history and dating LP's ...

[lesterpaul]

anyone know of a good link for dating and overall history of les pauls,or for that matter a good link for all guitars but my main concern for now is LP's ...i'm not so much concerned with the actul date it was made just a generaL guide to when certain models were produced ...thanks

 

[Tadpui]

Here ya go:
http://www.gibson.com/downloads/bluebook/GibsonSERIALNUMBERS.pdf

I thought it was funny that my LP classic 1960 also has the 1960-style serial number on it.

We were able to determine that my friend has a 1968 ES-331 from this document. It's pretty thorough.

 

[foo]

Some of the info can be misleading or confusing - there was a period when Gibson just didn't keep good records.

If you can't figure out what you're trying to find, post somehting here and I'll help you out.

 

[lpdeluxe]

Thanks for the link, Tadpui

Bacon & Day's "The Les Paul Book" has comprehensive feature charts through the early '90's that allow you to figure out when an LP was made. I don't know how it is with all the reissues.

Norlin owned Gibson through the early '80's, if I remember. The current owners came along and bought the whole catastrophe, but the story goes that they were not provided with a password into the Norlin computer system that held all the production totals and serial number records. As a result, when you go to the Gibson web site, if the guitar was made from about 1967 through 1984 (and I may have the years off a little), the best they can do is make an educated guess. Bacon & Day provided enough information for me to date my Les Paul Deluxe (how'd you guess?) as a '70 or '71, but Gibson would only narrow it down to "between '69 and '84."

 

[lesterpaul]

here's the deal ...

i was reading guitar world and one of features said that this guy played an
81 les paul studio and i have an 84 studio custom and i was under the impression that they were first made in 84 now i read this in a book that i can't remember tha name of and when i went back to get it it was gone, i just like being factual when i state something and i was wondering where i could find that out ...but thanks again for the link i will use it to id my lp's and i did know about there mishaps with dating numbers...thanks again

 

[Light]

Gibson has basically NEVER kept good records. (Unlike Martin, whom you can call with a serial number, and they can tell you what size and style of guitar it is, what day it was finished, where it was sold, and who was the original owner. For every guitar back to like the 1880’s.) With an older Gibson, the only way to be absolutely certain is to buy the guitar from the original owner, and to look at the original sales receipt. As long as they bought it in the year it was made, that is frequently as close as you can get.

There are little details, like the volute they started putting on the headstock in 1969 (to keep the headstock from breaking), little things like that. Even with those things, it is still quite hard to date them absolutely.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[lesterpaul]

hmmm...

well on mine i did get it from the original owner who bought it in 85, i know the shop and they generally keep higher priced guitars for a longer period of time, so an 84 being purchased in 85 is about right and i did have the corroboration of the book so i'm 99% sure of mine ,i just thought that an introduction of a specific line would be easier to nail down than the actual date