The Mystrious Gibson Moderne

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:54 pm

Look what I found at my friends store today

Made by Glen Miller,the same guy that made this one

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:12 am

jesus christ. you people are idiots

these are the ugliest got dan guitars evar fuck

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:43 pm

I love the Moderne, in general... but, goddamn I think that headstock is ugly, especially with the string guides; those string angles are hideous.

cooter · Post by **cooter** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:41 pm

Nice one westy. I've been fascinated with these since I saw a reissue hanging over the counter in a music store back in the early eighties.
I guess the question is, how does it play and sound?

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 6:56 pm

It's funny how the various copies are a legit part of the story of this guitar because nobody has ever seen an original. I really like the design of this guitar and I think it lends itself to different headstock shapes.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:43 pm

Thanks for the posts. This guitar sounds ingredible,and it plays great too. I don't know how to describe the sound,its that Gibson PAF sound but more powerful than the Les Pauls I've owned. Maybe a Flying V or Explorer sounds like this but I never owned one.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:09 pm

westtexasred wrote:Thanks for the posts. This guitar sounds ingredible,and it plays great too. I don't know how to describe the sound,its that Gibson PAF sound but more powerful than the Les Pauls I've owned. Maybe a Flying V or Explorer sounds like this but I never owned one.

The way you've described it reminds me of the Korina V/Exp difference, which is a massively pronounced upper midrange, especially considering it's a Gibson. LPs have tons of lows and mids, SGs are more low-mid/treble heavy like a halfway point between an LP and a V/Exp. I don't have any problems imagining the Moderne sounding like a V or Explorer, think that's probably a safe estimation.

What brand are the pickups, Duncans? Their '59s and Pearly Gates tend to push the upper mids more than stock Gibson buckers IMO, probably in an attempt to bring any import guitar you put them into closer to that much closer to the plugged-in Gibbo sound.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:21 pm

Thanks I think the Pickups are Gibson '57 Classics.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 4:52 pm

oh shit, when did you get that red firebird?!

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 5:06 pm

Here's the thread

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:25 pm

I like them, but I am not sure which headstock. I like the idea of the one you have, but the tuner placement seems awkward. Function over form in that case.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:45 pm

I love the Moderne. It is like the Sasquatch of the guitar world.

On the left below is the first a photo of a "Moderne". It appeared in Tom Wheeler's 1974 book about the Golden Age of Gibson Guitars. In the Middle
is a photo of Billy Gibbons's "Moderne from a 1979 book about ZZ Top published by Rolling Stone Magazine. Could they be the same guitar?

Or could Billy's guitar be a '70's Ibanez "Futura" like the guitar on the right?

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 3:51 am

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ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:25 am

There was never an original Moderne. Not built by Gibson, anyway. The only ones that exist are by other companies. Gibson made their own after other companies copied it. Can't remember the full story but the guy who wrote the Squier book wrote an article about it for Guitarist a few months back and apparently Gibson NEVER actually made one until after the design had popped up in some Gibson pamphlet or literature and had subsequently been manufactured by a few other companies. So there's no such thing as a Gibson Moderne "reissue" as such.

DasBeef · Post by **DasBeef** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:16 pm

I love the headstock on westtexasred's moderne. Well played sir.

crazydave911 · Post by **crazydave911** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 3:02 pm

jcyphe wrote:It's funny how the various copies are a legit part of the story of this guitar because nobody has ever seen an original. I really like the design of this guitar and I think it lends itself to different headstock shapes.

I agree, though I never understood why it ever had any headstock but the "V" headstock. I mean geeez, it's just half of a "V". It would seem to me it would have sold just fine as a "V studio", made for a studio musician

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 4:54 pm

crazydave911 wrote:
jcyphe wrote:It's funny how the various copies are a legit part of the story of this guitar because nobody has ever seen an original. I really like the design of this guitar and I think it lends itself to different headstock shapes.
I agree, though I never understood why it ever had any headstock but the "V" headstock. I mean geeez, it's just half of a "V". It would seem to me it would have sold just fine as a "V studio", made for a studio musician

It's because Ted McCarty's original patent drawing for the Moderne had the Gumby headstock.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:04 pm

fuuuuck. how much did you slang for that? plz inform us before you try to sell/trade it.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 10:49 pm

I believe Gibson probably did make a few back in the day and one will turn up. It seems weird they would go through the trouble of designing a guitar and never bother to build a prototype. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Thu Sep 27, 2012 6:45 am

Sloan wrote:fuuuuck. how much did you slang for that? plz inform us before you try to sell/trade it.

Thanks,I got a good deal on it.actually,I took it to Guitar Center to see what they would give me for it but they said they couldn't buy it because of the "G" Gibson Logo on the headstock.

jcyphe wrote:I believe Gibson probably did make a few back in the day and one will turn up. It seems weird they would go through the trouble of designing a guitar and never bother to build a prototype. That doesn't make a lot of sense.

Yes,according to the article in Premier Guitar Magazine up until the end of his life Ted McCarty swore that several Modernes had been made.Ted said he even remembered one of them being sent out to a Gibson case supplier for "a fitting".