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epiphone factory info


stan 58

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Once again, http://guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx

 

From 1997.. that would probably be an I, not L in the beginning of the serial...

 

Guitar Info

Your guitar was made at the

Saein Plant, Korea

March 1997

Production Number: 0971

 

 

Saein Musical Instrument Co. Ltd

The Saein Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. is located in the Namdong Industrial Complex in Incheon, Korea. Saein was established in July 1st 1991 and has a monthly capacity of 4,500pcs. In Oct 1st 1992, Saien Began manufacturing guitars for Epiphone, who they now consider to be their main business. They also started producing their own line of guitars called Shine in 1997. In February, 2001, a new factory was opened in Gaomi City, China. This factory boasts a monthly capacity of 10,000pcs. Saein was presented the ‘The Best Quality Award of the Year’ by Gibson Epiphone USA in 1998 and 1999.

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Thanks for the reply Biff. I also own an epi SG custom which does have aserial# that starts with an I. The Les paul # is definitley an L. Maybe because its a limited edition it starts with an L? Are there any limited edition owners out there with the same L serial # ?

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Thanks for the reply Biff. I also own an epi SG custom which does have aserial# that starts with an I. The Les paul # is definitley an L. Maybe because its a limited edition it starts with an L? Are there any limited edition owners out there with the same L serial # ?

 

 

I've had several LEs' date=' it wouldn't stand for limited edition, that first letter is for factory ID.

 

This is an old post from the old forum (sniff, sniff) from Joe Pass Wannabe, the gentleman who created the Epiphone serial # decoder:

 

[i']More than likely L represented a Korean factory that was used briefly in the 90's 96-97. That would explain why it’s uncommon, bear in mind that most of the factories that we are aware have:

 

a) Produced Epis in Massive Quantities - Samick

:-k Produced Epis for many years - Samick, Unsung

c) Have openly admitted to producing Epis via OEM - Saien

d) Somebody who knew somebody who worked somehwere probably said

something

 

There are many factories that do not fall into the above category, so many that I had to rewrite my app to ignore unrecognized factories and provide the info that could be deciphered.

 

Also lower end models as you may know usually have bolt-on neck and it is on the neck plates that these odd serial numbers appear, for example I've seen a lot LP-100 with the K prefix. I was not trying to imply that your guitar was a low end guitar.[/i]

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