vintage58
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2003
- Messages
- 3,958
This question is for anyone here who actually purchased one of these guitars brand-new, when they first came out (circa 1982/83). My question is, do you remember the exact month/year that you bought your Moderne, and do you remember which letter range of serial numbers your guitar belonged to? The serial number format used on these guitars was a letter (from A through H), followed by a space, followed by a three-digit number (with the first digit most likely being a zero).
The reason that I'm asking is that there does not seem to be any particularly precise information on exactly how long these guitars were produced (i.e. from what month/year to what month/year). What is known, is that the first ones—i.e., the "A" series ones—appear to have been produced and shipped in the fall of 1982, and that production of this model occurred solely at Gibson's Kalamazoo factory, which closed its doors in the summer of 1984. Which at least narrows things down, production-wise, to a period of less than two years.
The specific thing I'm interested in figuring out, though, is exactly how early certain letter ranges of Moderne reissues began to appear in guitar stores. I've owned three of these guitars thus far—an "E" series one, an "F" series one, and (most recently) an "H" series one. So I've been wondering, for example, whether the "E" series one is from 1983. Or whether the "H" series one is from 1984, given that that letter obviously falls later in the alphabet. Or were these guitars all produced early on (i.e., in 1982 and 1983) in one large batch, and then discontinued? I do know that sales of the Moderne reissues were not as strong as those of its two Heritage Series counterparts, so it's certainly plausible that production on Moderne reissues ceased before production on the korina Flying V and korina Explorer reissues.
Anyway, I figured it would be worth asking if anyone here might have bought one of these guitars when they first came out, since if a given buyer happened to remember both the month/year that he purchased the guitar in, and the letter range to which his guitar belonged, it would at least establish some kind of reference point. For example, if someone knew unequivocally that he bought an "H" series Moderne in June of 1983, it would at least put a more precise time line on things.
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The reason that I'm asking is that there does not seem to be any particularly precise information on exactly how long these guitars were produced (i.e. from what month/year to what month/year). What is known, is that the first ones—i.e., the "A" series ones—appear to have been produced and shipped in the fall of 1982, and that production of this model occurred solely at Gibson's Kalamazoo factory, which closed its doors in the summer of 1984. Which at least narrows things down, production-wise, to a period of less than two years.
The specific thing I'm interested in figuring out, though, is exactly how early certain letter ranges of Moderne reissues began to appear in guitar stores. I've owned three of these guitars thus far—an "E" series one, an "F" series one, and (most recently) an "H" series one. So I've been wondering, for example, whether the "E" series one is from 1983. Or whether the "H" series one is from 1984, given that that letter obviously falls later in the alphabet. Or were these guitars all produced early on (i.e., in 1982 and 1983) in one large batch, and then discontinued? I do know that sales of the Moderne reissues were not as strong as those of its two Heritage Series counterparts, so it's certainly plausible that production on Moderne reissues ceased before production on the korina Flying V and korina Explorer reissues.
Anyway, I figured it would be worth asking if anyone here might have bought one of these guitars when they first came out, since if a given buyer happened to remember both the month/year that he purchased the guitar in, and the letter range to which his guitar belonged, it would at least establish some kind of reference point. For example, if someone knew unequivocally that he bought an "H" series Moderne in June of 1983, it would at least put a more precise time line on things.
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