HELP me to date this SG please!!!

[sunbrain]

hello
i'm new at these kinds of forum things so... help me if you can
i have in my possesion an older epiphone SG with NO visible serial number anywhere...
the guy who's trying to sell it to me says it's more than 20 years old...
now... i really love the sound of this baby and i will probably buy it...
the thing is i've been trying to find a picture of a similar model online and... so far > no luck.

the curious shape of the headstock and thinner vol / tone knowbs just don't seem to be on any of the epi's i've looked so far...

here are a few pictures of the guitar:

http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8197.jpg
http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8202.jpg
http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8206.jpg
http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8210.jpg
http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8213.jpg
http://www.trafficreligion.com/epiphone/epi_8214.jpg

please, has anyone seen or has a similar model / year?
is it japanese? is it a fake? and how come there's no serial number...
was it on a sticker or something? could i find out more if i "open it up"?

THX for any help and info

 

[If You Want Blood]

for veiwing ease

[Moderators Note: Resized for viewing ease.]

 

[Six String]

Welcome to ETSG sunbrian! :) :) :)

I'm not a resident expert on Epi but we have several that are. I'm sure they'll be glad to stop by your post to help as they can. And thanks to I Y W B for helping with the visuals!! 8) 8) 8)

 

[sunbrain]

thank U both
i sure hope someone will see this and...
well
make my sleep easier

 

[happy_tom]

Hey, this is weird...

My friend just recently bought an SG that looks exactly the same as the one on the picture...
It has an Elitist shaped headstock, but i suppose it's not an elitist
becouse it has an 'open book' top of the headstock,
dot inlys on fretboard instead of trapezoid,
and no mother of pearl logo on the headstock.

The only difference on friend's guitar are the knobs (all black) and pickups are Schaller - but I guess somebody changed them.
Serial number on that guitar should be on a sticker on the back of the headstock, but yours probably came off...


A funny thing is that the guy who sold this guitar also claimed that it was made around 1980... ;D ;D ;D Somehow we don't believe that, but we did't care becouse it was a great guitar.



And the weirdest thing of all is that I'm also from Slovenija ;D ;D ;D ;D And we thought nobody else in the whole country will have a guitar exactly like this ;D 8)


If anyone has any more info on that guitar, there will be more than one happy person here :)

PS Sunbrain, check out one of our shows and see this baby in action
Here are the dates: http://users.volja.net/realthings

 

[Zman9001]

to happy tom, i think the open book headstock means its an earlier Made In Japan "elite" (before they changed it to elitist) model

 

[barbas23]

and [size=20pt]WELCOME to ETSG[/size]

sunbrian and happy_tom :) :) :)

 

[Six String]

Welcome to ETSG happy_tom! :) :) :)

 

[happy_tom]

Thanx
I'm actually a drummer, but I've been an SG fan since childhood, even though I can barely play the guitar ;D

 

[vic108]

[quote author=barbas23 link=topic=6233.msg83287#msg83287 date=1139146993]

[size=20pt]WELCOME to ETSG

sunbrian and happy_tom[/size]

[/quote]

INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  O0

 

[TNT]

I have a hunch that the serial # may be in the control cavity. :?

 

[happy_tom]

No, no, there was a small sticker with serial number on the back of a headstock, but it's probably gone now...
I don't see much of these old epis around, with dot inlays and without crown logo on headstock.

Btw. I noticed that every now and then you can see an epi G400 wit dot inlays on the net.
I wonder if this 'dot sg' is actually some kind of epi's version of SG special faded,
or is it just a regular G400 which just happened to be made at exact moment when they ran out of trapezoid inlays in korea? :o

 

[skidshark]

welcome nappy tom and sunbrain!!

 

[guitarweasel]

[quote author=skidshark link=topic=6233.msg121896#msg121896 date=1152805851]
welcome nappy tom and sunbrain!!
[/quote]

What Skid said. :wave2:

 

[zrAC/DC]

[quote author=happy_tom link=topic=6233.msg118923#msg118923 date=1151794762]
No, no, there was a small sticker with serial number on the back of a headstock, but it's probably gone now...
I don't see much of these old epis around, with dot inlays and without crown logo on headstock.

Btw. I noticed that every now and then you can see an epi G400 wit dot inlays on the net.
I wonder if this 'dot sg' is actually some kind of epi's version of SG special faded,
or is it just a regular G400 which just happened to be made at exact moment when they ran out of trapezoid inlays in korea? :o




[/quote]




To Answer that there is an epiphone g-310 that has dot inlays and that is basically the same thing as the 400 just with different pick ups and sounds different.

 

[TNT]

..and has a bolt-on neck.

 

[happy_tom]

No, it's not a bolt-on g310. :roll:

Well, after much research I'm 99% sure that this is in fact an 80's made in japan G400, they started makin'em with trapeze inlays in 1996, an the headstock shape is suppose to be a japan-market-only thing...