nintage 1994 epiphone lp birdseye maple

[harlequingr]

hi,

 

i wanted to know if serial #S6058496 is a valid Epi Les Paul serial #? i states in the lsiting that it was made in Korea in 1994.i didn know gibson/epiphone made guitars in korea.thanks,

 

george

[tweed2]

Welcome. The Serial number would back up the Made in Korea (the S = Samick, their Korean factory) but the numbers don't quite jive. In most cases, the first two numbers would be the year of manufacture. I suppose it could be a '96. There are a few others that are a lot more adept at deciphering these things. Anyway, stay tuned and if you get the guitar, post a few pictures.

[Whitmore Willy]

Tweed nailed it as close as I can figure.

Samick, Korea

May, '96

Production number 8496

 

Although everyone (including Gibson) kick out the occasional dud...

Samick was/is considered a top notch plant.

 

Willy

[Bluemans335]

You know that guitars made in the 1990's are not 'vintage.' Because Epi's use cheaper fret wire, which wears faster than frets on high-end guitars, I won't buy any Epi's that old; refretting is very expensive. If you're considering an older mid-price guitar like this, check the frets closely for wear before you break out your wallet. In the used market, there's a lot of great deals on newer Epi's, and they tend to have less baggage. The Epi's from that era usually had those cheap mini-pots, generic tuners, and some really mediocre pickups. A used $250 Epi LP with a new $200 refret job is still a $250 LP.

 

I've owned dozens of Epi's over the years and the current Chinese models are the best they've made (excluding the Japanese ones).