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CMI e200 guitar information?
Submitted by Brad on Fri, 03/18/2005 - 13:55.
I just aquired a CMI E200 electric guitar, Plays great. Thin body, very light. uncovered tuning pegs,all strung together with a stamped(scroll type) metal plate,two single pickups I am trying to find out it's age. And history, I could not find any serial numbers.Do I need to disassemble it? Any help would be nice. Thank you Brad
Hello Brad, I can actually help you out here. I own a CMI amp, but there are two CMIs, and both imported guitars from Japan, so it can be confusing:
CMI #1 is "Cleartone Musical Instruments" of Bletchley, England. Another name that Jim Marshall used (he also used Park and Narb) to get around an exclusive deal Marshall was tied into with Rose-Morris. If your headstock logo is a bit rectangular, and the "C" stretches over the "MI", then it's one of these.
CMI #2 is Chicago Musical Industries of Standel, California. They were taken over by Gibson, and Gibson people will still answer Qs about Standel products. Their logo uses a curvy font and, IIRC, the "MI" is lower case and the "i" has a star rather than dot over it.
Both were primarily amp-makers. CMI England were slight variations on the Marshall products and were made around 75-76. CMI USA made solid-state amps, also in the mid-seventies. Both companies went to Japanese makers and had guitars made for import under their brand names. From what I've seen, they're not up to the standards of the Fuji-Gen-Gakki classics like the Tokai-Ibanez-Greco models. They are quite decent, though, and the few I've seen on Fleeb fetch even more than I think they're worth.
If you have any more info, post it up and I'll see if I can come up with more.
mine has CMI (LARGE LETTERS)ELECTRIC GUITAR E 200(SMALLERLETTERS)all in one line. any more info? Thank you.
Brad, take a look at this Wah-wah pedal:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22669&item=7304423862&rd=1
This is the CMI logo for Jim Marshall's offshoot company Cleartone Musical Instruments. If your logo is the same, then your guitar was imported from Japan (Terry Marshall handled this side) from 1976 to 1981 at the very latest. By then, Marshall was free of the Rose-Morris deal and all those alernate-Marshall brands died.
Unlike Gibson, the Marshall website airbrushes Park, Narb and CMI out of its history. Doyle's "History of Marshall" may help you. Sad, really.
It's likely to be the Standel CMI, then. I think (for obvious reasons) www.harmony-central.com has more reviews of Standel CMI than Bletchley. Last time I looked, mine was the only English (and had to be titled "Cleartone blahblahblah).
Have a check of HC, Brad. I'd be amazed, and even more confused, if another CMI is out there.
Hello John, and welcome aboard. I don't have a Bletchley CMI guitar; I have one of their (Marshall) amps.
Here's the logo of a Bletchley-Marshall CMI guitar imported from Japan:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2384&item=7316995468&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
The logo on the headstock is identical to my amp's. If yours is similar, it will be a Japanese made guitar, late 70s, imported by Terry Marshall and sold in the UK between 76 and 81.
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