As one of the oldest and most widely recognized brands in music, has crafted some of the most cherished and valuable instruments of all time. Determining exactly when your Gibson specimen was made can have high stakes attached to it. A difference of only one year - sometimes even several months - can mean a four-figure difference in value. Our hope is to make the dating process and, in turn, the valuation as easy, accurate and transparent as possible. You should be able to use this guide to determine the year of your instrument and then consult the to find its value, all for free. Methods For Dating a Gibson Instrument For many vintage instruments, determining the date of manufacture involves little more than running the serial number through a reference guide. Whereas Martin guitars have been using a single, consistent numbering system since the 19th century, Gibson has used several different serial number formats since its inception in 1902, meaning that some formats and numbers overlap across decades. This makes it especially important to first identify the general era during which your instrument was made before pinning down the exact date of manufacture with a serial number. If you know the backstory around when the instrument was purchased, this can provide some rough clues about its era. The most general physical piece of evidence on the instrument, however, is going to be the logo on the headstock. Gibson Headstock Logos Through The Decades Here's a look at the different logos Gibson used during each major era of manufacturing. This is sometimes referred to as the slanted script logo. Some earlier specimens from 1903 to 1907 did not slant the logo, or went without a logo entirely. Specimens built before 1902 had a star inlay or crescent in place of a logo. Late 1920s to 1933 1932 L-2 The script logo continues without the slant. From 1943 to 1947, the logo was a thick golden script, known as the banner logo. Most models get a dotted i again in 1972, with the rest following suit from 1981 onward. Other Date-Linked Features Aside from the logos, each era of manufacturing included certain identifying traits such as the hardware tuners, knobs, plates, etc. But not a final verdict. Many older instruments may have reproduction or other non-original parts, including a non-original finish. This makes relying entirely on the physical features of a guitar potentially misleading. The thickness of the headstock, however, is not as vulnerable to modification or replacement. Before mid-1950, most Gibson headstocks were thinner at the top when looked at from a side profile. After 1950, headstocks had uniform thickness. Dating a Gibson by Factory Order Number FON Gibson has historically used two different alpha-numerical formats to catalog its instruments: serial numbers and FONs Factory Order Numbers. Instruments will generally have one or both of these numbers stamped or written either inside the body generally the case on earlier models or on the back of the headstock. These will generally date an instrument earlier than the serial number, as they were typically applied in the early stages of assembly. Some earlier lower-end models had no serial number at all, making the FON the sole numerical identifier in those cases. A FON usually consisted of a 3-, 4-, or 5-digit batch number followed by one or two other numbers in most cases. The consistency around this stopped during WWII and resumed in the early 1950s. The year is indicated by the first letter in any series of letters for these years. Below is a table of the the highest known number for each production year. The serial number on this Les Paul Junior indicates it was made in 1956. However, while the intent was to maintain a more organized catalog, this system in practice achieved the exact opposite. Numbers from this era were flipped, reused, and in many cases can date an instrument to several non-sequential years. The serial numbers from this period are generally as follows: Number Year 000000S 1973 100000S 1970-1975 200000S 1973-1975 300000S 1974-1975 400000S 1974-1975 500000S 1974-1975 600000S 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 700000S 1970, 1971, 1972 800000S 1973, 1974, 1975 900000S 1970, 1971, 1972 1975-1977 Number Year 99XXXXXX 1975 00XXXXXX 1976 06XXXXXX 1977 1977-Current Starting in 1977, Gibson adopted the current date-based serial system which codes for the year and day of production. The first number of the sequence indicates the decade of production, followed by the three digit day of the year, and finally the year. If at any point you feel confused or just want a second set of eyes on your instrument, you can always chat live with a Reverb employee during normal business hours.