Lovethatguitar Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I hope that you will all forgive me as I am a newbie and am thoroughly confused about a guitar I was given. It is a Epiphone Lotus with the lotus flower under the name. It is in beautiful shape. I do not know whether it is a Gibson or what. I do have the two numbers on the back. The one on the neck is 4092608 and the one on the steel panel screwed into the back of the guitar is L580BTS. Can any of you specialists help me to identify this. Is it Korean, Chinese, old, new. I really want to be able to give my dear sweet hubby some information! Thanks to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubyred Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 By no means am I any specialist/expert on anything. I put the serial number you provided in the guitar dater for Epiphone & Gibson This came up under Epiphone Guitar Info Your guitar was made in Korea September c.1994 Production Number: 2608 This came up in a Google search TYPE: Electric Guitar MODEL: L-580BTS MANUFACTURER: Lotus Guitars YEAR: 1985-1989 From what I understand Lotus is a brand itself. So sorry - just giving you obvious stuff - nothing of any substance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovethatguitar Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 I hope that you will all forgive me as I am a newbie and am thoroughly confused about a guitar I was given. It is a Epiphone Lotus with the lotus flower under the name. It is in beautiful shape. I do not know whether it is a Gibson or what. I do have the two numbers on the back. The one on the neck is 4092608 and the one on the steel panel screwed into the back of the guitar is L580BTS. Can any of you specialists help me to identify this. Is it Korean, Chinese, old, new. I really want to be able to give my dear sweet hubby some information! Thanks to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovethatguitar Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 By no means am I any specialist/expert on anything. I put the serial number you provided in the guitar dater for Epiphone & Gibson This came up under Epiphone Guitar Info Your guitar was made in Korea September c.1994 Production Number: 2608 This came up in a Google search TYPE: Electric Guitar MODEL: L-580BTS MANUFACTURER: Lotus Guitars YEAR: 1985-1989 From what I understand Lotus is a brand itself. So sorry - just giving you obvious stuff - nothing of any substance. Thank you for your "expert" kind effort and the information! I will certainly pass this along! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Hi LTG, welcome here, I hope you're able to find the info you need. If you could post some pics it would help those with the ID expertise to better understand what the guitar actually is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Ah !!! To own a Lotus guitar, once must be the grasshopper.................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 My very first bass was a Lotus. It was ok. Pics would be helpful for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caqui Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Hi y'all.... I am also a proud owner. The Blue Book says only this about Lotus Guitars: "Acoustic guitars previously produced in Korea, China, and/or India during the 1990s. Distributed by Midco International in Effingham, IL. Lotus is a trademark of Musicorp (previously Midco International). In the 1990s, they offered a wide range of acoustic and electric guitars that were designed for the student and/or entry level player. In the 2000s, Musicorp stopped offering guitars under the Lotus trademark to focus on bluegrass instruments, specifically banjos and mandolins." Here's mine...I believe it's one of the later models, mine is Made in Korea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caqui Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Just wanted to add this: Lotus was a brand name of guitars used from the late 1970s until the late 1990s. Lotus guitars were usually copies of other brand name guitars, such as the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster. The quality of the instruments was very good for the price (usually around US$400–$900). The most common and lesser-quality Lotus guitars were usually manufactured by Samick and others in Korea and possibly India. The top of the line early 1980's models were made by both Cort_Guitars (neck-though models, early Korea) and Morris / Moridaira (neck-through models, set-neck Washburn Eagle copies, and decent Les Paul copies, Japan). Both the early Korean Cort and Japanese Morris-made Lotus guitars are of exceptional quality, like the Matsumoku guitars of that era. Lotus guitars are no longer in production. While the low-end guitars have rightfully only experienced a minimal gain in value, the high-end models usually range from $100-$300 and are becoming quite collectible. Chauntelle DuPree of the band Eisley used a Lotus Stratocaster copy for many years on tour and to record. While the quality of this guitar would not typically be considered to be on a professional level, it did provide an inexpensive platform for experimentation and upgrade (with non-Lotus parts) which resulted in a unique sounding instrument. The Morris-made Lotus guitars are almost always lost in the mix of their other guitars but are truly amazing players and usually are the hardest and rarest to find as Lotus/Morris only made them for a few years (2-3 at most). These guitars all are solid-bodied and have exceptional necks that were made in the same factory as Tokai. There are only 3 models that known for sure that came from Lotus/Morris: is a Lotus L670B (is a direct copy of the 1980-1982/3 fender bullet MIA and MIJ, but not MIK) other than it has switches instead of buttons and headstock shape is different with a solid body and the same pickups but with no letters on top. Is a vantage copy(or aria cardinal or ibanez artist) double cutaway (batwing) guitar/solid body 3 per side tuners on headstock rosewood fingerboard and neck-through (though may have had a bolt-on model), this was usually in a polished mahoghany or stained blue/white breadboard style and occasionally gloss white with 2 exposed pickups. Is a more conventional Les Paul copy usually only seen in gloss black or tobaccoburst...again neck through with hardware similar to their double-cutaway. These three models are easily on par with Westbury and the upper class neck-through Vantage guitars (both made by Matsomuko). Lotus started with the elite league of japanese craftsmen and made wonderful guitars initially (Morris) but trying to keep up with the heavyweights such as aria and fuji-gen gakki (ibanez) was not their only problem. Mis-management and especially the inability to market their initial superb quality guitars immediately had Lotus owners scrambling for cheaper and cheaper labor ending in India with poor quality and eventually no takers for their product as China and Indonesia guitar producers stepped up in quality for similar prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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