Epiphone Mo'Baby. A travel sized version of the Gibson Moderne

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've always regarded the Gibson Moderne as an important piece of guitar history and Gibson lore. From it's early days as a Gibson that basically didn't really exist, to the reissues with varying headstock designs, it certainly holds a place in the pantheon of electric guitar. 

But, I don't really like it. 

Here we have another reissue under the Epiphone flag that turns the Moderne into a smaller travel sized offering. This somehow makes more sense to me as a concept even if branding it "Mo'Baby" is a tad ridiculous.

I wonder if there is the option of keeping the built in speaker on while playing through an outboard amp as well. And if it would offer any string response or feedback to do so. Has anyone tried this wit speaker equipped electric guitars?

R.W. Haller

© 2015, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11

Please read our photo and content policy.

Defil Kosmos - a 1980s Polish take on the Gibson Moderne

guitarz.blogspot.com

I've always liked the story behind the Defil Kosmos. As you can see its body copies the mythical Gibson Moderne, a model conceived in 1958 together with the Flying V and the Explorer, but discarded as too radical...

It's not clear if the Kosmos was released before or after the 1982 Moderne limited reissue (or first issue, it depends on if the 3 Modernes built in 1958 and lost since can be considered as a first edition) - information I could find are contradictory, but if they were pre-1982 they are the first real incarnation in the real world of this cool design!

If they were post-1982, since there was no chance for a 1980s eastern-european musician to put his hands on a Gibson limited edition, copying it was no real infringement, more an homage! And the Kosmos was a really successful model amongst communist metalheads!

Bertram D

EDIT: A contemporary or even earlier copy by Ibanez released in the mid 1970s was brought to my attention by our knowledgeable readers - not the only Gibson copy of the time as you can see here... 

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!