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Inquiry of modern Gibson acoustic SN


gotomsdos

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Hi, buddies out there.

I have a confusion with modern Gibson acoustic SN:

e.g.

12345678

year: 2015

date: the 234th

678: ?

 

Does 678 mean single guitar or a batch ?

If it's batch, then more than one guitars share a SN. I guess it's impossible. right ?

 

Thank you in advance.

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I thought the last three #s have been listed were for "Factory Ranking" what ever that means...

 

 

In the example serial number gotomsdos gives, it would mean the 678th guitar stamped on the 234th day of 2015. The last three digits will be unique to the individual guitar stamped on that date.

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Ranking is correct but that means which plant and order of stamping for the day. I believe Montana starts everyday at 001 and goes sequential from there. The other plants such as Nashville starts at 301 ( I think) and goes from there. Each plant has their own starting number and the other plants do not overlap. Check out Gibson.com and they have a much better explanation.

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In the great Gibson tradition, I'll complicate it a bit. . B)

 

From 1977 to 1984, the production rank numbers 001-499 show Kalamazoo production, 500-999 show Nashville production. Kalamazoo was shut down in 1984, but ranking numbers 500-999 continued to indicate Nashville production through 1989. Bozeman started issuing serials in 1989 - for a number of years Nashville and Bozeman used the same serial formula with Bozeman ranked 001-300 and Nashville guitars ranked from 301-999. In 2000 the Memphis plant opened and shared the rank range 300-999 with Nashville. In July 2005 Nashville went to 9 digit serials, but Memphis and Bozeman kept the same arrangement with the 8 digit serials. In late 2012 some Memphis regular production models started using the ME serial system - ME YRRRRR. In 2014 Nashville changed their serial formula again (YYRRRRRRR) - the first 2 digits (14, 15, 16, 17, etc) indicate the model year with the rest showing the production rank number of the guitar over the entire year’s production. Currently Bozeman and Memphis continue to use 8 digit serials with the same arrangement - Bozeman ranked 001-300 and Memphis guitars ranked from 301-999.

 

1994 is an exception - the centennial year. Many serials issued in that year begin with "94" and use the formula 94RRRRRR where "RRRRRR" is the running production rank number over the entire year’s production.

 

2014 is an exception - the 125th anniversary year. The format is 14RRRRRRR where 14 is the year and RRRRRRR gives the production rank over the entire year’s production. For unexplained reasons, some 2014 guitars use the more standard serial formulas.

 

There's all kinds of other exceptions, but AFAIK, they are all in the electric divisions.

 

 

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There's all kinds of other exceptions, but AFAIK, they are all in the electric divisions.

 

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I have one from the custom, art, and historic shop in Nashville from about seven years ago. Totally different serial number format: five digit with "A" prefix, bearing no relation to any other series that I can identify.

 

It's Gibson, after all...

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Thank you guys !

Just instrument number instead of guitar number, right ?

(I don't understand what "factory ranking" means, kind of abstract)

 

 

Well, since Gibson Montana only makes guitars, it's the guitar number as well as the "instrument number". Imagine your job is to stamp the guitars at the Gibson factory. You walk into work in the morning, and there's 100 guitars waiting to get their serial numbers. The first one you pick up, you stamp xxxxx001, the second, xxxxx002, and so on, until the end of the day. The next day, the date numbers change, but you start again with xxxx001 as the last three digits.

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Well, since Gibson Montana only makes guitars, it's the guitar number as well as the "instrument number". Imagine your job is to stamp the guitars at the Gibson factory. You walk into work in the morning, and there's 100 guitars waiting to get their serial numbers. The first one you pick up, you stamp xxxxx001, the second, xxxxx002, and so on, until the end of the day. The next day, the date numbers change, but you start again with xxxx001 as the last three digits.

 

Yes, Nick, thank you !

What I can understand is just this.. Do not know what FACTORY RANKING means...haha

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