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The serial numbers on most of these plates appear to be random so it's unlikely to be dateable through that, but this probably puts it pre-1976, because dateable serials on Mat guitars started to be adopted from about then.
Also it's got an "open book" headstock profile, again, from about '76 or so, Japanese copy manufacturers mostly changed this on export guitars, because of legal threats (the so-called "lawsuit") from Norlin Gibson.
Early 70s Japanese LP copies were often quite inaccurate in their detailing - for example you find position markers up to the 17th fret, round-cornered fretboards, necks that stand very high above the body and so on. As production continued the designs got more accurate - and yours has none of those early features, which to my mind would suggest it wasn't made before 1973.
That's probably as close as it's possible to date your guitar without anything that would tie the specific design to a date - like a catalogue, or even a receipt!
You might find some help at the , try posting in the Other Matsumoku Guitars section - I'm pretty sure I've seen guitars very similar to yours, with different brands being discussed there, & someone might have a more exact idea of dates.
Jon.
Statistics: Posted by Bassassin — Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:25 am
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I don't know much about MANN guitars other than they were distributed by Great West out of several Canadian cities. They had a distribution center in Vancouver so it is likely your guitar came from there if you purchased it in BC.
I checked your Les Paul copy against the LP's pictured in my 70's MANN catalog and yours appears to be a much higher quality instrument. Yours has nicer binding, inlays, and top. Also, there are no maple fretboard versions pictured in my catalog. So, I don't know for sure who was supplying MANN guitars, but yours does have a mid 1970's Ibanez look. Could the guys at the Ibanez forum tell you who actually built the guitar? It appears to be a top of the line model for a MANN.
Statistics: Posted by VintAxe — Sat Feb 13, 2010 12:09 pm
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Statistics: Posted by JohnnyCanuck — Fri Feb 12, 2010 7:58 pm
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