GuitarBuyer77 Posted November 11, 2011 Posted November 11, 2011 Has anyone else seen 2011 Natural explorers? i just went and ordered a copy of one (layaway) the employee removed it from the gibson pure box and it was in its snakeskin like case. It came with original shipping papers and certificate of authenticity from gibson. BTW just posting this because i thought they stopped making these in 2007. I Also thought they only make ebony cherry and white now so i got it rite away. Plays like a beast wonderful gold hardware and unique wood grain.
GibSinCity Posted November 12, 2011 Posted November 12, 2011 Verify the year of manufacture using the serial number: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Support/SerialNumberSearch/ - In 1977, Gibson introduced the serialization method that we primarily use to this day at Gibson USA, Gibson Acoustic, and the Gibson Custom facility in Memphis, TN. The serial number will be an 8 digit number impressed into the back of the headstock with "MADE IN USA" below. 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. Since 1989, all Gibson acoustics are built in Bozeman, MT and all Gibson electrics are built in Nashville or Memphis. Ranking numbers for Bozeman start each day at 001 and the electrics may start as low as the 300s. Examples: 70108276 means the instrument was produced on Jan. 10, 1978, in Kalamazoo and was the 276th instrument stamped that day. 82765501 means the instrument was produced on Oct. 3, 1985, in Nashville and was the 1st instrument stamped that day. NOTE - Gibson USA goes to a 9 digit serial number in early July 2005.. The sixth number is now a batch number- batch 0 starts at the beginning of the day, and once we stamp 699, the batch number will change to 1. The first 5 numbers remain the same, the last 3 numbers will remain the same. The only difference is the addition of this batch indicator.
Ledguitar73 Posted November 13, 2011 Posted November 13, 2011 I saw one at GC the other day and I've seen epiphones that look much better. They used to be nice, now they don't look so hot.
plexitim Posted November 23, 2011 Posted November 23, 2011 Has anyone else seen 2011 Natural explorers? i just went and ordered a copy of one (layaway) the employee removed it from the gibson pure box and it was in its snakeskin like case. It came with original shipping papers and certificate of authenticity from gibson. BTW just posting this because i thought they stopped making these in 2007. I Also thought they only make ebony cherry and white now so i got it rite away. Plays like a beast wonderful gold hardware and unique wood grain. The official position from Gibson is that the Natural finish Explorers are not really available. Just the cherry, white, black finishes. However at the local Guitar Center I frequent, plus a few recently on Ebay, there have been maybe a handful that have popped up and all were legitimate 2011 models according to serial number. Also, you can order one online at Amazon.com in natural if you don't mind waiting for it.
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