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When were the last ES guitars made in Nashville, prior to the move to Memphis?


ClevelandRocks

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I'm interested to know the exact date that Gibson ES guitars stopped being manufactured in Nashville prior to the move to Memphis.

I believe it was some time in 2000, but does anyone know the exact date? (and/or if there was any change in serial numbering such that you could tell if a guitar made that year was from Nashville or Memphis.)

Thanks!

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I don't know the absolute date, but it depends in part on whether you are talking about standard ES models or others such as the Historics.

Even well after the bulk of ES production moved to Memphis, the Nashville Custom, Art, and Historic Shop (as I believe it was then known) built certain ES models.

My '59 Historic ES 335 was built in the Nashville shop in 2009. These guitars have totally different serial number formats compared to standard ES models. The serial number format is A-99xx x, with A meaning it is a 335, first 9 meaning a 1959 model, second 9 meaning 2009, and the last three digits being the rank in the number of Historics built that year.

The label itself is different as well. It is the standard orange oval label, but it says "Nashville, Tennessee USA" on it. A guitar made in the Memphis shop should say "Memphis, Tennessee USA " on the label.

The standard Gibson serial number format tells you when the guitar was built, but not where. What the label says should be definitive, however.

 

Edited by j45nick
additional thought
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I'm trying to figure out where a Lucille I have was made. It has an August 2000 serial number but no f-holes, so no "standard orange label".

The online Gibson serial database says Kalamazoo based on the serial -- which is obviously wrong -- but because it doesn't come up as Memphis makes me think it's from Nashville. Which then got me wondering when they moved Lucille manufacturing to Memphis.

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2 hours ago, ClevelandRocks said:

I'm trying to figure out where a Lucille I have was made. It has an August 2000 serial number but no f-holes, so no "standard orange label".

The online Gibson serial database says Kalamazoo based on the serial -- which is obviously wrong -- but because it doesn't come up as Memphis makes me think it's from Nashville. Which then got me wondering when they moved Lucille manufacturing to Memphis.

You should be able to send the number to Gibson, and they will come back and give you those particulars. Contact customer service, explain the issue, and they will tell you. Online daters are always subject to errors.

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