Gibson Serial Numbers

[Nathan Sanders]

From Gibson's web site I read the following:
YDDDYPPP
YY is the production year
DDD is the day of the year
PPP is the plant designation and/or instrument rank.

Does this apply to recent mandolins? For instance, I have a Gibson A-9 and the serial number begins with 4. I assume this means it was built in 2004?

[Nathan Sanders]

Just revisiting this topic. Hopefully someone will respond. I just want to get a firmer understanding of the Gibson serial number system. Thanks!

[Moose]

You ain't th' only one! - After going back and looking at the past thread I'm still "in-the-dark" on my recently-bought mando. Don't have it in front of me(wish I did!), I'm at work!?## - Anyhow, I have a Flatiron "A" ; say's "The Flatiron" on the peghead ; inside is an oval label that states: "Gibson Master Model"...pat. 1921, 19--, Made in Nashville, Tenn. ;Model: "Performer." ; under this info is a serial # that begins..."80XXXXXX(sorry, guy's I'll write the actual ## down so I can post again - for more accuracy. A nice mando that is s-l-o-w-ly open'n up!?## . Moose.

[JimW]

I'll try and shed some light on the Gibson serial numbering scheme the way I understand it and it was confirmed by Charlie Derrington. I'll use the below serial number as an example:

Serial # 80206059 would break down like this:

8 for the single year of the decade, (0 - 9) would be valid.
02 for the month, (01 - 12) would be a valid number here.
06 for the day, (01 - 31) would be valid.
05 for the number signed that day, (01 - 99) would be valid.
9 for the decade year number, (0 - 9) would be valid.

So, this particular Gibson was built on Feburary 06, 1998 and it was the fifth one made that day.

I hope that helps some with Gibson serial numbers.

Jim

[Nathan Sanders]

Sounds sensible enough to me. My A-9 begins with a 4 and ends with zero, so I was having trouble with the year part, but not now. Mine was built last year. Thanks!