Dating a Gibson J-45 Studio

[GuitarC]

Hi,

How do I use the serial number to date and find production information on my Gibson J-45 Studio (walnut)?  Mine has an 8 digit serial number.

Also, when were the J-45 Studios first produced?

Thanks!

 

[PrairieDog]

13 hours ago, GuitarC said:

Hi,

How do I use the serial number to date and find production information on my Gibson J-45 Studio (walnut)?  Mine has an 8 digit serial number.

Also, when were the J-45 Studios first produced?

Thanks!

 

From the Gibson Page: 

“The pattern is as follows:
YDDDYRRR
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year
RRR is the factory ranking/plant designation number.
Prior to when the Kalamazoo, MI factory was closed, the numbers 001-499 indicated Kalamazoo production. Ranking numbers 500-999 continued to indicate Nashville production through 1989.”

Since 1989, all the acoustics are made in Bozeman 

So what you do is count the first five numbers from the left: (82897)001, the last two numbers of the year is split by the middle three numbers which are the day of the year, so this gives you (19)87 the 289th day of the year.  The last three digits tell you what  production number it is in the day: number 1.  

If the number is lower than 500 it was made in Michigan, if it’s 500 or higher it was Nashville. But if your date is  after1989 then it was built in Bozeman.  

So this fictional guitar ends up being the 1st guitar built on Oct 16, 1987 in Kalamazoo.

Someone else with more knowledge will have to answer when they were introduced, but with an 8 digit serial number yours must predate July 2005, when they switched to the 9 digit format.  

I have the Walnut, a newer one, and it’s a great, easy playing guitar, still has amazing sound and depth even though it’s a bit narrower than the standards. congrats!

 

Edited January 6 by PrairieDog

[Murph]

I usually just try to get them liquored up...