Hello,
just found this forum while browsing for Vantage/Matsumoku-stuff. I own a VP795 (from 79/80, I think? Serial number 011239), which I got in 1987 - my first electric guitar. It's not until the past few years I that I understood how good it actually is, and I often find myself picking the Vantage over my Gibson Les Paul, my Fender YJM Strat or any of the others (I currently have 7-8 guitars). The neck fits me perfectly (the others feel OK to totally wrong) and it sounds great no matter what I play (mostly metal though). It's a bit worn and dinged after almost 30 years with me, but nothing major and I take very good care of it nowadays.
Anyway, after browsing
http://www.vantage-guitars.com, I realized that I absolutely must have a Vantage V100, the pre-lawsuit Les Paul model. How rare are these? I've found a cheap one for sale, but it's kind of ruined - repainted in rough black finish, and pig-ugly "gothic" hardware. However, if they are hard to find and the owner can find the original hardware, I might buy and and try to restore it.