Looking for year made

[Nazer19]

I have my father’s guitar.  I am trying to determine what year it was made.  I know it was early 70’s because I have a picture of him playing with me as a child.  The number stamped on the back of  the headstock is B222322.  It also has Made in USA which is post ‘69 and was made in Kalamazoo.  Can anyone help me?

[gearbasher]

According to this site: https://www.guitarscollector.com/gibson-serial-numbers-legenda.html, it's '74-'75.

---------- 1970 - 1975 ----------

From 1970 to 1975 the method of serializing instruments at Gibson became even more random. All numbers were impressed into the wood and a six-digit number was assigned, though no particular order was given and some instruments had a letter prefix. In 1970, the words MADE IN USA were impressed into the back of instrument headstocks (though a few instruments from the 1950s also had this).

NUMBER ---> YEAR

000000S ---> 1973

100000S ---> 1970-1975

200000S ---> 1973-1975

300000S ---> 1974-1975

400000S ---> 1974-1975

500000S ---> 1974-1975

600000S ---> 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975

700000S ---> 1970, 1971, 1972

800000S ---> 1973, 1974, 1975

900000S ---> 1970, 1971, 1972

6 DIGITS + A ---> 1970

A + 6 DIGITS ---> 1973, 1974, 1975

B + 6 DIGITS ---> 1974, 1975

C + 6 DIGITS ---> 1974, 1975

D + 6 DIGITS ---> 1974, 1975

E + 6 DIGITS ---> 1974, 1975

F + 6 DIGITS ---> 1974, 1975

NOTES: When the Nashville Gibson plant was opened in 1974, it was decided that the bulk of the production of products would be run in the South; the Kalamazoo plant would produce the higher end (fancier) models in the North. Of course, many of the older guitar builders and craftsmen were still in Kalamazoo, and if they weren’t ready to change how they built guitars, then they may not have been ready to change how they numbered them! Certain guitar models built in the late 1970s can be used to demonstrate the old-style, six-digit serial numbers. It is estimated that Gibson’s Kalamazoo plant continued to use the six-digit serial numbers through 1978 and 1979. So double check the serial numbers on those 1970s L-5s, Super 400s, and Super 5 BJBs!

 

[zombywoof]

3 hours ago, gearbasher said:

 

NOTES: When the Nashville Gibson plant was opened in 1974, it was decided that the bulk of the production of products would be run in the South; the Kalamazoo plant would produce the higher end (fancier) models in the North. Of course, many of the older guitar builders and craftsmen were still in Kalamazoo, and if they weren’t ready to change how they built guitars, then they may not have been ready to change how they numbered them! Certain guitar models built in the late 1970s can be used to demonstrate the old-style, six-digit serial numbers. It is estimated that Gibson’s Kalamazoo plant continued to use the six-digit serial numbers through 1978 and 1979. So double check the serial numbers on those 1970s L-5s, Super 400s, and Super 5 BJBs!

 

Where this info regarding what was built where comes from is beyond me.  Gibson continued to produce acoustic flattops and maintain a repair department in Kalamazoo until 1984.  Jim Deurloo who had worked at Gibson from the late-1950s to the late-1960s returned and by the end of the 1970s was serving as the Kalamazoo plant manager.   In 1983 he made a last-ditch effort to resurrect the acoustic line by tasking Abe Wechter with designing guitars and building prototypes based on older specs which I believe debuted at NAMM that year.

[ksdaddy]

2 hours ago, zombywoof said:

Where this info regarding what was built where comes from is beyond me. 

I've struggled with wondering where certain electrics were made, if they were made 1974-77.  If they were stamped, I tend to think Kalamazoo, and if a decal I think Nashville, but that is not based in any type of defendable belief. I have yet to see anyone step up and offer any way of determining the build site. 

As far as the top end archtops, all bets are off anyway. I mean, they were Kalamazoo made during that era, but I mean as far as the serial numbers following convention.