Epi Matsumoku Emperor Thin ...

[Chord Therapist]

Hi - New to this forum. I recently came into possession of an 80s Matsumoku-built Emperor Thin. Love semi-hollows and have had two ES-347s, but I'm still 5'7" and now old ... so may need to move this on to someone else. It's in great shape. How it came to me is a very long story involving a former bandmate, a visit in Indiana, and considerable bourbon. Anyhow, the case it came in is not right. I'm looking for a gigbag that fits, or maybe a case. It has a 17" lower bout, but that's not the issue finding a case. The problem seems to be finding a thin-body case that's 44" long inside. 335 cases are about 3" shorter. Any suggestions? The case it came in seems to be a dreadnought case with a bunch of bubble wrap to make up for the guitar's thin body.

Also: I would love some help dating the guitar. The serial number appears to be II21154. The sources I have found seem a bit, shall we say, "indecisive" about serial numbers.

After all this, I may be posting the guitar either here or on Reverb sometime soon, so if you're interested, keep an eye out.

[Ben Pupeza]

I have an emperor th # II21174.   I've been told that it is December of 81 based on the first three digits.  I don't know how that was concluded.  

Min came with a Gibson case that fits nicely.  Unfortunately there are not any identifying marks on it.

I realize that this is an old thread but did you ever figure anything out with yours?

[frenchie1281734003]

Sorry I'm a bit late replying, been elsewhere. At this period in time Matsumoku used 7 number serials, no letters, the first digit was the year, the next two are the month and the last four were the production number. So as an example 4076213 would equate to July 84 production number 6213.

Hope this helps