Set neck double cutaway with maple body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, black hardware, graphite nut and Bendmaster FT two-post bridge, locking nut, two humbuckers, one single-coil pickup with three pull-switch knobs (V-T-T) for coil tap, fat (center on) and phase; and 3-way selector switch.




X199CR (H-S-H)(Candy Red/black stripe)

X199SS (H-S-H)(Silverstone/black stripe)

X199W (H-S-H)(white)

X199BL (H-S-H)(black)




The Spectrum FX carried on as flagship model under the new naming system. Still set neck, it carried like the LX an updated Bendmaster FT bridge that added fine tuners to a slim cast body plate, and a matching locking nut. This system is indeed bulletproof, I’ve shipped tuned locked FX’s across the country and stored them for months in varying humidity and they’ve stayed dead in tune.


Dive-bombed with abandon, they return effortlessly in tune, and if that’s what you need, they do it. Beyond this, they play wonderfully and sound fantastic. They truly are the best of a great line of guitars, and deserve to be preserved and enjoyed.


Ironically, the FX was the only model to carry a flat black stripe along the center of the body. Although it looked sleek, it also resembled a neck-through guitar, which it is not, and upon looking more closely some people respond as though it were a phony, rather than the good guitar that it is. An unfortunate styling note, perhaps, but not a reason to scratch off the black paint as some owners did. Years later the original paint looks really good, both intact and with moderate wear, as the flat black is an ideal surface for the beautiful patina of handling even without serious abuse.


In 1986 a new neck joint was used, lacking the step of the previous joint, which resembled similar neck joints of other Electras. The new joint was deeply countoured, allowed unprecedented access to upper frets, and it was in most respects the same neck joint offered as a new feature in Matsumoku’s own Westones in 1983 in the UK and abroad.


As far as I have seen, all fours colors are listed as though all were available, but it appears that red and bronze (Silverstone) were available in the US with the old neck joint in 85, and white and black with the same neck joint were available at the same time only in the UK and abroad. In 1986, the neck joints changed and the colors switched- black and white on in the US with the new joints and red and gold the same way abroad.

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