
-Nuts: 1 5/8”, bone
-Tuners: Kluson-style
-Serialization: 1-prefix serial stamped on back of peghead
Body Specs:
-Wood: Mahogany cores, maple top and back
-Pickups: Humbuckers x2, ~8k ohms
-Harness: Untouched solder, preamp powered by 9V battery
-Controls: Three-way neck selector, Three-way pickup, Volume, Tone, six-position rotary Varitone, Preamp Volume, six mini-toggles for Preamp On/Off, Boost On/Off, Twelve-String Coil Tap, Twelve-String Phase, Six-String Coil Tap, Six-String Phase
-Hardware: Chrome-plated adjust-o-matic bridge and tailpiece
This is an extremely well-kept example, with cosmetic wear on the gloss Black finish limited to just a scant few faint marks on the back at the lower bout. The smooth matching gloss on the neck profiles are immaculate, and there is light cloudiness in the clear coat on the headstock faces.
The original hardshell case is included, along with the factory documentation, including a user manual and a warranty card that is dated to the 56th year of the Showa period (1981).