Gibson serial numbers starting with 22???? Les Paul Standards...

[jeramydavid]

everything I have read on the gibson website says the new USA models will have the year for the first two digits. I have been shopping for a les paul standard 60s and there are several on reverb with 22xxxxxxx serial numbers. Am I missing something?

[mrichard27]

I actually just asked a similar question about ones starting with 23 last month.....    I mean, the 22 might make sense, kind of like a car where the 2022 models start coming out in 2021, but I have no idea what is going on with the serial numbers on the new standards...   And no one really had any kind of a good answer to my question either.... 

[jeramydavid]

20 minutes ago, mrichard27 said:

I actually just asked a similar question about ones starting with 23 last month.....    I mean, the 22 might make sense, kind of like a car where the 2022 models start coming out in 2021, but I have no idea what is going on with the serial numbers on the new standards...   And no one really had any kind of a good answer to my question either.... 

Great. Well i emailed customer support. Hoping for an answer soon.

[merciful-evans]

You've had nearly 30 views so far. If someone had firm info they would have chimed in by now. Gibson serial number formats are liable to change & its hard to be sure. Hopefully customer support will provide an answer. If you don't get a swift reply back, consider phoning them.

[pohatu771]

Gibson's own website is outdated.

As they state, starting in 1977, the serial number format became YDDDYPPP - Y being the third and fourth digit of the year, D being the day of the year, and P being the daily production number. At the time, 000-499 were Kalamazoo and 500-999 were Nashville. For a few years after Kalamazoo closed, no guitars were below 500. In 1993, Gibson Acoustic got 000-299 and Nashville stuck to 500+.

Eventually, it reached a point that they could produce more than 500 guitars per day, so they started including a batch number for Gibson USA (not Gibson Acoustic) in 2005, YDDDYBPPP. A guitar numbered 236551501 was made December 31, 2005, Batch 1, number 501.

In 2014, they switched to a less-specific format, YYRRRRRRR. Y is the last two digits of the year, and the rest is a sequential number for the entire year. 150000001 would be the first guitar made in 2015. Again, this was only for Gibson USA. They also started using "2015 Model" stamps, indicating a model fits the 2015 specs, but it might have actually been made in late 2014.

In 2018, they reverted to the 2005 system. This is still missing from the site. A guitar beginning with 22 means it was made since 2020, between July 19 and October 27, the 200th to 299th day of the year. Likewise, a serial number starting with 23 was made after October 28.

You need the first five digits to determine the year and day.

[rct]

Dude...<thunk thunk thunk>...dude...<thunk thunk>...that's my <thunk> head...

rct

[jeramydavid]

44 minutes ago, pohatu771 said:

Gibson's own website is outdated.

As they state, starting in 1977, the serial number format became YDDDYPPP - Y being the third and fourth digit of the year, D being the day of the year, and P being the daily production number. At the time, 000-499 were Kalamazoo and 500-999 were Nashville. For a few years after Kalamazoo closed, no guitars were below 500. In 1993, Gibson Acoustic got 000-299 and Nashville stuck to 500+.

Eventually, it reached a point that they could produce more than 500 guitars per day, so they started including a batch number for Gibson USA (not Gibson Acoustic) in 2005, YDDDYBPPP. A guitar numbered 236551501 was made December 31, 2005, Batch 1, number 501.

In 2014, they switched to a less-specific format, YYRRRRRRR. Y is the last two digits of the year, and the rest is a sequential number for the entire year. 150000001 would be the first guitar made in 2015. Again, this was only for Gibson USA. They also started using "2015 Model" stamps, indicating a model fits the 2015 specs, but it might have actually been made in late 2014.

In 2018, they reverted to the 2005 system. This is still missing from the site. A guitar beginning with 22 means it was made since 2020, between July 19 and October 27, the 200th to 299th day of the year. Likewise, a serial number starting with 23 was made after October 28.

You need the first five digits to determine the year and day.

This is great information. Do you have a reference or source? 

In my opinion having partial or incomplete information on the website is worse than having no information.

[pohatu771]

I don't have any official source to reference at the moment. The serial number change coincides with ownership change, so there are early 2018 models that are still using the old system.

I do have some corrections:

The first batch of the day is actually 0, not 1.

Since Gibson Acoustic doesn't use the 9-digit system, Gibson USA now starts at 001 instead of at 500. Gibson Custom also doesn't use this system, and certain Gibson USA models don't either - 1994 100th anniversary guitars all starts with 94, and certain Les Paul Classics use a 50s-inspired serial number format, beginning with the last digit of the year of production. There are probaby others.

[jeramydavid]

For those following this thread... I was able to confirm with Gibson customer support that current serial numbers use the 1^st and 5^th digits for the year(2xxx0xxxx=2020). 

YDDDYBNNN

so for example..
SN 122290122  would be the 122nd guitar built of the 222nd day of 2019 (August 10th)

SN 215701088 would be the 588th guitar built of the 159th day of 2020 (June 5th)

They did not tell me when they switched to this method, but I am sure pohatu771 is right that it has been since 2018. 

Thank you all for your input on this mystery.

I do hope Gibson adds this info to their website soon. mrichard27 and I can not be the only ones confused by this.

Edited July 20, 2021 by jeramydavid

[Rexford]

Yha I got A SG standard with 2022 serial number and it's not new? Any help out there?🙏

 

[Rexford]

Yha I got A SG standard with serial number 221600260 and it's not new? Any help out there?🙏

 

[badbluesplayer]

👍

That would be built the 216th day of 2020.  The first and 5th digits are the year and the 2nd thru 4th digits are the day.  

[Sgt. Pepper]

Gibson doesn’t even understand it’s own serial number system. How about just consecutive numbers like Martin does instead of needing a slide rule and changing it ever 5 years.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper

[Coachmoe]

On 7/20/2021 at 5:57 PM, jeramydavid said:

For those following this thread... I was able to confirm with Gibson customer support that current serial numbers use the 1^st and 5^th digits for the year(2xxx0xxxx=2020). 

YDDDYBNNN

so for example..
SN 122290122  would be the 122nd guitar built of the 222nd day of 2019 (August 10th)

SN 215701088 would be the 588th guitar built of the 159th day of 2020 (June 5th)

They did not tell me when they switched to this method, but I am sure pohatu771 is right that it has been since 2018. 

Thank you all for your input on this mystery.

I do hope Gibson adds this info to their website soon. mrichard27 and I can not be the only ones confused by this.

To clarify,

1st and 5th digits are the last two digits of the year the guitar was built. 

The second, third and fourth digits are the day it was built.

The last four digits are the number in the production run.

Got this info from Bob in Customer Service. Gibson does not do a very good job updating their web content.

[bertusguitar]

Adding more confusion: I´ve recently bought a les paul special; it was buit in november 2020 according to the serial number.  However the quality checklist included in guitar's documentation is signed in september 2020, which is baffling...I emailed Gibson and now I am waiting for the definitive response. Initially they said "it is no normal"....

[bertusguitar]

On 12/18/2021 at 2:53 PM, badbluesplayer said:

👍

That would be built the 216th day of 2020.  The first and 5th digits are the year and the 2nd thru 4th digits are the day.  

Hi, 

My name is Alberto and I am writing to you from Spain. Reading this forum I find you usually provide useful opinions and solutions regarding to Gibson stuff... Please sorry if I am wasting your time; let me know if you feel uncomfortable with this private consultation. 

Ok, I'll tell you: I've recently bought a new Gibson Les Paul Special. I purchased it in reverb.com and it came from a german shop, that happens to be on the list of authorized dealers ( they are citated on Gibson website). 

The guitar seems to be legit to me. I inspected it well and don't detect suspicious details. But something baffled me: the final control quality checklist is signed in September, whereas the serial number is from November (both 2020).  I emailed Gibson Customer Service and they required photos but they didn't emailed again after a week.  Initially they said 'it is no normal' (Vincent Wynne is the guy). 

Please, would you give me your opinion about this discordance??

Thanks in advance.

Best regards.

Alberto

[Randy99CL]

To add more mud to this subject, I own two Tributes.  First is a 2019 LP Studio Tribute, only made in 2019 then dropped, with S/N 19001xxxx.

Last December I bought a new 2021 SG Tribute with S/N 22441xxxx.  So the 2019 has the year first and the 2021 is the YxxxY system.

[bertusguitar]

8 hours ago, Randy99CL said:

To add more mud to this subject, I own two Tributes.  First is a 2019 LP Studio Tribute, only made in 2019 then dropped, with S/N 19001xxxx.

Last December I bought a new 2021 SG Tribute with S/N 22441xxxx.  So the 2019 has the year first and the 2021 is the YxxxY system.

Interesting...It seems there were parallel lines of production with coexisting identification systems...

On 12/18/2021 at 2:53 PM, badbluesplayer said:

👍

That would be built the 216th day of 2020.  The first and 5th digits are the year and the 2nd thru 4th digits are the day.  

Hi, 

My name is Alberto and I am writing to you from Spain. Reading this forum I find you usually provide useful opinions and solutions regarding to Gibson stuff... Please sorry if I am wasting your time; let me know if you feel uncomfortable with this private consultation. 

Ok, I'll tell you: I've recently bought a new Gibson Les Paul Special. I purchased it in reverb.com and it came from a german shop, that happens to be on the list of authorized dealers ( they are citated on Gibson website). 

The guitar seems to be legit to me. I inspected it well and don't detect suspicious details. But something baffled me: the final control quality checklist is signed in September, whereas the serial number is from November (both 2020).  I emailed Gibson Customer Service and they required photos but they didn't emailed again after a week.  Initially they said 'it is no normal' (Vincent Wynne is the guy). 

Please, would you give me your opinion about this discordance??

Thanks in advance.

Best regards.

Alberto

[bertusguitar]

Just for close my issue...Gibson Costumer Service finally answered and they say it's ok but the checklist must be dated  wrongly. It is a relief that they confirm the authenticity.