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Help with les paul serial number


jdm

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Hi -- Im new to the forum and looking to purchase my first gibson les paul. I've done lots of research on the internet about dates and serial numbers, but i have come across one that i can't figure out. The seller doesn't know much about it - and i don't want to get ripped off if it's a fake..

Headstock says Gibson Les Paul, and the tag on the headstock says Classic. The serial number on the back of the headstock is 063260.

Seller thinks it is an '06 model, but everything i've read says an '06 serial number should have more digits...

Can anyone help me out?

Thanks!!!!

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There are a few things that might lead to this.

Are you going on a "supplied" serial number ie: one that he has stated is the serial number, or can you see the number in pictures? Some times the numbers are filled in with the Laquer and hard to read.

My take on this is that it is an 03. The reason is as follows.

In 2003 the serial number was an 8 digit number. for example yours would read 00063260. The first 0 and the 5th number 3 would be the year, it was built on the 6th day of the year and is number 260. The leading zeros are part of the number. In 2005 they went to a 9 digit number which is as follows. YDDDYBRRR.

The 1st and 5th digiits are the year, the 2,3,4 digits are the Julian date, the B is the batch number it will be a 0 for the first 699 made and will switch to a 1 for all after that, the last three are the what Gibson calls the ranking, I took that to mean manufacturing number sequence.

But this comes from Gibson so it might be applicable.

All of the information I am giving is from the Gibson website under "Support" I found the following and this may be your answer.

 

"There are always exceptions to these rules, the two listed below are worth noting:

 

Les Paul Classic: This model features an ink stamped serial number with no "MADE IN USA" (just as we used on the original 1952-1960 Les Pauls). Most will be 5 to 6 digits in length, but the earliest examples feature 4 digit serial 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.

 

The 1st digit indicates the year of manufacture for the 4 & 5 digit serial numbers, these were used from 1989-1999. The 1st and 2nd indicate the year of manufacture for the 6 digit serial numbers which we've been using since 2000.

 

Examples -

9 xxx = 1989 (4 digit number beginning with "9" used only in 1989)

0 xxxx = 1990

9 xxxx = 1999

00xxxx = 2000

05xxxx = 2005 "

 

So I would assume that it carried on in 2006.

The ultimate answer is to send an email to Gibson support and request a clarrification. Could take a while though.

Hope this helps. I just purchased a new Gibson studio and I was looking up the serial. I found it hard to follow but you have to read the whole thing.

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