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The Mystrious Gibson Moderne


fuzztone

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Probably the same guy who claimed he had Kurt Cobain's Martin D-28E

 

 

Maybe, but the guy, unlike GuitarmanDP, is pretty low key about his collection most of the time. He's a longtime member of the Gretsch Discussion Pages, and except for the time 2 years ago, when he got in hot water for posting a photo that bordered on porn, on a general, non-guitar thread that he started (that got the thread deleted - he was a little upset about that, because he couldn't understand what the big deal was [like I said, he's a little out there at times]), he's in good standing on the forum. It almost sounds like the same situation, as the guy who wound up with one of the 1953 Strat prototypes - it was given to his dad or his grandpa as a leftover prototype by Gibson, and pretty much treated as "just an old guitar" by his family. For all I know, like the '53 Strat prototype, it isn't even stock anymore. He did say the that some people in the guitar collecting world, wanted to talk to him about the guitar.

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This is the only Gibson I've ever GAS'd for. Less than $1,500??? I'm going to start saving.

 

My understanding is that the original version never went into production, and that only a handful of prototypes were made. If that's true, then Billy Gibbons' or the Gretsch guy's Moderne, if they're the prototypes, would be "holy grail" type collectibles.

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Guys, the reason the '58 Gibson Moderne is so mysterious is because it was probably never built. Ted McCarty was interviewed about it more than once and stated that he never saw one. He remembered that they intended to build 1 or 2 prototypes for NAMM, but he didn't believe it ever happened or they would have been shown and there was no record of them being seen. The only option to that is that they were built and destroyed to appease the gods of good taste, or were stolen by Gibson employees, which seems really far-fetched.

 

Re: Billy Gibbons' Moderne. It's a fake, guaranteed. He just loves pulling peoples' chains over stuff like that.

 

D

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This Epiphone Moderne is available locally. The seller wants $925.

 

3m43od3l75Q35X15R2b292753957cd51c19.jpg3nb3o73pe5Z35W55S3b298abde5602e9919.jpg

 

When I saw it I was like "yeah,right" and then I look on ebay and saw this

(Link)

 

moderne2.jpg

 

I didn't even know Epiphone made these until last week

 

Modernes.jpg

 

Orange-Moderne.jpg

 

Check out this guys story

 

"The Day I Played The 1950's Gibson Moderne" (link)

 

gibsonmoderne3.jpg

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Moderne, what do you want to know? Based on everything I've read, Billy does NOT have an original. Urban myth. He does however have one (maybe more) of the 1982 models, and he has a luthier that builds clones for him, if I recall some of the clones are build with left over parts from Kalamazoo, I think that Premier Guitar article covers that.

 

Here is my 2002 Epiphone Moderne, MARS Music exclusive, made of Korina - mine has Duncan 59s in it and a Gibson Fine Tune bridge. I have the original parts. Cool guitars to play for sure. They play great sitting down.

 

Orange-Moderne.jpg

 

And me playing it at a gig a couple of years ago

 

l.jpg

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I'm tell you the truth, I have been drooling Moderne for a long long while now, and spouting (confidently that they would NEVER re-issue after the original flop) that if they ever did a modern re-issue, nothing was going to stop me.

 

Now I'm in a bit of a quandry :whistle: :D

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It's so ugly its beautiful.

 

 

Very true. Mine has become a wall decoration for the most part. I used to gig with it but the Duncan 59s in it sound like {censored}, I do not like them at all. The Korina body needs a more lively, darker and hotter pickup. I'm thinking 57 Classics would be nice but actually if I could find of set of the Iommis I'd be all over them for it. I'm excited about Gibson offering one of these, but I don't think I'm in the market for one anymore. I like Les Pauls, Flying Vs and SGs better.

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...was part of an Epiphone limited edition USA collection that was never released. They were designed by Kurt Hendrick.


moderne.gifcomet.gifapollo.giffutura.gif

 

 

They were released.

 

I've played all four of these at Mars Music (a defunct retailer). They were all junk in my opinion. All of

these had cheap-o bolt-on necks with fairly abysmal fretwork. The bodies were made of Asian mysterywood.

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Moderne, what do you want to know? Based on everything I've read, Billy does NOT have an original. Urban myth. He does however have one (maybe more) of the 1982 models, and he has a luthier that builds clones for him, if I recall some of the clones are build with left over parts from Kalamazoo, I think that Premier Guitar article covers that.


Here is my 2002 Epiphone Moderne, MARS Music exclusive, made of Korina - mine has Duncan 59s in it and a Gibson Fine Tune bridge. I have the original parts. Cool guitars to play for sure. They play great sitting down.


Orange-Moderne.jpg

And me playing it at a gig a couple of years ago


l.jpg

 

I seem to recall Mars blowing those out for like $200 or so at the time. I wish I had grabbed one...:facepalm:

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    there nothing "straight" about the pull on either of those models.

     

    if you look closely you can see that the strings pull straight over the Moderne's nut.. except at the outter "E"s

    the 4 inner strings are straight.. and the outter strings are no worse than a regular Martin Acoustic headstock.

    the string trees on the Moderne are polished smooth and the strings don't get pinched because they are not in a "V" shaped groove. a very workable solution to an odd headstock design..

     

    and for sure, not everyone has the balls to step out on stage with a Moderne.

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Guys, the reason the '58 Gibson Moderne is so mysterious is because it was probably never built. Ted McCarty was interviewed about it more than once and stated that he never saw one. He remembered that they intended to build 1 or 2 prototypes for NAMM, but he didn't believe it ever happened or they would have been shown and there was no record of them being seen. The only option to that is that they were built and destroyed to appease the gods of good taste, or were stolen by Gibson employees, which seems really far-fetched.


Re: Billy Gibbons' Moderne. It's a fake, guaranteed. He just loves pulling peoples' chains over stuff like that.


D

This. I read a story about Rick Nielson even falling for a fake Gibson reverse V. Billy has been saying he has a Moderne for years now but no picture.

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