55 em-150?

[Frankjz]

W 197 4, is the number stamped inside. Also stamped EM-150, so I know what it is. Date codes have been tough to nail down. Is this a 55?

[jefflester]

www.guitarhq.com/gibson.html

indicates it is a 1955 based on that FON


Factory Order Numbers with a Letter, 1952 to 1961.
This letter preceeds the batch number within the Factory Order Number (FON), and denotes the year of manufacturer. Remember, the batch number is the first 4 digits of the FON, followed by a 1 or 2 digit sequence number (within the batch). This letter should be before the FON batch number. This was used on archtop models (ink stamped inside treble F-hole) and on flat top models (ink stamped on the neck block), from 1952 to 1961:

Year Letter
---- ------
1952 Z
1953 Y
1954 X
1955 W
1956 V
1957 U
1958 T
1959 S
1960 R
1961 Q

[Willie Poole]

Wonder what they`ll do when they get past the letter "Z"? Which I suppose has now happened...

[MikeEdgerton]

They changed the format several times in the intervening years.

[f5loar]

Those are the easy years to date if you can read that letter. Some a smudged and hard to make out. It's the FON before and after this that are tougher to date. And the mid to late 60's serial nos. are also hard to date. Overlaps with the 70's and repeats in the 60's make these really hard to date. You need to know catalog specs to get those.

[Frankjz]

Those are the easy years to date if you can read that letter. Some a smudged and hard to make out. It's the FON before and after this that are tougher to date. And the mid to late 60's serial nos. are also hard to date. Overlaps with the 70's and repeats in the 60's make these really hard to date. You need to know catalog specs to get those.

glad i have the '55 then. thanks

[Frankjz]

so, w 197 4. equals made in '55, 197 equals batch number? 4 equals sequence?
it also appears to have a handwritten 5 or S at the end of this number.