MOP or MOTO?

[Chad]

Actually, I think pic 1 has an abalone look to it. The other two....it's hard to tell with the lighting/angle, but 2 looks like MOTO and 3 looks like MOP.

[straycat]

Your frets need some serious attention.

[slash-ed]

2nd one looks most like MOTO. I had a late 90s KE-3 (one of the ones with J serial and no neck plate) that had MOP-ish looking inlays from some angles. The 1st and 3rd have the "lustrous" look that photographed MOP usually shows.

Well, who's right?!?!

[RacerX]

Your frets need some serious attention.

Strings also

[Sanctuary]

All MOP...

[Dimebag]

first mop,second and third moto.for me...

[Sunbane]

THIS is what MOTO looks like; like those liquid soaps you see in a bottle next to your bathroom faucet. And at other angles it's just a dull greyish white.

[black cherry]

What's MOTO made of? Is it some kind of plastic?

[Sunbane]

What's MOTO made of? Is it some kind of plastic?

Yes. This is why it is called "Mother of Toilet Seat" in the first place.

[Rich#6]

Your frets need some serious attention

except for the third one the pictures make the fret wear look a lot worse
Thanks Ron I just bough some strings but haven't have time to change them. I have been playing my gunslinger instead.:ROTF:
I tapped on them and they both sound like glass.
Sunbane your MOTO inlays look better than these MOPs.

Well, who's right?!?!

This is the deal. #1 is a very early model 6 so it has a high grade MOP. #2 and #3 look the same in person but 2 is a 93 which should have MOP according to the catalog and the board here, #3 - 96 DX1 it doesn't say what it was in the catalog but the board says MOP stopped in 95. The information on one of them is wrong. I didn't know which.

[zeegler]

It's possible that your '96, could have a neck left over from '95.

[Nazgul]

Put all three guitars on a stand next to each other and take a pic with flash from about 2 meters away. Make sure that full fretboards are visible...it would be easier to tell from that pic imo.

[black cherry]

Yes. This is why it is called "Mother of Toilet Seat" in the first place.

Thanks.. I wonder why it's referred to the toilet seat? My toilet seat doesn't look anything like that. Whose does?

[Sunbane]

Sunbane your MOTO inlays look better than these MOPs.

I doubt they'd do if the guitars were standing next to each other in the same room.

Btw, the MOP inlays on my 750XL look a lot like your #2 and #3. But when sitting next to a guitar with MOTO inlays, you can tell the difference right away.

[Inazone]

They all look like MOP to me. I have guitars with both, and when looking from a few feet away, the most obvious traits of MOTO are the consistent coloration/figuring and the glossy appearance. Natural MOP can look a bit dull, and the colors aren't as consistent. I wouldn't be surprised to see a DX-1 with MOP inlays, considering how many apparently non-standard guitars showed up in the mid `90s. There are a number of models that never appeared in any catalog.

In the first pic, the `96 DR3 on the left is clearly MOTO:



In the second pic, the Dinky XL and Soloist Pro are both MOP. Same (crappy) camera and (insufficient) lighting as the first pic:



I really dislike MOTO, and I think it's unfortunate that all of Jackson's imports have almost as much plastic as wood on the fretboard, but that's pretty standard. If Gibson gets away with it on any sub-$2000 Les Paul, I shouldn't be surprised to see it everywhere else too.