Need info on old Epiphone/Gibson

[CarolS]

I would like some information, if possible, on my mandolin. It is an Epiphone/Gibson. It is an F model, on the headstock, "Epiphone" is written in mother-of-pearl, and there is a elongated mother-of-pearl diamond between the tuning pegs with "Gibson" written in it. It has diamond inlays on the fretboard. There is an oval orange label inside which has the model number (C-7), the serial number(7810282) and says "Epiphone by Gibson". Can anyone help with it's age, where it was made, value, etc, etc??

[Greenmando]

Sounds like a 1978 Epiphone MM-50, I am unsure where they were made - in 78 could be Japan. They were moved to Korea and are still made there today.

[Enric]

The C-7 started out as the only mandolin model in a line called "Nouveau by Gibson." The bodies and necks were built in Japan and shipped to the U.S. to be assembled and finished. The Nouveau line, which also featured guitars, was introduced in 1986 and discontinued by 1989. The Nouveau C-7 was produced only in 1987 and 1988. Unfortunately, the specs on the wood are not available from Gibson, so I can't tell you whether the maple backs were solid or laminated.
All of the above was confirmed for me by Blake Howard of Gibson Customer Support. I'm less sure about the following, but it seems that the C-7 was later made under the "Epiphone by Gibson" name. The Epiphone headstock you described resembles the Nouveau headstock with the Gibson name in an elongated diamond. It's hard to put a price on these, but any #price should recognize that these are 1980s Asian imports, not old Gibson instruments.

[Enric]

The Nouveau C-7 was produced in 86-87, not 87-88 as I stated above. My error.