jroot22 Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 Hello, my immediate family has recently taken possession of a heritage guitar after the passing of a family member. The family members name was Maudie Moore and she did inlay work for Gibson, Martin, and Heritage in kalamazoo. We still live in kalamazoo and it has come to my attention heritage still operates in kalamazoo so I may go to them for more information. I was looking for more information about this guitar as I could not find any information for any A code serial numbers. As she did inlay it has quite a bit of inlay in the headstock and fret board. Im just looking for any information about it as I can find and stumbled upon this forum. Any info would be appreciated! Thanks!
jroot22 Posted October 1, 2021 Author Posted October 1, 2021 I forgot to add that this is one of many guitars that was part of a larger collection. This is just the one that was given to my father and stepmother. Another family member supposedly has the bulk of the guitars and will be sending pictures and trying to evaluate them. I do not know how many there are or if they will be for sale. All I know is this one is now a part of our immediate family and the other guitars are yet to be gone through.
High Flying Bird Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 Now how cool is that? I love K-zoo and it's people... well most of them. ? If there was a Heritage museum this would be a nice piece for the exhibit.
HANGAR18 Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 Welcome to the Heritage Owner's Club! That guitar is indeed a rare artifact. The letter A serial number is something that we here basically NEVER see as those guitars are from the actual first year Heritage was making guitars. Because of how rare that is, the first year of production Heritage guitars is largely believed to begin with the letter B meaning that a letter B serial number would be from 1985. So this guitar is clearly from the era when the Heritage Guitars company was forming and was among those very first guitars ever made. We are familiar with the name Maudie Moore (sorry to hear about her recent passing) and this inlay work is magnificent! To fans of Heritage Guitars everywhere, this guitar is a real treasure! Perhaps not worth a whole lot of money by the standards of other brands but a treasure none the less.
HANGAR18 Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 ps Perhaps you could tell the rest of your family members about this forum here. We would all love to know more about the Maudie Moore guitar collection as the outside world has probably never seen any of these guitars previously.
bsck1 Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 A true treasure. I hope you cherish it for a long, long time. That headstock inlay in simply stunning. Maudie's contribution to the guitar industry is legendary.
Steiner Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 3 hours ago, HANGAR18 said: ps Perhaps you could tell the rest of your family members about this forum here. We would all love to know more about the Maudie Moore guitar collection as the outside world has probably never seen any of these guitars previously. You said it Hangar18! I really appreciate blinged guitars. If you, jroot22, search here you'll find this forum has tremendous respect for Maudie Moore (RIP). The 575/Sweet 16 decked out like the Heritage American Eagle Sold for a premium in short order - why no NGD here?! I am interested in curating any guitar that comes from her collection even at a premium price.
davesultra Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 That’s one magnificent example of one of the very most early Heritage guitars. That’s the first “A” serial I’ve ever seen. Wouldn’t mind being the caretaker of that instrument. Don’t let Brent find out about this one, but just in case… “Dibs”!
Gitfiddler Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 11 hours ago, jroot22 said: I forgot to add that this is one of many guitars that was part of a larger collection. This is just the one that was given to my father and stepmother. Another family member supposedly has the bulk of the guitars and will be sending pictures and trying to evaluate them. I do not know how many there are or if they will be for sale. All I know is this one is now a part of our immediate family and the other guitars are yet to be gone through. First of all, very sorry for your family's loss. Maudie's amazing inlay work was admired by many of us here. She was an artistic genius in my view, making guitar inlay designs with the highest degree of creativity, skill and beauty. There are several HOC members, some of whom with close connections with Heritage, who may be able to provide valuable insights into her guitars if you or your family wishes to post them here. And as you've noted, there may be Heritage employees who can give additional information about her collection.
brentrocks Posted October 1, 2021 Posted October 1, 2021 I’m very sorry for your loss. I never got to meet her, but she was definitely a LEGEND in the guitar world. That guitar in your pictures is a piece of HERITAGE HISTORY!!! It should stay in the family. It looks like brand new!!!!
jroot22 Posted October 1, 2021 Author Posted October 1, 2021 Hello, I just want to say thanks for all the great information. I have passed that information as well as the link to the forum onto the other family members. I was simply doing some research on behalf of my stepmother who was related to Maudie and is the current owner of the original guitar I posted.(These are not my guitars) This one I am attaching is currently in possession of another family member. I have no idea what will happen to these guitars and cannot speak to if they will be kept or sold but simply thought id share the images with you all on this forum. I thought I would share the attached piece as it has a cool top and is again an A code in pretty good shape. It has some more inlay work and a matching pick guard! How cool. Again I appreciate all the information and messages, I will post again if I receive any more information.
Steiner Posted October 2, 2021 Posted October 2, 2021 2 hours ago, jroot22 said: Uh oh... I can't tell if that's a spade or psilocybin. @skydog52 are you there?
skydog52 Posted October 2, 2021 Posted October 2, 2021 12 hours ago, Steiner said: Uh oh... I can't tell if that's a spade or psilocybin. @skydog52 are you there? This has to be one great collection. Wish I could get a list. Definitely a Spade.
skydog52 Posted October 2, 2021 Posted October 2, 2021 There where a few of these H-140s out there with Maudie's skilled hands on them.
jroot22 Posted October 3, 2021 Author Posted October 3, 2021 I’ll have to upload pictures when I get back to my house but I just got to visit Maudies workshop. Her son Larry told me that all A code guitars were made for employees or special made for individuals such as family members. So as suggested by some members on the forum I opened the back cover to look at the signatures and sure enough there are signatures. I took some pictures of her workshop and even some left over stock material she had been using. I’ll make sure to upload when I get back and can compress the image size for the forum.
jroot22 Posted October 3, 2021 Author Posted October 3, 2021 12 hours ago, skydog52 said: There where a few of these H-140s out there with Maudie's skilled hands on them. I’ll have to upload my pictures when I get back but there is an incomplete fret board I found when visiting Maudies workshop that is the exact same pattern as your inlays!
bolero Posted October 3, 2021 Posted October 3, 2021 Wow!! Amazing to see pictures of these guitars and Maudie's work, posted! Thanks for taking the time to share And Condolences
TalismanRich Posted October 3, 2021 Posted October 3, 2021 JRoot, As others said, sorry for your family's loss. Maudie did incredible work, a true artist! I would definitely take the guitar down to the factory on Parsons Street. Jim Deurloo and Ren Wall have been there since the Gibson days, Jim was one of the original owners, along with Marv Lamb and Bill Paige, who have both retired. If anyone could tell you the stories about those guitars, they would be the folks to talk with. They all worked together at Gibson, and certainly knew Maudie. You might give them a call before you go, to make sure that Jim and Ren are there. With the way things are these days, they may not be there every day.
bobmeyrick Posted October 4, 2021 Posted October 4, 2021 On 10/2/2021 at 2:12 PM, skydog52 said: There where a few of these H-140s out there with Maudie's skilled hands on them. Is that the fingerboard from a Les Paul Artisan?
skydog52 Posted October 4, 2021 Posted October 4, 2021 15 minutes ago, bobmeyrick said: Is that the fingerboard from a Les Paul Artisan? Looks like it. Maudie probably had a hand in on both.
jroot22 Posted October 4, 2021 Author Posted October 4, 2021 As you can see from this box full of unfinished fret boards that was in Maudies workshop this appears to be something she did multiple times. Including what appears to be this gibson banjo fret board.
jroot22 Posted October 4, 2021 Author Posted October 4, 2021 Here is the first batch of pictures I took of Maudies workshop in her garage. The file sizes mean I can only put so many per post even with the file size compressed. Also if a moderator needs to move this to another thread thats fine, Im not sure what all the rules are of this forum but figured for now I would keep them in my original thread but are slightly off topic of the original thread title.
jroot22 Posted October 4, 2021 Author Posted October 4, 2021 Batch number 2 of pictures from Maudies garage workshop. The final picture with her name engraved is her personal set of calipers.
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