JefferySmith Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 The past few days, I've been inquiring on the Guitar Dater Project website to see where my Epis were made. I just ran my two Sheraton Reissue II guitars through it, and found that they were both made in Korea in May, 1996. These are the ones that were purportedly "assembled" in the USA. What surprises me is that I bought them in late 2005, so they were sitting somewhere for nearly 10 years before MF sold them. Does anyone know which Korean factory was making Sheratons in May, 1996? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerxst1281733995 Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Samick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Probably Samick. Good for you. so... no letter in the serial? GD project is pretty cool but face it... the Epiphone serial# code is pretty easy to do in your head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 Probably Samick. Good for you. so... no letter in the serial? GD project is pretty cool but face it... the Epiphone serial# code is pretty easy to do in your head. No letter in the serial number, and the number is on a label inside of the guitar rather than stamped on the head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 There's a strong possibility that GDP is out in limbo on those serials. Anything off the beaten path will throw GDP for a loop... and then it'll fall back to 'Korea' as the place of manufacture. Maybe your serials have a single-digit year code which GDP is interpreting as the '90s. It's also possible that these serials are using the Gibson style of date coding in which case the first and fifth digits will give you the actual year of production. If I were you I'd pop off an e-mail to service@gibson.com and ask them for clarification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 There's a strong possibility that GDP is out in limbo on those serials. Anything off the beaten path will throw GDP for a loop... and then it'll fall back to 'Korea' as the place of manufacture. Maybe your serials have a single-digit year code which GDP is interpreting as the '90s. It's also possible that these serials are using the Gibson style of date coding in which case the first and fifth digits will give you the actual year of production. If I were you I'd pop off an e-mail to service@gibson.com and ask them for clarification. Will do. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 There's a strong possibility that GDP is out in limbo on those serials. Anything off the beaten path will throw GDP for a loop... and then it'll fall back to 'Korea' as the place of manufacture. Maybe your serials have a single-digit year code which GDP is interpreting as the '90s. It's also possible that these serials are using the Gibson style of date coding in which case the first and fifth digits will give you the actual year of production. If I were you I'd pop off an e-mail to service@gibson.com and ask them for clarification. I typed in a serial number that I got from Craigslist, and it spit back a message that it wasn't in their database, but that it was made in Korea in 1996. Thus, you are right. If the Guitar Dater has no clue, it defaults to Korea in 1996. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 The past few days' date=' I've been inquiring on the Guitar Dater Project website to see where my Epis were made. I just ran my two Sheraton Reissue II guitars through it, and found that they were both made in Korea in May, 1996. These are the ones that were purportedly "assembled" in the USA. What surprises me is that I bought them in late 2005, so they were sitting somewhere for nearly 10 years before MF sold them. Does anyone know which Korean factory was making Sheratons in May, 1996? Without actually seeing the guitars I am not going to go beyond mere speculation but...if you have a Frequensator-equipped Sheraton you purchased from a reputable dealer (MF) in the past five years and a similar stop piece-equipped Sheraton and both were purported to be "assembled in the USA" models, I may be inclined to say what you have are actually refurb'ed Terada-made JL Hooker models that have been stripped of their identifying characteristics...and by the way, in my very humble opinion those are some of the best Epiphones made since the time when they were coming out of Kalamazoo. My guess is they were factory returns that were given new serial numbers which don't correspond to the usual dating systems. The Dater thing is a great tool but as Rotcanny pointed out, it's easy to throw it a curve ball and it isn't rocket science to sort out the recent Epiphone numbering system in your head unless of course it is a guitar that has been re-numbered. I think...and only think...that the JL Hooker USA series guitars were around from about 1999 until about 2004 so that's the date of production approximation and as I said, these were made in Japan (and "assembled" here..whatever that means) not Korea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 I'm curious, about those "Assmbled In USA" Sheratons...because (1) I have one, and it's phenomenal...but, (2) the headstock on it, seems wider at the top (like the Vintage Kalamazoo made versions), than the "Elitists" with a bit narrower headstock. The top "open book carving" seems more shallow(?) or "squashed," compared to the Elitits, too. Since I haven't had the opportunity, to actually check mine, against a "real" Elitist (only photos), I'm curious if I'm right, or it's just some illusion, via the angle the photos of the Elitists, were take, etc. ??? CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted June 12, 2008 Author Share Posted June 12, 2008 Without actually seeing the guitars I am not going to go beyond mere speculation but...if you have a Frequensator-equipped Sheraton you purchased from a reputable dealer (MF) in the past five years and a similar stop piece-equipped Sheraton and both were purported to be "assembled in the USA" models' date=' I may be inclined to say what you have are actually refurb'ed Terada-made JL Hooker models that have been stripped of their identifying characteristics...and by the way, in my very humble opinion those are some of the best Epiphones made since the time when they were coming out of Kalamazoo. My guess is they were factory returns that were given new serial numbers which don't correspond to the usual dating systems. The Dater thing is a great tool but as Rotcanny pointed out, it's easy to throw it a curve ball and it isn't rocket science to sort out the recent Epiphone numbering system in your head unless of course it is a guitar that has been re-numbered. I think...and only think...that the JL Hooker USA series guitars were around from about 1999 until about 2004 so that's the date of production approximation and as I said, these were made in Japan (and "assembled" here..whatever that means) not Korea.[/quote'] Both build quality and playability are top notch, comparable to Elitist...except for a plastic nut. I'll never part with mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonedeva Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Well I can see this question opened a can of worms! Will Gibson even respond to questions about dating? Do these serial numbers have more than one meaning? I'm getting the feeling by the responders here that maybe nobody really knows what they have!????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefferySmith Posted November 30, 2008 Author Share Posted November 30, 2008 Well I can see this question opened a can of worms! Will Gibson even respond to questions about dating? Do these serial numbers have more than one meaning? I'm getting the feeling by the responders here that maybe nobody really knows what they have!????? Like a pregnancy test, no matter what the result, it should be confirmed elsewhere. Whenever the GDP spits out Made in Korea, the guitar was either made in Korea or the GDP doesn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ef_in_fla Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Well I can see this question opened a can of worms! I guess it did' date=' [i']five months ago.[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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