I picked up an old Genesis recently. It has been refinished (originally it was wine red), had a neck repair, etc. The pickups were swapped out, but the electronics seem to be original. Oddly, the headstock was covered with leather, perhaps to hide the headstock repair. There's a matching leather pickguard, too. But the strangest thing is the back of the headstock: it is stamped "USA" and has a 7-digit serial number that I cannot verify on any Epiphone serial number website. What's going on here? Is it a prototype? I read an interview with Jim Walker (the designer of the Genesis) in which he said that a few prototypes were made in Kalamazoo, then the blueprints were shipped off to Japan for mass production. Can anyone offer some insight into this mystery? Thanks in advance...Gene
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/a13cmrv1qlank07/DSCF8397b.jpg?dl=0
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https://www.dropbox.com/s/a13cmrv1qlank07/DSCF8397b.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/43q3nww5muhh1m7/DSCF8398c.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wyfajpyy28d6cys/DSCF8402b.jpg?dl=0