gecko5 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 A friend of my wifes is selling an ES125 for her father. I need some assistence dating it. She said there is a mark inside. Serial number I assume) of B8286 32 I would appreciate any assistence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Your "serial number" is likely a "Factory Order Number" (aka "FON"). Are you sure that the first letter is a "B"? Could it be an "R" or an "S"? If so, this would date it to 1959 or 1960. Based on the "bonnet" type control knobs (the volume knob is hard to recognize, but the tone knob is pretty clear in the photo), I'm going to suggest that the guitar may date from the 1955-1960 period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gecko5 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 I was told the number was inside the guitar. Would the serial number be on the back of the headstock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 FON's are found inside the guitar. You can date the guitar this way. Many Gibsons do not have "serial numbers", especially budget models like this. Check the prefix letter again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gecko5 Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 I actually got the guitar in my hands today. The FON is R 8286 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gecko5 Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 According to..... http://www.gibson.com/Files/downloads/bluebook/GibsonSERIALNUMBERS.pdf Its a 1960? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 That's correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gecko5 Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Thanks for the help Jim. So I have a 1960 ES125 in very good condition. All the parts are there. Some light corosion on some of the metal pats. Finish is outstanding. Neck is straight. Frets show little to no wear. The original case is in great condition. I am taking this to a local, very reputable vintage shop( Cream City Music) To sell it for my wifes friend. What is a fair price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimR56 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 In order to answer that question, you can do the same thing I would do... check ebay for completed auctions of ES125's from the same general time period. You can also look at current auctions to see what sort of prices are being asked (via "buy it now"), and to see what kind of bids are being offered. The idea with all of that is to try to get enough samples so that you feel like a market value has been established. Also, you can see what dealers are asking. One way to do this is to go to "G Base" (gbase.com). Go to "find gear" and enter the make, model, and year. You should see numerous examples. Look at the range of prices. Somewhere in the middle is probably a fair retail value. I would also do a general web search, such as on Google, to look for information. If you're going to sell the guitar directly to a dealer, you're only going to get roughly 60% of it's value. You might also inquire about consigning it to the dealer, in which case you would have to wait longer, but would get more money (perhaps 80% of the retail value). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamBooka Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I find that completed ebay auctions are the best indicator. Even then they can be a little high because there is always someone with G.A.S. willing to spend a little too much (I have done it myself) With GBase you have to take into account that they are asking 1500$ for a 57 ES125 but if you walked into most of the shops with 1300$ cash they would be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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