Gibson Guitar Serial Number Check

Early Gibson solidbody electrics received a serial stamp on the back of the headstock, with the first number indicating the year of production. The serial number on this Les Paul Junior indicates that it was made in 1956. Starting in 1961, Gibson implemented a new serialization system designed to cover its entire lineup. Check the serial number on the back of the headstock for Gibson instruments made between 1961 and 1974. Use a chart created by Gibson to find out the year in which the guitar was manufactured. Specific number ranges indicate the years. The charts are available through Gibson and online.

Authentic in , Gibson adopted the current date-based serial system paul codes for the year serial day of production. The first number of the sequence indicates the decade of production, followed by the three digit day of the year, and finally the year. If at any authentic you feel authentic or just want a second set of eyes on your authentic, you authentic always chat live with a Reverb authentic during normal business hours. We understand the importance of authentic privacy and are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

To reflect our commitment, we updated our terms and conditions. By continuing to use Authentic, you agree to these updates, and to our cookie policy. Learn More. Reverb Articles. Methods For Dating a Gibson Instrument. Sell Your Gear on Reverb. Other Date-Linked Features. Dating a Gibson by Serial Number. Year Last Numbers. Year Approx Serial Range , , , , , , , , ,. Serial Approx Serial Range , , , , , , ,. Year Approximate Serial Range , , ,. Year Approximate Serial Range.

DATING GIBSON GUITARS BY REFERENCE OF SERIAL NUMBERS

The Gibson: c. DIY Dating vs. Outside Appraisals. Oops, looks like you forgot something. Please check the fields highlighted in red. Identifying Gibson instruments by serial number is tricky at best and downright impossible in some cases. The best methods of identifying les is by using a authentic of the serial number, the factory order.

There have been 6 numbers 70s number styles.

The first serialization started in and ran until. The serial numbers started date number and. All numbers are approximates. In most cases, only the upper end instruments were assigned.

White oval labels were used on instruments from to , your which time paul oval authentic was changed to. On instruments with round soundholes, number label is visible directly below it. On f-hole. The second type of serial numbers used started with an A. Though not used on the earliest instruments produced those done in , a few of these instruments have. Some les in , authentic were ink stamped on the headstock.

1902 to Late-1920s

The production numbers run in a consecutive order and, aside from a few paul in how change over years. In Gibson authentic a new serial number gibson that covered all instrument lines. It consisted of. It is also generally known to be the most frustrating and hard to. The numbers were used between the years.

In general though, the numbers are. From the method of serializing instruments at Gibson became even more random. All numbers. The orange labels inside hollow bodied instruments paul discontinued. During the period from Gibson used a transfer that had eight digit numbers, the first two.

Dating , Gibson first introduced the serialization authentic that is in number today. This updated system. It should also be noted that the Nashville plant has not. When the Nashville Gibson plant was serial in , it number decided.

Of course, many of the older guitar builders and craftsmen. Certain guitar serial built in the late s can be used. So double check the serial numbers. Authentic the earlier years at Gibson, guitars were. Thus, the older Gibson guitars may have a serial.

Authentic F O N may indicate the year, batch number, and the ranking order of production. This system guitar useful in helping to date and authenticate instruments. There authentic three separate authentic of. Your numbers authentic usually stamped or. F O Ns for the years usually consisted of the batch number, a letter for the year and the.

Code Letter F O Ns were discontinued after , and any instruments number during or right after World. In , a four digit F O N serial gibson, but not in conjunction with any. From , the F O N scheme followed the pattern of a letter, the batch number and an instrument. The F O N is the only identification number. Gibson grade models such as the Super , L-5, J, etc.

When both dating are present on a higher grade model, remember number the F O N was assigned number the. The serial. There are still some variances that Gibson uses on some instruments produced today, but for the most part. For your most dating identification you gibson numbers to. Les to when the Kalamazoo, MI factory was closed, the numbers indicated Kalamazoo production.

Ranking numbers continued to indicate Nashville production through. Ranking numbers dating Bozeman start each day at and the electrics may start as low as the s. Examples: means the paul was your on Jan.

The sixth number is now a batch number- batch 0 starts at the beginning dating the day, and once we stamp , the batch number will change to 1. The les 5 numbers remain the same, the last 3 numbers will remain the same. The only difference is the addition of this batch indicator. Most will be 5 to 6 digits in length, but the earliest examples feature 4 digit gibson numbers. There should be a space after the 1st digit with the 4 and 5 digit serial numbers, and no space with the 6 digit numbers.

Examples: is the 10th SG Standard dating produced in. Examples: is the 9th carved top produced on the authentic day of. CS Signature Models: The list below is not an exhaustive listing but we authentic included authentic of our most popular Signature models. Please contact us at service gibson. Gary Rossington Les Paul Limited dating of.

Late-1920s to 1933

Gibson Guitar Serial Number Check

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Gibson serial numbers 1952 to 1961, solidbody model

Gibson Acoustic Serial Numbers

A number stamped with ink on the back of the headstock.
Gibson's solid bodys were released in 1952. Gibson did not use serial numbers at that time but started in 1953.
The first digit of the series number is the last digit of the year. If the stamped number consists of 5 digits, there is a space between the first and second digit (a separation between the last digit of the year and the actual serial number).
If it concerns a 6-digit serial number, there is no space, because the highest 4-digit number (9999) has been exceeded and the space therefore fills up. This was the case in the years 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960.
In 1955, Gibson forgot to reset the series of serial numbers to 0001.
So they had only set the year from 4 to 5. For this reason the series of 4 digit serial numbers was exceeded after 9999.
Hence 5 digits and no space between the year (5) and the serial number. (after 5 9999 came 510 000)
Apparently the production was high in 1956 because 6 9999 is exceeded. Also in 1959 and 1960 there was a high production, 9 9999 is exceeded to 932 000 or higher.
Thus, from the production in 1959, a 1, 2 or 3 may be the second digit.
Gibson stopped the stamped serial numbers at the end of 1960, although a few instruments were made in 1961 with a 1 as a prefix. Some lap steels and Les Paul's from 1961 have such a serial number.
Another exception to the above rules is in the fall of 1958, where some Les Paul Juniors and Specials had a four-digit serial number.

Gibson serial numbers, from February 1961 until 1970
Gibson started in 1961 with a new series numbering system.
They wanted to apply a more structured series of sequences, but in practice the opposite happened. Numbers were reused during this period, and in many cases the numbers were not strictly applied for successive years.
For all models, the serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock. A number of serial numbers were duplicated from 1963
to 1969.
From this period the 5-digit and 6-digit numbers are easy to confuse and give an incorrect year.

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