Help needed in dating a TG-50 guitar

[kevincrowell]

I recently purchased a Gibson TG-50 off eBay. TenorGuitar.com lists the production years as being from 1934 - 1958 so that narrows it a bit. The only number I can find is visible through the lower f hole: 2702-7, which according to the Gibson site may mean it's a Factory Order Number (FON), however, that places the guitar somewhere in 1916 so something's not right.

 

Any and all help appreciated!

 

Kevin

[flameburst]

Factory Order Numbers:

 

1st Number range Year

200-xx to 399-xx 1937

 

This is a useful site resource...

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/gibson.html#serial

[kevincrowell]

Thanks so much for your help!

[kevincrowell]

Thanks again for your help.

 

I also posted the same message on the Tenor Guitar Registry and have been able to conclusively date the instrument as a 1948 model.

 

Using Gruhn as its source, the Tenor Guitar Registry said that my guitar was a 1948 as it fell between 1100 and 3700, also noted in the source you cited. However, they couldn't explain the "-2" suffix.

 

According to http://www.provide.net/~cfh/gibson.html#serial , FON 2702-2 could be dated as a Pre-WWII instrument produced in 1937- the first four numbers are between 1600-xx and 2999-xx.

 

What helped me pinpoint my tenor as a 1948 instrument is that the logo on the headstock is in block letters, not script- an important fact I neglected to include in my posting here! The block letters were used only after WWII on all but the low-end models.

 

I suggest that if anyone has any questions about dating their Gibson that they take a look at the above referenced URL. I don't think any single reference is perfect but the nice thing about this one is that it takes information from several sources and tries to make sense of what you correctly call a nightmare.

 

Mystery solved. Thanks again for your help!

 

Kevin