Epiphone Serial Number Lookup: Guitar & Bass Dating

Confirmed 1960s Gibson-made instrument with impressed headstock number, before the regular Made in USA mark.

These approximate ranges were reused and can yield several years. All matching ranges are retained. Leading zeroes must be entered. Missing ranges are not filled by interpolation. Some later specialist corrections differ; construction details, pot codes and any FON/label should be checked before selecting one year. A Made in USA mark or a modern reissue requires another system.

Confirmed 1960s Gibson-made instrument with impressed headstock number, before the regular Made in USA mark.

These approximate ranges were reused and can yield several years. All matching ranges are retained. Leading zeroes must be entered. Missing ranges are not filled by interpolation. Some later specialist corrections differ; construction details, pot codes and any FON/label should be checked before selecting one year. A Made in USA mark or a modern reissue requires another system.

Regular import format used around 1993–2008, with some single-digit-year variants in the 1990s.

The year and month follow the factory prefix. Factory names/countries are documented by the unofficial specialist community; they should be checked against the country label. A ranking does not establish an exact model or total production. Ambiguous F, FC and J prefixes use separate context rules.

Regular import format used around 1993–2008, with some single-digit-year variants in the 1990s.

The year and month follow the factory prefix. Factory names/countries are documented by the unofficial specialist community; they should be checked against the country label. A ranking does not establish an exact model or total production. Ambiguous F, FC and J prefixes use separate context rules.

Regular ca.1993–2008 import system whose month is a letter A–L.

The month letter means A=January through L=December. The prefix factory association is from specialist observations and is not an authenticity check or a model identifier.

Confirmed older import that used the same factory-letter/year/month layout before ca.1993.

Gibson says some 1980s and early-1990s serials follow a similar layout, but not all do. The interpretation needs confirmation of this specific system from the country label and model history; there is no general guarantee for every older import.

Confirmed non-Japanese regular import with F-prefix, rather than Elitist, Yamano or nonlinear Chinese F-series.

F is reused by several unrelated systems. In this specific non-Japanese regular-import context it is associated with Fine Guitars in Korea. Do not use the prefix alone to decide country or factory.

Confirmed non-Japanese regular F-prefix import that uses a single 1990s year digit, rather than Elitist or Chinese Tribute.

In this confirmed single-year-digit 1990s scheme F is associated with Fine Guitars in Korea. F is reused by other factories and model systems; the prefix alone does not identify a country.

Confirmed older import with no factory prefix; not a 1950s/1960s American or Japanese domestic number.

Some pre-1994 imports omitted the factory letter. The number may encode year and month but cannot by itself identify a factory. A single year digit can repeat in two plausible decades; both are retained unless the instrument supplies more context.

Confirmed older import with no factory prefix; not a 1950s/1960s American or Japanese domestic number.

Some pre-1994 imports omitted the factory letter. The number may encode year and month but cannot by itself identify a factory. A single year digit can repeat in two plausible decades; both are retained unless the instrument supplies more context.

Regular numeric serial beginning with YYMM, introduced around 2008.

Gibson documents year and month followed by a variable-length ranking. This primary-source date reading does not assume that every number has an embedded factory code. Some longer examples have a separate observed factory-code interpretation. The digits do not encode an exact model.

Eleven-digit YYMMFFRRRRR layout documented by the specialist community.

The unofficial source explicitly identifies these factory codes as observations by forum members, rather than a complete manufacturer-verified list. Code 12/20 is unresolved between two factories; 11/13/17/18/22 retain an unknown factory. Check the country label. This is a qualified location candidate alongside the manufacturer-supported date reading.

Confirmed Japanese Elite/Elitist model, rather than a regular import or F-prefix Tribute.

The F/T factory code and production-year digits apply to the confirmed Elite/Elitist series. F is Fuji-Gen and T is Terada. A single-digit year was used for 2002–2009, followed by two-digit years from 2010 in the specialist reference. The sequence does not identify an exact model.

Confirmed Japanese Elite/Elitist model, rather than a regular import or F-prefix Tribute.

The F/T factory code and production-year digits apply to the confirmed Elite/Elitist series. F is Fuji-Gen and T is Terada. A single-digit year was used for 2002–2009, followed by two-digit years from 2010 in the specialist reference. The sequence does not identify an exact model.

Confirmed Les Paul Standard 1959/1960 or Tribute/Tribute Plus Chinese F-series.

This nonlinear F-series began around F300000 in late 2009 and is not a YYMM date code. The specialist reference contains approximate observed serial checkpoints, not a complete dating algorithm. No exact year or month is inferred from the digits alone. F here does not establish Fuji-Gen Japan or Fine Guitars Korea.

American acoustic instruments, plus electric hollowbodies that joined the same sequence around 1950.

Year estimates follow NY Epi Reg original research using documented instruments and surviving owner documents. No original factory ledger is known to survive. The older Fisch/Fred/Wheeler charts often describe retail inventory dates and can be later than production. Boundaries are estimates, not exact build records. This rule requires confirmation of the American label and instrument type; electric headstock-number schemes differ.

Pre-war electric stringed instrument with a die-stamped headstock serial, confirmed from features.

These approximate boundaries follow the revised registry chronology. Electric production stopped during World War II; the oldest 1935 instruments may have no visible serial. An acoustic interior label with the same digits belongs to another system.

Confirmed post-war American electric instrument with model prefix and a three-digit sequence stamped on the headstock.

These model-specific sequences were used concurrently, so the digits do not identify one exact year within 1946–1949. The model prefix is meaningful in this confirmed system and links to model manuals. The sequence is not a dated factory record or a complete production total.

Confirmed American Zephyr Hawaiian lap steel using the continued pre-war sequence.

Registry evidence places the documented 7307–8001 sequence within 1946–1949. The number alone does not yield an exact year. Other contemporary models used different serial systems.

American electric Hawaiian model with number stamped on the bridge/tailpiece assembly.

The documented 9000–9144 range belongs to the 1950–1956 electric Hawaiian system. It does not supply a single build year or an exact model. Confirm the bridge/tailpiece location; a headstock number belongs to another scheme.

Original Gibson-made Epiphone hollowbody with A-prefixed interior label.

Epiphone used its own A1000–A4999 sequence. It is different from Gibson-branded A-prefix instruments of the same era; applying the Gibson A chart would return the wrong year.

Confirmed original Gibson-made Epiphone solidbody ink stamp, not a modern reissue.

The first digit is the final digit of the build year in this specific late-1950s system. This does not apply to Japanese, Korean or modern Chinese numbers with similar lengths.

Confirmed Yamano Gakki-era Japanese semi-acoustic with the Terada orange label.

The first digit is the year ending within the documented 1987–approximately 1997 run; the second is a model-family code. Year digits 7 can indicate 1987 or 1997. The number does not date a modern Chinese or older American guitar. Model codes identify families rather than exact finish or hardware variants.

Confirmed Japanese domestic/Yamano serial using the YMM plus three-digit sequence system.

A J/T prefix is associated with Terada; F or no letter with Fuji-Gen in this specific Japanese domestic system. The year digit needs a decade from model history. The specialist example J902123 is 1999, but an arbitrary repeated year digit does not independently establish that decade. Other F and J serial families are unrelated.

Confirmed golden replacement sticker applied to a refurbished instrument by MIRC.

A confirmed MIRC replacement number does not encode the original production date, factory or model. The original serial may have been defaced. Do not date an arbitrary seven-digit number as MIRC without the golden-sticker context.

Confirmed original American Kent Hawaiian or Century Hawaiian lap steel with a special headstock-stamped serial in the 1949 changeover.

The original registry research documents numbers 75–188 on Kent Hawaiian and a few Century Hawaiian instruments during the 1949 transition. This is a research-attributed production period, not an individual factory-ledger date. The digits do not distinguish the two model families. Numbers stamped on the bridge/tailpiece belong to another system; an unrelated prewar electric can reuse these digits.

Confirmed original Epiphone-built Alkire Eharp Hawaiian artist model, custom built for Eddie Alkire in the late 1940s.

Original registry research identifies a separate Alkire Eharp sequence starting at 100, with 371 the highest documented number. It supplies the broad late-1940s context, not a number-to-calendar-year algorithm. The 1940–1949 eligibility bounds only reject incompatible supplied decades; they do not assign an exact build year. Confirm Epiphone manufacture and this particular artist model because other makers and later Eharps use different histories.

EA-prefixed Qingdao acoustic serial using the familiar year/month layout beyond the generic ca.2008 import transition.

The specialist Qingdao history reports EA acoustic prefixes from 2002 until a change sometime during 2012. This bounded exception covers the 2009–2012 continuation only; it does not extend every letter-prefix factory format. The exact month of the 2012 change is not documented, so a 2012 reading is a possible candidate to compare with the actual label and model history. The prefix is a qualified factory association and does not establish an exact model or production total. Examples here are synthetic format fixtures, not individual factory records.