cistec Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I am about to purchase an Gibson ES 137 with a serial 00633774 the seller claims it is a Limited Edition Custom model but it shows no signs of being a Custom and I have no idea how to tell what Limited Edition features I should look for..Can this forum help please? I am in Australia..I also own 3 other Gibson Les Pauls ..this is the first hollow body I am looking at. I have image if any body is intrested. Thanks to anybody that replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 I just bought a used ES-135 last week. The 137 is essentially an upscale version of the 135. According to your serial number, your guitar was made the 63rd day (thursday, march 4th) of 2003. It was the 274th guitar built at the Nashville plant that day. The number breaks down like this. You split the eight digit number into four and four; 0063 and 3774 Take the first digit of each group (0 and 3) and that's the year. The three leftover numbers in the first group (063) are the day of the year, and the last three numbers (774) are the production number. As far as the production number, 001 to 499 are reserved for the Bozeman, Montana acoustic guitar facility. Numbers 500 to 999 are for the guitars built at the Nashville factory, so number 774 is actually 224 but in Nashville. All custom shop serial numbers begin with CS, so it's not a custom model. Whether it's a special/limited edition or not, you can call Gibson customer service, give them the serial number and they can tell you all about the guitar. In north America it's 1-800-4GIBSON, but I don't imagine that will work down under. I tried calling just now, but their 24 hour number put me through to voice mail. If I'm able to get through later I'll post any info here. Very nice guitar by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Oh, I forgot... of course post photos!!! We live to drool over other people's guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cistec Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 thank you very much GuitarJunkie for talking the time to do the grunt work for me. Very much appreciated. I await your research from Gibson. While we are this subject..I also been offered a 135 Tri burst beautiful condition about the same price ..what do you think buddy? 135 or 137..and how do I post images to this topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 As far as posting pictures, you need to upload the photo somewhere on the web. A lot of guys use photobucket.com since it's free. When you type a message, click on this icon in the little toolbar above the window you're typing in. You'll get "img" in square brackets twice. Just paste the link to your image between the "img" tags and you're photo will show up in your post. I called Gibson and the serial number came up with the guitar you described but there were no special notes regarding it being any kind of limited edition. As far as which guitar to buy, it depends on the price and your taste in guitars. Personally, I'm a P90 kinda' guy so the 135 does it for me (the Bigsby was the icing on the cake). I bought this 1994 ES-135 a week ago for $900 canadian; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cistec Posted January 20, 2008 Author Share Posted January 20, 2008 That is one sweet peice of wood...love that colour, and thanks about the info. will keep following your posts on this site buddy. Cistec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted January 20, 2008 Share Posted January 20, 2008 Because of the flash it's hard to tell, but there is wood grain in there. I'll eventually get some pics in more natural light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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