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OK, I know it's a Memphis...


StraySinger

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...and I know Memphis used to be a sub-company of Yamaha in the 1970s to mid-1980s, until Gibson sued them out of existence. I *think* they were made somewhere in Asia, but I'm not completely sure on that count, so...

 

I'm looking for a date and model number on this rather nice-looking, if slightly beat-up Memphis guitar I picked up second-hand for my daughter:

 

Here is a shot of the original gear box. I have replaced it, for obvious reasons:

 

20100311_SamsNewGuitar01-sm2.jpg

 

Here's the main body:

 

20100311_SamsNewGuitar03-sm2.jpg

 

A closeup of the tailpiece and bridge:

 

20100311_SamsNewGuitar05-sm2.jpg

 

The headstock (with new pegs):

 

20100311_SamsNewGuitar06-sm2.jpg

 

Any ideas? The shot of the headstock is closest to the actual color of the guitar. It's a cream-white, and slightly darker than the headstock shot shows. #!@%^$! flash!

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@Angry Tele - I think it's going to sound pretty nice, once I pick up a practice amp. It BIT me, though, when I was taking the old strings off... stabbed me right in my left index finger! YEOWTCH! Puts the kabosh on me playing for very long until it heals up... I hate it when strings do the stabbity-thing... ESPECIALLY high E-strings. :-/
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@Angry Tele - Actually, the nut isn't too bad... the tailpiece is ... interesting? I'd say that's a good adjective for it. I've seen a few like it before. This is a really crude drawing of a cutaway... it's got six "slots" where you hook the ball end of the string into place.

 

tailpiece.jpg

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@ugameus - The pickup is right in the middle of where you'd be strumming the guitar... it's very likely going to be hit several times as my daughter learns to play. The label, which is the silver-looking thing underneath the pickup, reads "FIREPOWER BLADE PICKUPS" if you look at it really closely (it's rubbed off pretty badly). I can't get a decent photo of the pickups - bad lighting, and flash = problems - but I'll draw them when I get to work tomorrow and have Visio to work with... :-)
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@megawzrd - It's really nice-looking, especially for a $50 used guitar. I dropped nearly that much replacing the tuning pegs, but they were totally hosed. One of the heads had sheared off, and one of the pegs was missing the screw that held it in place, so when I pulled the strings, it fell out...

 

I really should have taken the pickups out and given the whole guts a good cleaning, but I didn't - mainly because when I tried to take the tailpiece off, I discovered that half the screws holding it in place were badly stripped out. :-p

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@ugameus I haven't managed to hook it up to an amplifier yet, due to not owning one - I'll pick up a practice amp tomorrow or Saturday and let you know, though. The pickups are pretty darned ancient - look to be original to the guitar. Without an amp, it sounded pretty good. It's got adjustable action, and I have it set pretty gentle right now, especially given my very sore index finger! :-(

 

Two guitars restrung tonight... and three to go, including a 12-string. I have GOT to find my peg-winder!!!

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I've never heard of Memphis having anything to do with Yamaha. Nor have I ever heard of them being sued about anything.

 

 

Me neither but to be fair, Ive never heard anybody ever speak of them about anything. My first band we all had the same flying V Memphis so I was forced to play drums haha

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@tim gueguen & Angry Tele - Teh Interwebz was my source for that... from Wikipedia (whom we all know is not always 100% accurate):

 

Wikipedia article on Memphis Guitars

 

"Memphis Guitars is a defunct subsidiary of Yamaha that produced guitars during the late 1970s and early 1980s."

 

The pickups on this guitar look to be from that era, as does the tailpiece...

 

And from eHow.com:

 

"Memphis guitars were produced from the 1970s to the middle of the 1980s and were largely based off the Gibson Les Paul and SG model of guitar."

 

"Memphis guitars began when the Yamaha corporation saw a huge demand for Gibson-style guitars and decided to offer its own knock-off version at a much lower price than an authentic Gibson."

 

"The Gibson Guitar Company sued Memphis guitars in the mid 1980s to cease production as it felt Memphis had stolen its guitar design."

 

I cannot locate any information online about the supposed lawsuit; however, I have found that Gibson sues left, right, and center (most recently the makers of Guitar Hero)... so it's not out of the realm of possibility.

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yeah well just because it`s on the web...especially Wikipedia...doesn`t mean it`s true...never knew Yamaha had sub companies of any kind...always thought they built their own stuff...and actually, before they opened their first guitar factory in `66 other people were building Yamaha guitars for them, so Yamaha had contracts with other plants...like the Dynamics that go back to at least the early 1950s...I have some. The name that has been mentioned is Suzuki which makes sense as they were building guitars at least as early as 1948...I have one....another name I`ve read about with a Yamaha Dynamic connections is Tenryu...this comes from guys here in Japan who research this stuff and I`d really like to know where the guys who post on Wikipedia get their info since even the Japanese people have a hard time getting data. By the `70s Yamaha was building their own electric guitars, I have an SG-35 that seems to come from the early `70s and as for Gibson bringing law suits against makers in Japan I don`t think they have any pull at all over here...stuff that got exported to America is a different matter but to sue a Japanese builder in Japan...doesn`t sound plausible to me.

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From http://www.ehow.com/facts_4927795_what-history-memphis-guitars.html

 

 

"Memphis guitars were produced from the 1970s to the middle of the 1980s and were largely based off the Gibson Les Paul and SG model of guitar.

 

Yamaha Instruments owned Memphis guitars.

 

Memphis guitars began when the Yamaha corporation saw a huge demand for Gibson-style guitars and decided to offer its own knock-off version at a much lower price than an authentic Gibson.

 

The Gibson Guitar Company sued Memphis guitars in the mid 1980s to cease production as it felt Memphis had stolen its guitar design."

 

Another source says they were MIJ and imported my Kaman. The plot thickens...

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@Oldskool Texas That's one of the sources I found, as well, but I've also found sources linking them to Kaman (who also made Ovation, Takamine and Hamer guitars)... hopefully someone at Gibson or Yamaha will get back to me on this soon.

 

@Angry Tele - Yep. Just because they made Gibson Les Paul copies doesn't mean *everything* they made was a copy of something else. :-)

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@Oldskool Texas
That's one of the sources I found, as well, but I've also found sources linking them to Kaman (who also made Ovation, Takamine and Hamer guitars)... hopefully someone at Gibson or Yamaha will get back to me on this soon.


@Angry Tele
- Yep. Just because they made Gibson Les Paul copies doesn't mean *everything* they made was a copy of something else. :-)

 

 

true...Mine was asymetrical and had 1 pickup. It cost $67 I got it from Robbies Music on rt46 in NJ. They came in red or white.

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