The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

That's what I expected ! Thanks Kees !

Vantage has changed logo & other specs between May and September 1980 ! (edited: in their adds!)
Look at the VA 800 pics: Feb: old logo version - add
Dec: introduction of the improved, "new" VA 800, new logo

Mr.Laine's VA 900 has got the new moon-bridge (Aug.'80)
In the May '80-add it's just been a "normal" bridge
(Later versions have the led light in another position)

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All vantage-branded guitars were lower-priced instruments aimed at the beginner-to-intermediate market. It has no interest to collectors and very little demand among players! (www.allexperts.com)

Don't jump to conclusions. I know from personal professional experience it will usually take some time for a pic of a new product to end up in an advertisement. More likely the change took place in the beginning of 1980 (very possibly even before May). The month is merely a rough indication ... One thing CAN be concluded: the new logo definately was there in August 1980.
The position of the LED is indeed different from all other variations I've seen sofar. That's what led me to believe he's holding an early (prototype?) version of the VA-900 here.

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http://www.GuitarDir.com has been hacked by some mindless fool, destroying years
of gathering info on guitars by non-commercial guitar lovers. Why?

Yep, you're right man, I'm too fast in my conclusions°!
But if it brings the discussion a step further - jumping to fast or wrong conclusions is o.k. for me!



it's been there in May 1980!! (guitar player add)

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All vantage-branded guitars were lower-priced instruments aimed at the beginner-to-intermediate market. It has no interest to collectors and very little demand among players! (www.allexperts.com)

Nice mozart! I think we can agree that there probably are very few 1977's outside of Japan, and 1976 and older is completely out. In the US, the 1979 date of the US distributor would fit with when I started seeing them and bought my Ghost in December of that year, (small logo and squarish body routing, no visible serial unfortunately).

... that's from the December 1980 edition

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http://www.GuitarDir.com has been hacked by some mindless fool, destroying years
of gathering info on guitars by non-commercial guitar lovers. Why?

I've meant Frenchy's adds: Vantage page from guitar player magazine 5/1980

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5506&start=0#p32378

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All vantage-branded guitars were lower-priced instruments aimed at the beginner-to-intermediate market. It has no interest to collectors and very little demand among players! (www.allexperts.com)

Mozart, you're right! All the other models in that ad have the old logo, but the pre-VA900 has the new one on the headstock! Guess that pinpoints the change around April 1980 then.

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http://www.GuitarDir.com has been hacked by some mindless fool, destroying years
of gathering info on guitars by non-commercial guitar lovers. Why?

Trevor, you're the one that caused this pile of sh*t, where'r you at?

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http://www.GuitarDir.com has been hacked by some mindless fool, destroying years
of gathering info on guitars by non-commercial guitar lovers. Why?

Hi Folks,
I must say I am over the Moon with the directions this thread has taken & would like to thank everyone who has contributed their thoughts so far.
I hoped that once the veil of smoke was lifted from the old dating method that we would have a whole new perspective to look from, which certainly seems to be the case.
It definitely seems now that most of the perceived irregularities in the Vantage line that were previously put down to the Change without Notice cleashay, are indeed no more than evolutionary steps within the models.
The relatively low numbers of pre 1980 models around compared to the majority of post 1980 models has always been a catalyst for confusion.
I feel I have been in a very lucky position owning both Pre & post 1980 examples of many of the models we have been discussing here, which together with other information, most of which came from this site, painted a picture I could not ignore.
At least now we can move forward in the right direction.
Already from the new perspective it seems that the second number in the 5 digit serials does quite possibly seem to represent the evolutionary order in a particular model series, with 0 being the first production run & 1, 2 following.
Now that we have come this far, I firmly believe that some sort of serial number registry is needed to keep moving further forward.
Something as simple as a new thread were we all just list model number, serial, any peculiarities such as old or new logo, 24 or 22 frets and anything that seems to deviate from the norm.
Another possibility maybe a serial number thread for specific models with the same criteria as above.
To stop the threads from taking up to much space, a mod could possibly periodically trim the threads by adding all of the numbers into the first post.
I have been involved in this type of posts in some automotive forums which I am a member & it seems to work well.
I would favor this public displaying of numbers over 1 or 2 collecting & collating them as the more visible they are, the more many sharp minds can possibly notice irregularities & patterns forming.
What do you guys think any ideas on this?
Cheers,
Trevor.

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My Guitars- http://matsumokuguitars.com/

I agree with Kees totally on this, all still seems to point to the start of 1980 for the big change over.
As others have said ,the adds with old & or mixed with new logo's would probably have been edited & used untill new ones containing new models were produced,

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My Guitars- http://matsumokuguitars.com/