Guitar values by serial number Guitar Review: Gibson Custom ES-330 - Guitar Aficionado As the owner of a pair of original Gibson ES-330s, I opened the case containing a fresh Gibson Custom reissue of this classic thinline guitar with a healthy dose of. Most gear has a serial number, either printed on a label inside it or stamped into the headstock or neck plate. Use our dating guides below to figure out when your instrument was made and where it came from.
Gibson guitar serial numbers are, like a lot of serial number systems from guitar manufacturers, a complicated beast.
But with a little bit of research you should be able to find out when your Gibson was built and in some cases where.
There are a number of distinct time periods for Gibson’s serial numbers, where the systems differed. There are also other ways of determining the age of your instrument, including FON’s and things such as logo designs.
FON’s
In addition to serial numbers older Gibson guitars also had Factory Order Numbers (FONs) imprinted. In some cases, in fact, only FONs were used and there was no serial number (this was mainly for early low-end models).
FON’s (and serial numbers) on Gibson guitars are usually found either on the inside of the back of the guitar (inside the sound hole) or on the back of the headstock).
FON’s were used from 1902 to 1961.
Other Identifiers
There are some other ways you can get an idea of the age of your Gibson.
Logo
Gibson’s logo has been largely unchanged since 1947 but before that time the logo changed a bit, so you can use that to help identify the era your guitar was built.
Made in USA
From 1970 onwards a “Made in U.S.A” was engraved below the serial number. This can help determine if your guitar was from the 1960s or 1970s (some guitars during those 2 decades had the same serial number).
Other Features
You can also use other features to help identify the time period of your instrument. Some of these include:
- Volutes: Extra bits of wood carved into the headstock where it meets the neck. These were starting to be added in 1969 – so if your instrument didn’t have them then it’s likely to be pre-1969
- Things such as tuners, capstans, plates can also give you clues – though remember that an older instrument could have had these items replaced so it’s not a definite clue.
Serial Numbers
O.k. so why discuss all these other aspects, when this post is supposed to be about serial numbers!
Good question – and the answer is simply that the serial number system used up until 1977 wasn’t the easiest or most reliable system – so you may not be able to accurately determine anything about your guitar using the serial number alone.
O.k., let’s take a look at the different time periods of serial numbers from Gibson Guitars.
1902-1947
The following serial numbers apply just to acoustic guitars.
During this period, the system was actually relatively simple. Guitars were just given the next available number.
The chart below shows the year that relates to the serial number. The serial numbers shown represent the approximate last serial number for that year. The first serial number for acoustic guitars was 100.
| Year | Last Aprox Serial # |
| 1903 | 1150 |
| 1904 | 1850 |
| 1905 | 2550 |
| 1906 | 3350 |
| 1907 | 4250 |
| 1908 | 5450 |
| 1909 | 6950 |
| 1910 | 8750 |
| 1911 | 10850 |
| 1912 | 13350 |
| 1913 | 16100 |
| 1914 | 20150 |
| 1915 | 25150 |
| 1916 | 32000 |
| 1917 | 39500 |
| 1918 | 47900 |
| 1919 | 53800 |
| 1920 | 62200 |
| 1921 | 69300 |
| 1922 | 71400 |
| 1923 | 74900 |
| 1924 | 80300 |
| 1925 | 82700 |
| 1926 | 83600 |
| 1927 | 85400 |
| 1928 | 87300 |
| 1929 | 89750 |
| 1930 | 90200 |
| 1931 | 90450 |
| 1932 | 90700 |
| 1933 | 91400 |
| 1934 | 92300 |
| 1935 | 92800 |
| 1936 | 94100 |
| 1937 | 95200 |
| 1938 | 95750 |
| 1939 | 96050 |
| 1940 | 96600 |
| 1941 | 97400 |
| 1942 | 97700 |
| 1943 | 97850 |
| 1944 | 98250 |
| 1945 | 98650 |
| 1946 | 99300 |
| 1947 | 99999 |
1947 to 1961
Once the serial numbers hit 99999, Gibson decided to change to a new system, rather than go into 6 digits.
The new system used a letter to prefix the numbers. The first guitar in this new system was A 100 which was in April of 1947.
| Year | Last Aprox Serial # |
| 1947 | A 1305 |
| 1948 | A 2665 |
| 1949 | A 4410 |
| 1950 | A 6596 |
| 1951 | A 9420 |
| 1952 | A 12460 |
| 1953 | A 17435 |
| 1954 | A 18665 |
| 1955 | A 21910 |
| 1956 | A 24755 |
| 1957 | A 26820 |
| 1958 | A 28880 |
| 1959 | A 32285 |
| 1960 | A 34645 |
| 1961 | A 36147 |
1961 to 1970
A new system, introduced in 1961, was made to cover all of the instruments in Gibson’s line (not just acoustic guitars). This was pretty poorly done though (IMO) and meant that some serial numbers were reused so a certain serial number could be from a guitar from different years.
| Year | Aprox Serial # Range |
| 1961 | 100-42440 |
| 1962 | 42441-61180 |
| 1963 | 61450-64220 |
| 1964 | 64240-70500 |
| 1962 | 71180-96600 |
| 1963 | 96601-99999 |
| 1967 | 000001-008010 |
| 1967 | 010000-042900 |
| 1967 | 044000-044100 |
| 1967 | 050000-054400 |
| 1967 | 055000-063999 |
| 1967 | 064000-066010 |
| 1967 | 0670000-070910 |
| 1967 | 090000-099999 |
| 1963, 1967 | 100000-106099 |
| 1963 | 106100-108900 |
| 1963, 1967 | 1090000-109999 |
| 1963 | 110000-111549 |
| 1963, 1967 | 111550-115799 |
| 1963 | 115800-118299 |
| 1963, 1967 | 118300-120999 |
| 1963 | 121000-139999 |
| 1963, 1967 | 140000-140100 |
| 1963 | 140101-144304 |
| 1964 | 144305-144380 |
| 1963 | 144381-145000 |
| 1963 | 147009-149864 |
| 1964 | 149865-149891 |
| 1963 | 149892-152989 |
| 1964 | 152990-174222 |
| 1964, 1965 | 174223-176643 |
| 1964 | 176644-199999 |
| 1964 | 200000-250335 |
| 1965 | 250336-291000 |
| 1965 | 301755-302100 |
| 1965 | 302754-305983 |
| 1965, 1967 | 306000-306100 |
| 1965, 1967 | 307000-307985 |
| 1965, 1967 | 309848-310999 |
| 1965 | 311000-320149 |
| 1967 | 320150-320699 |
| 1965 | 320700-321100 |
| 1965 | 322000-326600 |
| 1965 | 328000-328500 |
| 1965 | 328700-329179 |
| 1965, 1967 | 329180-330199 |
| 1965, 1967-68 | 330200-332240 |
| 1965 | 332241-327090 |
| 1965 | 348000-348092 |
| 1966 | 348093-349100 |
| 1965 | 349121-368638 |
| 1966 | 368640-369890 |
| 1967 | 370000-370999 |
| 1966 | 380000-385309 |
| 1967 | 390000-390998 |
| 1965-68 | 400001-400999 |
| 1966 | 401000-407985 |
| 1966 | 408000-408690 |
| 1966 | 408800-409250 |
| 1966 | 420000-426090 |
| 1966 | 427000-429180 |
| 1966 | 430005-438530 |
| 1966 | 438800-438925 |
| 1965-66, 1968-69 | 500000-500999 |
| 1965 | 501010-501600 |
| 1968 | 501601-501702 |
| 1965, 1968 | 501703-502706 |
| 1968 | 503010-503110 |
| 1965, 1968 | 503405-520955 |
| 1968 | 520956-530056 |
| 1966, 1968-69 | 530061-530850 |
| 1968-69 | 530851-530993 |
| 1969 | 530994-539999 |
| 1966, 1969 | 540000-540795 |
| 1969 | 540796-545009 |
| 1966 | 550000-556910 |
| 1969 | 558012-567400 |
| 1966 | 570099-570755 |
| 1969 | 580000-580999 |
| 1966-69 | 600000-600999 |
| 1969 | 601000-601090 |
| 1969 | 605901-606090 |
| 1966-67 | 700000-700799 |
| 1968-69 | 750000-750999 |
| 1966-69 | 800000-800999 |
| 1966, 1969 | 801000-812838 |
| 1969 | 812900-814999 |
| 1969 | 817000-819999 |
| 1966, 1969 | 820000-820087 |
| 1966 | 820088-823830 |
| 1969 | 824000-824999 |
| 1966, 1969 | 828002-847488 |
| 1966 | 847499-858999 |
| 1967 | 859001-880089 |
| 1967 | 893401-895038 |
| 1968 | 895039-896999 |
| 1967 | 897000-898999 |
| 1968 | 899000-899999 |
| 1968 | 900000-902250 |
| 1968 | 903000-920899 |
| 1968 | 940000-941009 |
| 1968 | 942001-943000 |
| 1968 | 945000-945450 |
| 1968 | 947415-956000 |
| 1968 | 959000-960909 |
| 1968 | 970000-972864 |
Guitar Values By Serial Numbers
1970 to 1975
It didn’t get any less confusing during this time either. The biggest telling factors for guitars from this period, as opposed to the guitars from 1961 to 1969 is the “Made in U.S.A” that can be found on guitars from 1970 onwards.
6 Digit Serial numbers were still used so a lot of the same numbers were also used on 1960s models. To make matters even more confusing, there wasn’t really an order for these serial numbers – so you could have something from 1975 that started with a 1 and something from 1972 that started with a 9.
| Number | Year |
| 0XXXXX | 1973 |
| 1XXXXX | 1970-1975 |
| 2XXXXX | 1973-1975 |
| 3XXXXX | 1974-1975 |
| 4XXXXX | 1974-1975 |
| 5XXXXX | 1974-1975 |
| 6XXXXX | 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 |
| 7XXXXX | 1970, 1971, 1972 |
| 8XXXXX | 1973, 1974, 1975 |
| 9XXXXX | 1970, 1971, 1972 |
Some serial numbers also used a letter (just because?)
| NUMBER | YEAR |
| XXXXXX + A | 1970 |
| A + XXXXXX | 1973, 1974, 1975 |
| B + XXXXXX | 1974, 1975 |
| C + XXXXXX | 1974, 1975 |
| D + XXXXXX | 1974, 1975 |
| E + XXXXXX | 1974, 1975 |
| F + XXXXXX | 1974, 1975 |
1975 to 1977
Thing get a little simpler. These serial numbers started with either “96” “00” or “06” with the 96 representing 1975, the 00 representing 1976 and 06 representing 1977. Not sure why these numbers were used, but at least it was uniform!
Gibson Guitar Values Serial Number
| Serial # | Year |
| 99XXXXXX | 1975 |
| 00XXXXXX | 1976 |
| 06XXXXXX | 1977 |
1977 to Present
Finally, in 1977 a much more logical serial number system was introduced.
This is an 8 digit system and follows the format YDDDYPPP.
- The YY represent the year the guitar was made
- The DDD is the day of the year that the guitar was made
- The PPP represents the factory the guitar was made in and the number of production
So, for example, let’s take the serial number 80351045.
- This guitar was built in 1981 – 80351045 – remember in the format that the year is the 1st and 5th
- This guitar was built on the 35th day of the year – so this would have been February 4th – 80351045
- This guitar was built in the Kalamazoo factory and it was the 45th instrument stamped that day.
So this serial number represents the 45th guitar built on February 4, 1981 in the Kalamazoo factory.
Factories
The Kalamazoo factory operated until 1984 and guitars made in that factory from 1977 to 1984 had the last 3 digits (the production number) that were between 001 and 499.
Guitars built in the Nashville factory from 1977 to 1989 used the production numbers 500-999.
For example, the serial number 81457556 – would be May 25th, 1987 and the 56th guitar built in the Nashville factory. The first guitar built that day would have the production number 500.
Guitars built in the Nashville Factory from 1990 onwards have production numbers 300-999 – so the first guitar produced that day would have the production number 300.
The Montana factory uses production numbers 001-299 and this was from 1989, when that factory was opened.
Exceptions
There are guitars that will be exceptions within all of these time periods.
If your guitar doesn’t seem to fit within any of these systems, check out the resources below to see if you can decipher your serial number.
Thanks for Reading
I hope this helped you to decipher your (often complicated) Gibson serial number.
Photo Credit
By Henry Zbyszynski from Cambridge, USA (P1060339) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Before collectibility and value can be determined about a Gibson guitar (and before you emailme asking, 'what kind of Gibson guitar do I have?'),several things need to be identified:- The type of guitar (flattop, archtop, solidbody, lapsteel, etc).
- The exact model within the type.
- The year it was made (or approximate year/era).
- Oringinality (have any of the parts been changed or modified?).
First Determine the Type of Guitar and the Model.
Sometimes there is a tag inside the guitar stating the 'style' or model.If the model is hollow, look on the inside for any tags and madenote of any ink stamps (sometimes the model is ink stamped inside the guitar).But unfortunately, especially on the low to mid line models,usually there is NO tag or label inside the guitar specifying what it is.If this is the case, start at the beginning and first determine whattype of guitar you have.These are several different types of Gibson guitars made.Once this is known, go directly to the section aboutthat type (listed in the blue table of contents text above),and look at the model pictures and descriptions that matches your guitar.
Here are the general types of Gibson guitars:
- Electric Solid body Gibsons: body is a solid piece of wood(no soundhole or cutouts), 1.5' to 2' thick, pickups and knobs routed into the top of the guitar.
- Flattop Acoustic Gibsons: single round sound hole under the strings, body 3.5' to 4.5' thick with a flat top, usually not electric(but often owners add a sort of bolt-on electric assembly).
- Acoustic Archtop Gibsons: two 'f' hole stylesound holes cut in the top, body 3' to 4.5' thick, slightly arched top, acoustic with no pickups (but sometimes these models have bolt-on electic assembly added later by players).
- Electric Archtop Gibsons: same as above ('f' holes, arch top)but the factory installed electric pickups into the guitar with volume/tone knob(s).
- Electric Thinline Archtop Gibsons: same as above (electricwith two 'f' holes in the top), but the body is thinner at 1.5' to 2' thick. These are always electric from the factory.
- Electric Lapsteel Gibson: a small solidbody guitar (no cutoutsor sound holes) that is playedin the lap, Hawaiian style, with a metal slide bar, pickup and knob routed into the top.
Once the type of guitar is determined, figuring out the exact model isMUCH easier! (just go to one of the above six linked webpages that describes your guitar, and compare each model specs to your guitar, until you find the one that matches).
Next Determine the Year or Approximate Year.
Gibson guitars usually have a FON (Factory Order Number), a serial number, or both(but sometimes neither!) Various serial number systems were used by Gibson,and often the same serial number could be used in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.See the serial number/FON section for details.Duplicate or no serial/FON number doesn't make things easy, but there are other traits that allow theserial number to make sense (see the General Specs sectionfor more details). Also mid to top end instruments usually have a label insidethe guitar with the serial number. Guitars with no label are usually lower end instruments(or are a solidbody guitar!)
Probably the first thing when trying to determine the year on an old Gibsonis whether the guitar was made 'pre-WW2', during WW2, or 'post-WW2'. This is easy to do, as Gibsonused different peghead logos for pre-WW2, 'wartime', and post-WW2 (see the General Specs section for more details). Knowing the general era of the Gibson guitar will make Gibson's rather complicatedserial number/FON systems less tangled.
Next Determine the Exact Model.
There are several general questions which can be asked in determining a guitar's model,once the type of guitar (flat top, arch top, etc.) has been determined:
- What is the color of the top of the guitar? Common top colors include 'sunburst' (a yellow center that fades to a darker red or brown around the edges),black, natural and 'cherry red' (a translucent red which shows the wood grain).
- What is the color of the back of the guitar? Common back colorsinclude translucent dark brown, translucent light brown, sunburst, cherry red, etc.
- What is the body size? (measure the guitar across the top at the widest point, which isthe guitar's 'hips'). This is really important for all model types except solidbody electrics.
- What is the style of fingerboard inlays? (dots, blocks, trapezoids, double parallelagrams, etc.)
- What is the style of 'Gibson' peghead logo? That is, is it white silkscreen,gold silkscreen, or pearl inlay? Also if the logo is pre-WW2, wartime, or post-WW2 (see above).Also fancier models can even have some sort of pearl inlaid decoration (a 'crown' or longskinny 'diamond') on the pegheadjust below the 'Gibson' logo.
- What is the style of binding? Binding is the whitish/yellowish/tortoise 'band' that goesaround the edges of the body. Most Gibsons have some sort of body binding.Often binding is multi-layers (white/black/white, etc).Some guitars also have binding on the neck. The more binding a guitar has, the fancierthe model.
Finally Determine the Originality.
Originality of an instrument is very important. Modifications (any modifications),are a bad thing in the eyes of a collector. This will greatly influencevalue. Modifications can often be determined by looking at the modelspecs for a particular year guitar in this web page (after the approximate year is determined), and compare to your instrument.