VANTAGE - new to my collection - a 1982 Entertainer ve-550

Hey ho!

Today I bought a Vantage Entertainer, MIJ in 1982. It has Vantage "V" tuners, a nicely bound neck and body, with an arch top and dot inlays in the rosewood neck (bolt-on with a neck plate). One of the reasons I jumped at it was because it has twin MMK-45's, which is something I was very much after. These p-ups are HOT, lots of volume when called upon. I love the tone of these p-ups, great sounds and combos, clean and dirty.

Its kind of odd-ball, and I can't find the model number on it... I guess its a VE-550, as its solid eg not semi-solid, and that off the mats site catalogue.

Also has a coil split for both pups, and separate potentiometers for volume and tone.

It came with the original case - lovely blue shag carpet liner. That's MIJ as well. The best part is the price, @ $150.

I'll post pics when I get a chance.

Edit: Pics!! See down the thread for more....






Best,

Ian

Great score Ian! Well done.
(Um, but yer in the wrong forum my friend)
You should be HERE

Oh by the way...$150? I hate you.

Thanks Barry, old horse.

I'll cross-post over to the Mats site when I get a few photos in gear.

I think we can happily and effectively hate each other... for example I hate that gorgeous red Vantage of yours, as, of course, it should be right here in the office with me.

:arrow: Work is reasonably beserk for me at the moment, but I'll get some pics soon... this axe holds a few surprises.

Ian

Now, play nice, boys... or I'll take yer toys off ya!!! Have a perve here...

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/vantage/ve/ve.html

...a couple of the lads have a VE - eyebulger does, I know and quite likes it!! I passed on one here because the pups were changed out; probably shoulda grabbed it, but ah well!! Good price, man; you did good!!

Right, you found it, John! The one in the itty bitty photo - that's the model.
Uncovered pickups. Dots for inlay. Not as fancy as some, but I still love her.

And according to that site its a VE???A. Man, I've got to find an early 80's catalogue. :idea:

anaerobe wrote:. Man, I've got to find an early 80's catalogue. :idea:

I had one; it's the one that's in the Vantage forum at Mat.org - I figured everyone should share it, eh!!

Thanks! Lots of info crammed into that. The closest thing to the VE in that one (that I could find) is the VSH... unless I'm missing something.

Nope, you're not; there are no VE's in that cat!! I'd never noticed, you know!!

Right, I think that catalogue is from 1983.... perhaps my guitar ('82) is one of the last of the Mohicans!

Ian

That catalogue in the actual forums was *ahem* 'acquired" at at the same time as my Vantage VA900, off the counter of the music shop in Melbourne, Australia in 1980 when I bought the guitar brand new, but the pages are tear out and as you can see there are doubles so maybe the VE pages were gone already?

Gotcha. I'll scour the web for some extra info when work calms down. Anyway, I'm digging these MMK-45's..... No Seymours for this axe.
Ian

Forget the catalogue Ian, my old trout,...when do we see the guitar?!

Barry, old horse!

You shall see it when I manage to wrestle the Nikon off our 'scope. Which will be in a couple of minutes. Lessee.... no one's looking.....
ha!








So - as everyone can see, its a base model. I didn't have time to clean or set her up. At minimum I've got to get the fretboard clean and apply a set of Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom [tops are essentially 10's (G,B,E), with heavy bottoms (30, 42, 52)] strings to give Barry's suggestion a try.

Best,
~ I

P.S. The truss rod cover reads "EntertainAr" - whot th' ..??

Yowser! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!
Really nice man.

Dunno about that TRC though.
I guess their translator was in the bottom third of his Engrish class.

Were all Vantage's sent to NZ, Us and Canada? We rarely see them in good "ole Blighty".
UK to the uninitiated !!

As a marketing guru ( Well, I think so ). I am still struggling to understand uncle Matts routes to Market ! I guess we will never know !

Steve777 wrote:Were all Vantage's sent to NZ, Us and Canada?

Yes.
Yes they were.
And Frenchy has most of 'em!

...and Australia; eyebulger at matt forums has a fairish collection including an Invader which I covet rather badly! Remember, too, that I bought my Vantage in Australia - I've only ever seen one other here in NZ and stupidly I passed on it.

Westones are a lot more 'common' here in the Shaky Isles for some odd reason and I know there's a heap of Matsumokus in Sweden...

Steve, John, and Barry -

FWIW I've read (only on the 'net, mind you so get the salt out...) that Vantages were marketed in Canada, Australia, and the US.

I've got an Aussie-only brand "Onyx" Japanese-wing style axe hiding in the basement.

++++++++++++++++++++

Speculative Background on this VE -(fill in your favourite number)A:

- Markings on the neck plate indicate that it was used by Long and McQuade (large music store chain in Canada) in their music school. I've seen their guitars marked like this before - the "Mule" (in my collection) has the same markings.
- L and M blew them out after a few years of service. This one has L and M, $175 etched on the neck plate.
- Its probably a guitar that was shipped to this town (Winnipeg) and sold here in the early 80's.

Oops... forgot to get a pic of the original Vantage case that came with the VE.

Will do that soon.

~I

Good info, brother where did you find that?! It has been suggested several times over at Matsumoku.org in the past that Matsumoku did indeed build instruments for a specific market from time to time so you are probably onto something. However, there is a fellow in Sweden who is on the prowl after Vantages over there because the Swedish school system bought many of them for use in schools and is now slowly updating them!!! maybe our European people could have a look into that because I reckon that not just Vantage would be represented, but all of matt's brands could be spotted?!

anaerobe wrote:...Vantages were marketed in Canada, Australia, and the US....used by Long and McQuade...

Yeah, interesting Ian.
L&M have had their hooks into musical instrument sales for some considerable time and have had a general influence on the Canadian scene consequently. I remember frequenting their local stores in the Toronto area as far back as the late 60's.

Interesting that you now connect them to the Mats era too!

A little late on the Thread but wanted to congradulate Ian on a Great find... Great deal you made there... I missed an entertainer 2 years ago.... They are really great looking instruments

In regards to Vantage, Based of adds from catalogues, The brand was distributed pretty much world wide... We have seen adds from Canada ( were the Vantage brand was created ) The U.S., France, U.K., Australia and most Europe. These were very popular in music schoools due to the price point on them. Long and Mcquaid being a large retail outlet carried the Vantage line in Canada along side Steve's Music Store who was one of the largest Vantage seller since it almost became the house brand....

I am able to find Vantages once in a while since Steve's Music Store carried them, I am unable to find Westones since Steve's did not carry them.... Seems all the rest of Canada is able to find Westones but none in my small Area...

Just my 2 cents on Vantage.

Again Ian, great catch, hope you enjoy her and for 150.00$, I hate you too....

P.

Thank you Frenchy, old horse. I lived in Toronto for three years during a phase of my misspent youth, and spent a lot of time at Steve's... now that was a great store.

And..

It's nice to be thoroughly hated.

Hi Ian,

I spent 15 years in Toronto and came back to Montreal to be closer to family.... While in T.O. always went to L&M since they have more stores and more inventory... But L&M is not present in Montreal... Steve's is the place to go here.... They set the trends.... They brought in the MIJ instruments were most would not touch them. Vantage was a big seller here.

Mats are found were the distributors were succesful to promote the lines.... It will vary from one place to another...

Like I said, I cant seem to get my hands on Westones here..... My Super Headless is from Ontario.... and the other 2 westones come from farm land in Quebec.... They came from small Mom and Pop music shops out in nowhere land....

Being hated is a nice thing....

P.

anaerobe wrote:I lived in Toronto for three years during a phase of my misspent youth, and spent a lot of time at Steve's... now that was a great store.

Still there! Still is!
Back in the early 80's I bought my Ovation 1983 Collector's Edition there, along with the Roland Cube 100 and assorted numerous other gear. Just last Fall we returned to buy a Pearl drum kit for the "kid" (his mother's idea--thanks for that dear!)

Hi,

can someone of the VANTAGE people enlighten me.
There is black VANTAGE AVENGER around, price sounds also quite o.k.

VANTAGE AVENGER

But the pickup combination I haven't found on MATSUMOKU.ORG.

Ta

H.

Vantage were the most infuriatingly vague company when it came to recording specs so that could very well be the real deal; ask over at Matt as there are one or two real experts over there, but if the price is a good one, I'd be tempted to go for it!!

Hi Hendrik and John,

My knowledge to Vantage only extends to the expertise gained from owning my "mule" - an '86 (I think) early Korean (assembled) with a Japanese neck (I think) and my 82 Entertainer which you might see above. The 82 is better ID'ed much more easily - but its an odd duck with a semi-solid body, no F-holes. Both of my Vantages are very good, but my Entertainer is a lifer - a guitar that I will never get rid of. The tone is very pleasant - above normal.

As far as ID, that nameplate looks right, the neck looks correct - definitely MIJ if its not a scarf joint. I can't the serial # that well but some were prefaced by a letter.

My sense is that it looks CORRECT, and FWIW I have found Avengers on evil bay that have every pup variation known to man, from regular Strat s/s/s to h/h and all in between.

Looks like a nice deal.



Best,
Ian

Yep, all true; my Avenger is an 81 and still in the US - I've got to go pick it up - it's a single MMK45 but the Avengers seem to be the Vantage equivalent of the Spectrum and were available in pretty much any pup config you wanted.
My VA900 is a keeper, too; utterly monstrous guitar!

I have that exact guitar which I bought new in 1982. Have you figured out the model? And yes, Entertainar (sic) is misspelled.

Hello sd1171, and welcome.
You'll find more info and discussion threads on Vantage Entertainar over at the Matsumoku Forums.

One of the boys there has done a lot of research on the EntertainAr model and has concluded that it was a separate line distinct from the EntertainEr series. Nobody knows why it was misspelled, perhaps originally an error. I also have one and it's a fantastic guitar!