Dec 24, 2019  To verify the year of manufacture, neck type and finish, contact Gibson at service@gibson.com and provide them with the serial number and a good photo or two of the guitar (2mb limit. Enter Serial Number eg. 81232560 Extended Search For all Gibson guitars made prior to 1977 and reisues.

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Gibson serial numbers 1952 to 1961, solidbody model.

A number stamped with ink on the back of the headstock.
Gibson's solid bodys were released in 1952. Gibson did not use serial numbers at that time but started in 1953.
The first digit of the series number is the last digit of the year. If the stamped number consists of 5 digits, there is a space between the first and second digit (a separation between the last digit of the year and the actual serial number).
If it concerns a 6-digit serial number, there is no space, because the highest 4-digit number (9999) has been exceeded and the space therefore fills up. This was the case in the years 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960.
In 1955, Gibson forgot to reset the series of serial numbers to 0001.
So they had only set the year from 4 to 5. For this reason the series of 4 digit serial numbers was exceeded after 9999.
Hence 5 digits and no space between the year (5) and the serial number. (after 5 9999 came 510 000)
Apparently the production was high in 1956 because 6 9999 is exceeded. Also in 1959 and 1960 there was a high production, 9 9999 is exceeded to 932 000 or higher.
Thus, from the production in 1959, a 1, 2 or 3 may be the second digit.
Gibson stopped the stamped serial numbers at the end of 1960, although a few instruments were made in 1961 with a 1 as a prefix. Some lap steels and Les Paul's from 1961 have such a serial number.
Another exception to the above rules is in the fall of 1958, where some Les Paul Juniors and Specials had a four-digit serial number.

1st digit	PRODUCTION YEAR
None	1952
3	1953
4	1954
5	1955
6	1956
7	1957
8 At the end of 1958, a number of LP Juniors/Specials had a four-digit serial number without a prior annual digit	1958
9	1959
0	1960
1 (rare)	1961

Gibson serial numbers, early to mid seventies.
From 1970 to 1975 the 6 digit serial numbers were randomly created.
Numbers were stamped on the back of the headstock in a random order. For some instruments preceded by a letter.

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In 1970 the orange labels in the sound box of acoustic guitars were replaced by white with orange rectangular labels. The electric models were provided with a rectangular with black and purple triangle.
From 1970 'MADE IN USA' was also stamped on the back of the headstock. Some instruments from the fifties also had such a stamp.

Gibson serial numbers, 1970-1975.
The same confusing six-digit serial system of the 1960s was maintained until 1975. This means that instruments with the same serial number can come from the 60s or 70s.
Guitars got six digits in random order, and in some cases they were preceded by a letter that did not seem to have meaning.
Note that the series between 1970 and 1975 can overlap the production from 1964 and 1965.
The table below shows the years to which the numbers can relate.

Seral number range	PRODUCTION YEAR
000000 - 099999	1973
100000 - 199999	1970 - 1975
200000 - 299999	1973 - 1975
300000 - 399999	1974 - 1975
400000 - 499999	1974 - 1975
500000 - 599999	1974 - 1975
600000 - 699999	1970 - 1972 and 1974 - 1975

Serials 1977-2013.
Gibson's most sustainable numbering system was launched in 1977, an eight-digit number. The first and fifth digits represented the year of manufacture. The three intervening digits, the day of that year.
The digits six to eight indicated the sequence number.
After the opening of the new factory in Nashville, production was also included in the serial numbers. 001 to 499 appeared on instruments built in Kalamazoo, 500 to 999 built in Nashville.
Even after the Kalamazoo plant closed in 1984, this process continued until 1989 in Nashville.
The system was updated in 2005 when 1 digit was inserted at the end of the batch number. The sequence numbers ranged from 500 to 699, after which the batch number was increased by 1, and the sequence number went back to 500.

Gibson closed the Memphis plant in April 2019.
The production of 'USA made' solid body guitars is now only produced in Nashville.

Serial numbers 2014 to present.
Gibson's most simplest system was introduced in 2014. A nine-digit serial number stamped. The first two digits indicate the year, the rest is the serial number for all guitars produced that year.
Every year starts with serial 0000001.