what year is it?

[jammer55]

I recently bought what I thought to be a 2004 Les Paul Standard. The headstock has "Made USA 2004" stamped on it but the Serial Number starts of with 02, which indicates it is a 2002 model. My question is, which year is it? I guess I can assume the later date to be correct since that stamp was put on last, duh. but could it have been partially manufactured in '02 and then finished and shipped in '04? just curious. I would like to get a more exact date just so I can nail down the specs better.

 

 

Thanks

[Tim Plains]

Specs are: weight relieved body (swiss cheese holes), short neck tenon, (should be) Burstbucker Pro pickups (don't confuse them with Burstbucker pickups), 500k tone pots, 300k volume pots, ceramic disc capacitors, '50s or '60s neck.

 

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Support/SerialNumberSearch/

 

Gibson USA, Gibson Acoustic, Gibson Memphis

 

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 1984 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.

[jammer55]

I think mine is chambered. It weighs 7 lbs on the nose. Swiss cheese ones are heavier from what i've read. This also leads me to believe it is a 2004, since chambering came later than the swiss cheese method.

 

thanks for the input

[A.J.]

The folks at Gibson are good about getting back to you on questions like that. I was worried when I purchased mine it was a fake. Turns out it wasn't but I sent them a few pics, the serial number and description and they got back to me in about four days. Also, you can check here http://www.guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx for dating and stuff. :)