Re: Another 7 digit serial number, but an F-5L this time
Originally Posted by
mcallen
I am helping with an old friend's musical instrument estate after his passing. The family has asked me to help value his mandolin. His daughter, who knows nothing about instruments, thinks she has a mando that's worth quite a bit of money. I think she has noticed some "F-5L Fern" editions online and her eyes got wide.
I am familiar with this instrument because the deceased gentleman taught me to play and I remember when he ordered it.
It's a 1987 (I think) Gibson F-5L
The serial number is a 7 digit, 8083766 and is signed by Jim Triggs on May 22, 1987. The tag says: "THE GIBSON MASTER MODEL", "F-5L", "Gibson. Inc. Nashville, Tn."
If you try the "early" F-5L serial breakdown, as in the article on this site, you get: the 83rd day of 1987, but the "66" for a sequence number doesn't seem right. I would expect a "066" if that were the case.
If you try the breakdown from an earlier thread about a 7 digit serial (A-5G?) from the same time period you get: the 83rd built in 1986 but the 5th & 6th digit would be the month and that's "76".
My question is: what is the date according to serial number, and opinions on the value. The condition I would rate as "Good". Wear marks on the finish, pick scratches, etc.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My estimation of the value would be closer to $4,000 but Shawn might have a better feeling for this -- maybe he is considering a Triggs signed instrument of great value?
Gibson used two different coding sequences for serial numbers in the last few decades though.
All mandolins made the the Derrington era are 8 digits and the code is read:
YMMDDPPY (Y = year, M= month, D = day and P = production)
So for example using this code in a serial of: 11213160:
the first "0" and last "2" are the year, i.e., 2002
the "1213" is the date, i.e. December 13,
and the "16" is the production number, i.e., 16th instrument of the day.
The coding for the later Montana era is the same but I have noticed that the date coded into the serial number is often up to a few months earlier than the signature date. For example, I have a Bozeman F-5G which has a October, 1995 serial number date but Bruce Weber signed in December, 1995.
I think the coding is slightly different for those in the early Montana days where the serial number code was a seven digit code like yours: 8083766
So I think your code should be read:
YDDDYPPP
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year (e.g., 083 = March 23rd on non-leap year)
PPP is the plant designation and/or instrument ran
So by my thinking you have a mandolin made on March 24th 1987 (83rd day of the year unless 1987 was a leap year then it is March 23rd) and it was the 66th instrument signed that day?
Last edited by Bernie Daniel; Jul-06-2015 at 9:21am.
Bernie
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Due to current budgetary restrictions the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off -- sorry about the inconvenience.
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