DATING YOUR GIBSON
Serial Number Configuration and Placement:
1902 to 1908: Rectangular label, no serial number or model name on label, photo of Orville Gibson and lyre-mandolin on label, date sometimes penciled under top.
1904 to 1909: Oval label with serial number, no model name, photo of Orville Gibson and lyre-mandolin: 1904 to 1909.
1902 to April 1947: Number and model name on white paper label, number range 1000 to 99999:
1908 to 1932: Hand ink or penciled (some overlap with previous style):
1932 to 1947: Ink stamped, not penciled.
1927 and later: Low end models with no serial number
"Artist" serial numbers used on mid to upper line guitars.
No serial number used on lower line instruments (date by Factory Order Number).
Instruments with an "Artist" serial number should also have a Factory Order Number by which a date can be cross-referenced.
Number preceded by an "A-" on white oval label: 4/28/47 to 1/12/55.
The first number, A-100, was assigned to an L-7 on 4/28/47.
The last white label number was A-18750, used 1/12/55.
Note white label numbers A-18751 to A-20000 were not used.
Number preceded by an "A" on orange oval label: 1/13/55 to 2/21/61.
The first orange label number, A20001, was used on a F-5 mandolin 01/13/55.
The last orange label "A" number was A36147, used 2/21/61.
Note the "-" after the "A" was dropped for the orange labels.
No number: 1952 to early 1953
Ink stamped numbers in back top of peghead.
First number denotes last digit of year, followed by a space and 4 digits, or no space and 5 digits.
No space and 5 digits following the year only occured in 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960.
In 1955 Gibson forgot to reset their serial number back to #5 0001.
Instead they continued the 1954 series, just changing the first digit to a "5" for 1955.
For this reason the serial numbers exceeded "5 9999", hence 5 digits and no space following the year had to be used.
Apparently production was high enough in 1956 to exceed "6 9999". 1959 & 1960 production was also very high, exceeding "9 9999" and going to "932000" or higher.
4 or 5 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1961 to 1964.
6 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1963 to 1969.
6 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1970 to 1975.
Letter followed by 3 digits, custom shop or limited edition models only: 1971 to present.
Number on decal: 1975 to 1977.
8 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1977 to present.
Gibson Solidbody instruments 1952 to 1960:
All models, NO "made in U.S.A." stamped on peghead, 1961 to 1969:
.4 or 5 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1961 to 1964.
All models, "made in U.S.A." stamped-on the peghead, 1970 to present.
Stamped on the back of the peghead.
The "U.S.A." is below the "Made in", which is below the stamped-on serial number.
All stamps in the same size type. Used from 1970 to present:
Serial Number Configuration and Placement:
6 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1970 to 1975.
Letter followed by 3 digits, custom shop or limited edition models only: 1971 to present.
Number on decal: 1975 to 1977.
8 digits impressed in back top of peghead: 1977 to present.
White label as used from 1908 to 1932.
This label is from a 1929 L-4 model.
Gibson Non-Hyphen Serial Numbers, 1902 to 1947.
Series starts with 1000.
Note the format of these serial numbers has NO HYPHEN and NO LETTERS.
For a number list with a hyphen and/or a letter, see the previous section under Factory Order Numbers.Year Last Number
1903 1500
1904 2500
1905 3500 1906 5500 1907 8300 1908 9700 1909 10100 1910 10600 1911 10850 1912 13350 1913 16100 1914 20150 1915 25150 1916 32000 1917 39500 1918 47900 1919 53800 1920 63650 1921 69300 1922 71400 1923 74900 1924 81200 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 (April 28, 1947)
"A" style serial numbers as used from 1947 to 1961.
Left: Oval white label as used from spring 1947 to January 1955.
Right: Orange label as used from January 1955 to 1964.
The 1964 to 1969 orange labels are identical, except for the added text "union made".
Gibson Hollowbody instruments 1947 to 1961:
"A" series, number on interior label, 1947 to 1961 hollow body models.
This "Artist" series serial numbers were only used on mid to upper end instruments.
<>p>Year Number 1947 A-100 (Apr 28) A-411 (Jul 2) A-1146 (Dec 1) A-1304 1948 A-1305 (Jan 8) A-1849 (Jul 2) A-2613 (Dec 8) A-2665 1949 A-2666 (Jan 5) A-3353 (Jul 1) A-4209 (Dec 1) A-4413 1950 A-4414 (Jan 3) A-5456 (Jul 3) A-6312 (Dec 4) A-6597 1951 A-6598 (Jan 4) A-8030 (Jul 2) A-9194 (Dec 3) A-9419 1952 A-9420 (Jan 2) A-11057 (Jul 1) A-12202 (Dec 1) A-12462 1953 A-12463 (Jan 8) A-14332 (Jul 1) A-15883 (Dec 2) A-16101 1954 A-16102 (Jan 5) A-17435 (Jul 1) A-18496 (Dec 1) A-18667 1955 A-18668 (Jan 6) A-18750 (Jan 12, last white label. Note A-18751 to A-19999 not used) A 20001 (Jan 13, First orange label) A 20991 (Jul 1) A 21745 (Dec 1) A 21909 1956 A 21910 (Jan 6) A 23387 (Jul 3) A 24567 (Dec 1) A 24755 1957 A 24756 (Jan 3) A 25899 (Jul 3) A 26695 (Dec 3) A 26819 1958 A 26820 (Jan 6) A 27816 (Jul 1) A 28576 (Dec 1) A 28880 1959 A 28881 (Jan 9) A 30569 (Jul 13) A 31844 (Dec 2) A 32284 1960 A 32285 (Jan 4) A 34068 (Jul 1) A 35252 (Dec 1) A 35645 1961 A 35646 (Jan 3) A 35943 (Feb 1) A 36147 (Feb 21, Last "A" number) Left: The "inked on" serial number on a 1955 Les Paul standard solidbody guitar. This style serial number was used on all 1953 to 1960 solidbody Gibson guitars. Right: The "inked on" serial number on this 1959 Les Paul Junior has no space between the "9" digit (year) and the rest of the numbers. This happened only in 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960 when production required a number above "9999", thus occupying the space Gibson Serial Numbers, 1952 to 1961, solid body models. Ink stamped number on back top of peg-head. The first year of Gibson solid-bodies was 1952, and Gibson didn’t use any serial number in 1952. Starting in 1953, the first number is the last number of the year. If the ink stamped number consists of 5 digits, there will be a space between the first and second numbers (separating the last digit of the year from the actual serial number). If there is a 6 digit ink stamped number, there is no embedded space as the serial number has exceeded 9999 and now occupies the place where the space existed in numbers 9999 and lower. No space and 5 digits following the year only occurred in 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960, and the second digit will ONLY be a "1" in 1955 and 1956. In 1955 Gibson forgot to reset their serial number back to #5 0001. Instead they continued the 1954 series, just changing the first digit to a "5" for 1955. For this reason the serial numbers exceeded "5 9999", hence 5 digits and no space following the year had to be used. Apparently production was high enough in 1956 to exceed "6 9999". Production in 1959 and 1960 was also very high, exceeding "9 9999" and going to "932000" or higher (so a "1" or "2" or "3" could be the second digit in 1959). The Ink Stamped serial number stopped at the end of 1960, though a few 1961 instruments were made with a "1" ink stamped prefix. This is very rare, but seen on a few lap steels (pressed in serial numbers started in 1961 for all Gibson instruments) and a few Les Paul models. One other exception to the above rules is in late 1958 where some Les Paul juniors and specials had a FOUR digit serial (no leading year digit).Year First Number ---- ------------ 1952 none 1953 3 1954 4 1955 5 1956 6 1957 7 1958 8 * 1959 9 1960 0 1961 1 (very rare) * In late 1958 some LP Juniors/Specials had a four digit serial number with no leading year digit. Note this style of "Made in the U.S.A." is NOT what is described below. This style stamp was used on instruments exported to Canada during the 1930s-1950s (this is a 1954 LP Junior).Stamped in serial numbers, used from 1961 to 1969.
The 1964 number on the left is still a "pressed in" number,
though Gibson has inked the impression to make it more readable (they started doing this about 1963 or 1964, when serial numbers went to six digits).
A", thus denoting these are pre-1970 guitars.
Gibson Serial Numbers, Feb 1961 to 1970.
No "MADE IN USA" stamp below serial number!
Note many serial numbers are duplicated from 1963-1969.
In these cases, to figure out which is the exact year for a guitar, see the General Specs section for more details.
ALSO note: It is easy to confuse 5 digit and 6 digit serial numbers from this era, and hence get the wrong year for a guitar. That is, 55555 is not the same number as 555555 (but when reading the number off the back of a Gibson peg-head, these two numbers do look very similar!)Range Year [Linktekst] →