Want to know how to date your Gibson guitar by serial number? Then you’re in the right place.
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.
You can add any model of Gibson guitar, whether that’s a Les Paul, a Flying V, or a Hummingbird.
Note: This tool is based on our own research and has not been provided by Gibson.
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.
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).
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.
Good luck!
