- Lotus Electric Guitar Serial Numbers
- Lotus Guitar Serial Number Lookup
- Lotus Guitars Serial Numbers
- Lotus Electric Guitar Serial Numbers
- Lotus Guitar Serial Number Search
Get yourself a flashlight and a mirror and examine everywhere on the inside of the guitar. If you are lucky you will see a number stamped in there that has an H in front of it. This will be the model number (the digits after the H which stands for Harmony). Then if you are very lucky you will also find a letter followed by a two-digit number. For example you might find something like F62 or S66. The letter stands for the season and the number is the year. In these examples an F62 would mean it was part of the mass of guitars they made in the Fall of 1962, or the S66 would stand for Summer of 1966. If you are not so lucky, you would need to determine what model number you have and the best you could do is come up with a range of years during which that model was made.
Lotus Guitar Serial Numbers; Alvarez Guitar Serial Numbers; Vintage Lotus Guitar; In May of 1958, a worker at the Gibson factory pulled two Les Paul guitars – serial numbers 8 3087 and 8 3096 – off the line and sprayed their bodies yellow in the center, bordered in red. What makes you say it's pre-Korean? Samick has been building electrics since 1972 and the Lotuses I've seen with that headstock date around 1985. You'll see below a 1984 Tele with that headstock and a Samick serial number. The one you linked at Goodwill is probably a Cort. They used that little 'electric guitar' tagline a lot. Like the CE and EG models the serial number is located on the neck plate on the back of the guitar. The following number determines the model: 8 or SA for the Swamp Ash Special, then the sequential number for that particular model. the first 200 Swamp Ash Specials were given a CE serial number. U.S.-made guitars and basses destined for export market. Some may have stayed in the U.S. Or found their way back (made to Standard Stratocaster specs; dating unclear) I(XXXXXXX) A limited number of these 'I' series guitars were made in 1989 and 1990. They were made for the export market and have 'Made in USA' stamped on the neck heel. If this connection seems odd, the occurrence of very similar guitars with different brand names is more common that many of us would think. This circa late 1970s/early 1980s Lotus bears a striking similarity to the Washburn Eagle from the same era, and for good reason. Morris Guitar Serial Numbers Morris Guitars Serial Number Search.
Welcome to 6String Minutes. In this segment, we'll uncover the truth about Japanese 'lawsuit' guitars imported to the United States from the mid-1970s on. Gear hunters and enthusiasts around the world all claim to have seen them, but the true story may shock you.*
(* If you happen to be plugged into an ungrounded amplifier and touch metal.)
Let's take a journey back to the '70s. Guitars and guitar-based rock ‘n' roll music had reached a level of popularity that would last well into the early 2000s.
While heavy riffs and searing solos dominated the airwaves, the quality manufacturing of the classic instruments synonymous with the culture — guitars like Gibson's Les Paul and SG, Fender's Stratocaster and Telecaster — was beginning to decline significantly from a production standpoint. The careful attention to detail, superior parts, and meticulous craftsmanship diminished, while price tags remained high.
Harry Rosenbloom, owner of Medley Music in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, made his living selling handmade instruments. Beamng drive completo gratis. Sensing the domestic guitar market's downturn, however, Rosenbloom's company, Elger Guitars, became the sole North American distributor for Japanese guitar manufacturers, Hoshino Gakki Gen.
How to beamng drive on mac. Hoshino began importing classical guitars from a small, Spanish guitar maker named Salvador Ibáñez in the '20s to sell in Japan, and went onto launch their own brand under the name Ibanez, inspired by the imported guitars in 1935. Rosenbloom, sensitive to the domestic hostility towards Japanese products still prevalent in the late '60s, used this as the brand name for his imported guitars. In 1971, Hoshino became profitable enough to purchase Elger Guitars from Rosenbloom and officially changed their name to Ibanez, USA.
Ibanez achieved US success when it began manufacturing copies of classic Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker guitars in the late '60s. While Gibson and Fender guitars declined in quality, Japanese copies were, at least visually, markedly on par with the American originals.
Although not built to the same specifications as their American counterparts — many of which sported bolt-on necks, inferior electronics, and multi-piece plywood tops — the Japanese instruments were utilitarian, had personality, and were faithful to the original designs.
They were quickly embraced by novice players and those who didn't want to shell out their hard-earned cash for a guitar of questionable quality. American guitar brands felt the hit.
In addition to Ibanez, other manufacturers started importing their own copies of the classics. Seventies Les Paul lookalikes featured names like Burny, Tokai, and Greco on their headstocks. (Notice that Greco's font is nearly identical to Gibson's.)
Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models.
Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn't have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a 'lawsuit' guitar, even today.
Speaking of which, in 1977, Gibson's parent company filed a lawsuit against Ibanez (essentially the Hoshino corporation) for copying their 'open-book-style' headstock.
The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Ibanez replaced the headstock with a revised design.
Ibanez ramped up the quality of its own designs, including set-in-neck copies of solid body and archtop guitars. Soon after, it rolled out its own line of signature instruments like the Iceman and Destroyer, which set the tone for the company-defining instruments of the '80s and '90s. A tone befitting the international rise of heavy metal!
So, what's the salacious 'true story' we promised earlier? Most instruments that claim to be 'lawsuit-era' guitars simply aren't.
That isn't to say they aren't cool, functional instruments with unique character — quite the contrary. The only technical 'lawsuit' guitars are Ibanez models, or other branded guitars manufactured by Hoshino, that look nearly identical to Gibson or Fender guitars, save for the name on the headstock and some technical specifications. They mostly originated out of the FujiGen Gakki plant in Japan and were imported to the US.
Lotus Electric Guitar Serial Numbers
At the same time that Japanese guitar factories were making copies of American designs, they were also tinkering with unique designs of their own. It's not uncommon to see guitars from this period sporting wild body designs, as many as four pickups, and some curiously organized pickup selectors and knobs.
Lotus Guitar Serial Number Lookup
Are these 'lawsuit' guitars? Absolutely not. Are they still cool? Most definitely. The Greco 950 is one of the coolest non-copied designs to come from Japanese factories.
How to beamng drive on mac. Hoshino began importing classical guitars from a small, Spanish guitar maker named Salvador Ibáñez in the '20s to sell in Japan, and went onto launch their own brand under the name Ibanez, inspired by the imported guitars in 1935. Rosenbloom, sensitive to the domestic hostility towards Japanese products still prevalent in the late '60s, used this as the brand name for his imported guitars. In 1971, Hoshino became profitable enough to purchase Elger Guitars from Rosenbloom and officially changed their name to Ibanez, USA.
Ibanez achieved US success when it began manufacturing copies of classic Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker guitars in the late '60s. While Gibson and Fender guitars declined in quality, Japanese copies were, at least visually, markedly on par with the American originals.
Although not built to the same specifications as their American counterparts — many of which sported bolt-on necks, inferior electronics, and multi-piece plywood tops — the Japanese instruments were utilitarian, had personality, and were faithful to the original designs.
They were quickly embraced by novice players and those who didn't want to shell out their hard-earned cash for a guitar of questionable quality. American guitar brands felt the hit.
In addition to Ibanez, other manufacturers started importing their own copies of the classics. Seventies Les Paul lookalikes featured names like Burny, Tokai, and Greco on their headstocks. (Notice that Greco's font is nearly identical to Gibson's.)
Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models.
Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn't have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a 'lawsuit' guitar, even today.
Speaking of which, in 1977, Gibson's parent company filed a lawsuit against Ibanez (essentially the Hoshino corporation) for copying their 'open-book-style' headstock.
The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Ibanez replaced the headstock with a revised design.
Ibanez ramped up the quality of its own designs, including set-in-neck copies of solid body and archtop guitars. Soon after, it rolled out its own line of signature instruments like the Iceman and Destroyer, which set the tone for the company-defining instruments of the '80s and '90s. A tone befitting the international rise of heavy metal!
So, what's the salacious 'true story' we promised earlier? Most instruments that claim to be 'lawsuit-era' guitars simply aren't.
That isn't to say they aren't cool, functional instruments with unique character — quite the contrary. The only technical 'lawsuit' guitars are Ibanez models, or other branded guitars manufactured by Hoshino, that look nearly identical to Gibson or Fender guitars, save for the name on the headstock and some technical specifications. They mostly originated out of the FujiGen Gakki plant in Japan and were imported to the US.
Lotus Electric Guitar Serial Numbers
At the same time that Japanese guitar factories were making copies of American designs, they were also tinkering with unique designs of their own. It's not uncommon to see guitars from this period sporting wild body designs, as many as four pickups, and some curiously organized pickup selectors and knobs.
Lotus Guitar Serial Number Lookup
Are these 'lawsuit' guitars? Absolutely not. Are they still cool? Most definitely. The Greco 950 is one of the coolest non-copied designs to come from Japanese factories.
What about all those copies you see online? Sellers on third-party sites like eBay win on a technicality by billing these instruments as 'lawsuit-era guitars,' both expanding the range of guitars included to anywhere between the late '60s to early '80s, and implying the guitars are made in Japan without saying it outright.
But, buyer beware. There are a lot of guitars falsely credited to Japanese manufacturers that were actually made in China and Korea.
Lotus Guitars Serial Numbers
Responding to the market's desire for lower priced instruments, Fender opened its own Japanese plant in 1982. The Japanese Fender guitars are not 'lawsuit guitars.' But, they tend to be great, high-quality instruments.
In 1984, Fender's parent company sold it to new owners, and in the following years, production in the US slowed as management transitioned. Most of the instruments sold during this period were old-stock American guitars and imported Japanese guitars, which gave the market time to adjust to the presence of these new, low-cost instruments bearing the Fender name.
The results of 'lawsuit-era' guitar making are still felt today. Most high-end guitar manufacturers have overseas plants that produce lower cost versions of their instruments for hobbyists, students, and professionals alike. Gibson bought Epiphone, and Fender created the Squier line, further proof of these lower cost instruments' success.
For anyone in the market for a vintage instrument, the Japanese guitars from the '70s and '80s are great choices that don't command the outrageous price tags of their American counterparts. Just be wary of sellers using the word 'lawsuit' to drive up the asking price of their vintage Japanese instruments, and try to ask a lot of questions.
If you'd like to learn more about the story of Ibanez, this book covers it, well, cover to cover! For 6String Minutes, I'm reporter Elyadeen Anbar, signing off.
Lotus Electric Guitar Serial Numbers
Want to get all of Soundfly's premium online courses for a low monthly cost? Seagate crystal report 7.01 free download.
Lotus Guitar Serial Number Search
Subscribe to get unlimited access to all of our course content, an invitation to join our members-only Slack community forum, exclusive perks from partner brands, and massive discounts on personalized mentor sessions for guided learning. Learn what you want, whenever you want, with total freedom.
