The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Man, what a read to get through all 21 pages. Sorry to rehash this old thread but I think I have a guitar that perhaps might help figure out more about the numbering system, and I am SUPER interested to get some feedback from some of you Vantage enthusiasts. Getting right to it, I have a Vantage acoustic that is unique in seemingly a bunch of ways. To summarize:

Model: VW120s
Brace stamp: 811025
Serial no: 81100240
Made in japan on the label
No made in japan on the back of the headstock
Small horizontal Vantage badge on the headstock
It is not natural finish. It is...medium brown? Not tobacco or sunburst. Even coloring throughout, but brown on color. I picked it up at a garage sale in Ontario. Cleaned and strung it. Fret board has gnarly fingernail grooves, but it plays very well. Projects exceedingly well when strummed, in particular. I'm no pro, but I have gibson and Larrivee acoustics also, which this does not compare to bit the gap is much smaller than you would think it should be between them. So...does this help? My serial number and brace stamp seem coincidentally similar. I had been working under the impression it was an 81. But the horizontal Vantage badge and your GREAT resource here tells me pre 80. But why then is the serial number 8 digits long?? And what the heck is the S in the model number. And why is there no listing for a VW 120 anywhere? VC 120 but this is a steel string "Vantage western" and def not a classical. Heck could it be made in Korea and badged to look like an earlier model from Japan? Maybe it is a custom or prototype guitar they tried? I am assuming it's a VW100 but the color changes the code to 120 as per the rest of the lineup above the 150 (180etc). 8 digit serial has me stumped. Somebody tell me they can make sense of this? And just to head it off, all of my numbers are readable and not faded, smudged or worn. Absolutely legible. These are the numbers. Cheers, and thanks again for this Greta resource you have built up.

Pictures would help but it sounds like you may have discovered another model there between the VW100 and VW150.

The one thing you have to realize is that the Vantage label was perhaps the most disorganized in the the Matsumoku stable. As you've discovered, several of the members have been driven mildly loony going down the serial and model rabbit hole!

There was also a loose handle on specs and badging so it makes things doubly, um, interesting. The "S" suffix normally refers to "sunburst" so I don't know what it means in your context.

I have the VW150 also from Ontario and it's a super light guitar with a nice projection. Let's have a look at your baby eh?

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I have managed to since dig up three total guitars online with the S on the model number. Two 195s and one 175s. No other 120s. In all three cases these were ones which are / were for sale and they also included pictures which showed each of them a solid color, wine red for the 195 in particular is striking. So I'm not sure if the s is actually sunburst based on this. Also these S models all had 8 digit serial numbers like mine, interestingly. One of the ads claimed the guitar was a rare 74 model. Not sure how that could be, but no way to argue it either. Fun little rabbit hole with this VW120s

Not sure how to post pics. Tried a few times. Here is a link tonl a photo gallery

https://postimg.cc/gallery/8WbshRr

Perhaps the "s" refers to solid colour or stain?

_________________
Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com
Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com