Want to know how to date your Gibson guitar by serial number? Then you’re in the right place.
- Likes Received: 217. Can you tell where and when an Epi SG was made by the serial number?My SG special has a number on the neckplate SJ0208. Does that mean August 2002?Which factory is SJ?Do they make these guitars in Korea or China? Absynthe, Feb 15, 2005.
- The Epiphone serial number decoder currently supports 12 serial number formats from 25 factories. Vintage numbers from 1932 to 1970 are supported. Serial numbers from 70' and 80's era Epiphone guitars made in Japan are not supported. The reason for this is that there is no reliable documentation from this time period.
Just enter the number below, hit the ‘Decode’ button and our lookup tool will tell you the year your guitar is from (sometimes even down the exact day), the country it was made in, and the manufacturing plant.
If the neck has been changed, or if the headstock is worn, then you may not know what model the guitar is. Luckily there's a website that can help you to find out what model guitar you have. All you need is your serial number and soon you will know the model type and model number of the guitar, as well as where the guitar was made.
You can add any model of Gibson guitar, whether that’s a Les Paul, a Flying V, or a Hummingbird.
Where to Find the Serial Number on Your Gibson Guitar?
In contrast to finding Fender serial numbers (which can be in a variety of places), locating Gibson serial numbers is more straightforward.
- On electrics, they are almost always on the back of the headstock, at the top.
- On acoustic guitars, they’re usually in the soundhole.
Epiphone Serial Number Lookup
On the rare occasion it isn’t there, you can check the pots where you’ll find the date (unless the pots haven’t been swapped out at a later date, that is).
Epiphone Casino Serial Numbers
Finding the location of the serial number is easy enough on a Gibson. Deciphering the serial number is another job entirely, and made more complicated because they chopped and changed the naming convention so much over the years.
Rather than try and explain all the nuances to their system, my advice is to try the decoder above which will check your number against their database.
Gibson's Qingdao Factory
Good luck!