gibson dating from serial number

[mrfjones]

One of my coworkers has a gibson blues hawk that was given to him and he has no idea how old it is. it is in pretty good condition, just some belt buckle scrapes. i really enjoyed playing that guitar, but all that aside here is the serial number: 90858472. I don't know much about the dating of gibsons so if someone could explain it that would be really nice. thanks guys

Scott

 

[Simon_F]

Re: gibson dating from serial number

http://www.gibson.com/downloads/bluebook/GibsonSERIALNUMBERS.pdf

The pertinent part, I think, is:

In 1977, Gibson first introduced the serialization method that is in practice today. This updated system
utilizes an impressed eight digit numbering scheme that covers both serializing and dating functions. The
pattern is as follows:
YDDDYPPP
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year
PPP is the plant designation and/or instrument rank.
The numbers 001-499 show Kalamazoo production, 500-999 show Nashville production. The Kalamazoo
numbers were discontinued in 1984.

Thus I deduce that your friend's guitar was the 472nd instrument stamped on March 26th 1998. :scratchch

 

[mrfjones]

Re: gibson dating from serial number

thanks simon