Dating JHS Vintage Brand Guitars/Model Numbers, etc?

HarrySeven

As some of you will have seen from this thread, I have a Vintage SG which I love dearly (primarily due to it's neck profile).



It has a body-coloured headstock and yellow “Vintage” logo. It's a set neck model.

There is no “Wilkinson” branding or a serial number visible anywhere.

The machine heads are chrome (rather than the modern green plastic type).

As @TTony and @stimpsonslostson quite rightly said, even if I do come across an identical model, it might not feel the same. However, I'd still like to find one!

I must admit to not knowing much about JHS products (or the history of the Vintage brand), so any info would be appreciated (Ive also emailed JHS about the guitar).

TTony

I did some of my Kawai detective work through finding old catalogues.

From dating the catalogues and seeing which models were included in which catalogues, I managed to build up a rough sketch of what was produced when.  

That might not be so easy with a model that's less distinctive, or is likely to have been available over a longer period of time., but I couldn't think of anything else!

HarrySeven

Cheers!

General question - when did the 'Vintage' brand first appear? I have a hazy memory of the name being appended to some Encore guitars in the mid-'90's?

Bogwhoppit

Wilkinson became involved in 2005.

http://www.jhs.co.uk/wilkinson_vin.html

olafgarten

Are there any serial numbers on the pickups or the pots? 

HarrySeven

I'll have a look.

HarrySeven

@TTony was right - old magazine ads or brochures might be useful.

HarrySeven

Trawling through eBay is a bit of a mare when looking for these, due to the proliferation of the rest of the (contemporary) range.

xmrchi

This is all from memory to bare with me! I believe Encore became vintage approx 2000, Trevor involved about 2005, encore went from the trad Fender shaped headstock to their own around 97 which they still use today as vintage , I definately remember this guitar coming out about 2002 as my next door neighbour bought the same guitar, I was very impressed when I played it all them years ago.

57Deluxe

/\ get naked you mean??

UnclePsychosis

@harryseven

I bought my first electric guitar in either 2001 or 2002 and it was a Vintage PRS copy (VRS100?). I seem to recall they were pretty new to the market at the time.

HarrySeven

Ta!

GuitarZero

HarrySeven said:

Cheers!

General question - when did the 'Vintage' brand first appear? I have a hazy memory of the name being appended to some Encore guitars in the mid-'90's?

You could be right with the mid-90s, a friend of mine bought a LP copy around then, though he wasn't a big fan of it and it eventually went back.  I hadn't heard of them before that time.

Gizmo

Seems to have had 3 of its tuners replaced but this looks pretty close

http://www.cashgenerator.co.uk/product-electronic/vintage-v-series-distressed-cherry-red-WY24848

HarrySeven

Cash Generator, Wythenshawe. Very similar, apart from the black headstock.

Sarge

I've searched through my emails to info@jhs re my old pre trevW vintage, all I could glean from the good people there was "it was more than likely made in Vietnam....." and they had no dedicated brand for their pickups!
they have no catalogue database nor any other info on the Vintage brand pre 2005.

good luck in your search!

HarrySeven

Sarge said:

"...they have no catalogue database nor any other info on the Vintage brand pre 2005."

Effective company archives, eh?

Chalky

Why would a company have archives? Its a business not a history project )

HarrySeven

Are you being serious? Really?

HarrySeven

http://www.businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/about/aboutintro/

HarrySeven

As guitarists, we tend to be obsessed with the minutiae of 'vintage mojo' - and a big chunk of this comes from historical data (whether corporate or otherwise).

The 20th Century is littered with examples of archival shortsightedness - but now, thanks to both t'interweb and either organisations making documents available or individuals gathering/sharing data, we have unprecedented access to critical build records, factory specs, advertisements, brochures, sales receipts and a million other forms of ephemera.

Some organisations only blow the trumpet on occasions such as anniversaries, etc, but others keep and share detailed records as a matter of course.

Personally, I'd say it's pretty important...