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Moderne Year?


mrmustard

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is there anyone that can help me date my Moderne?

I bought it in the '80s from Guitar Trader in Red Bank NJ.

I believe it was their reissue.

The serial is inked on the back of the headstock - B 076

 

Thanks!

 

It sure looks like a Heritage Re-issue... probably 1982. Very cool guitar !!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have one on preorder through my dealer but he has absolutely no information to pass on to me yet, specs, release date, etc. All I have is internet rumors. I'm hoping it will be reasonably close to original specs rather than a modern reinterpretation like those 50th anniversary explorer and v (not the custom shop reissue) models as they were cool but not really my speed.

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From what I've learned from eBay, there were 6 grades of wood in the reissues, A - F. That serial corresponds to a B-grade. I think I've seen D-grade Natural finish offered on eBay. F-grade are usually painted solid, Ebony iirc.

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  • 9 months later...

From what I've learned from eBay, there were 6 grades of wood in the reissues, A - F. That serial corresponds to a B-grade. I think I've seen D-grade Natural finish offered on eBay. F-grade are usually painted solid, Ebony iirc.

The letters weren't about the grade of wood. Those were the serial numbers. A-H were the groups. They made 100 per group according to the Tim Shaw interview in the Moderne book by Ron Wood. Mine serial number is F 081 and it's natural korina, not painted.

 

The wood they chose was Korina for the whole run. Some were painted black, a few red, some cream but the majority were natural Korina.

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The letters weren't about the grade of wood. Those were the serial numbers. A-H were the groups. They made 100 per group according to the Tim Shaw interview in the Moderne book by Ron Wood. Mine serial number is F 081 and it's natural korina, not painted.

 

The wood they chose was Korina for the whole run. Some were painted black, a few red, some cream but the majority were natural Korina.

 

 

Thanks for the info. So how does the numbering system work for the Modernes?

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  • 5 months later...

The numbering system on the Heritage guitars started with a letter, A-H, then a three digit number under 100. Beyond that there wasn't much of a logic involved. I've been in touch with Ron Wood who literally wrote the book on these guitars and he's said he knows of about 150 that were made around the time of the 1982-83 Heritage release. He's even found two with the same serial number. I've created my own list and am up to about 126, mostly from Wood's book and some from this site and others.

There are some prototypes with the 8XXX2XXX series and one with a 8 xxxx serial number but most stick to the A-H XXX scheme. I've noticed that in ALL of the Moderne serial numbers are under 100 where the Flying Vs and the Explorers start with 2XX or 3XX with the same letters.

 

By the way, thanks mrmustard for adding to the list.

 

Rick in Phoenix,

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Is there anyone that can help me date my Moderne?

I bought it in the '80s from Guitar Trader in Red Bank NJ.

I believe it was their reissue.

The serial is inked on the back of the headstock - B 076

 

Thanks!

 

Nice! That headstock is amazing. I have the Flying V from that same series, they also made an Explorer as well.

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  • 1 month later...

Cept the new one from 2012 doesn't have the same headstock shape. Always liked that original headstock sort of cocked to one side.

 

The design of the new headstock makes a little more sense to me as I didn't like the idea of those little posts on the 82 headstock.

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