Wams
New member
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2016
- Messages
- 12
I have an old SG special that I have owned for 30 years and assumed it to be built in 1965. I “dated” the pot codes - although obscured a bit by soldering, I can read one of them to indicate “CBA-11-1053 500k AT 13765xx - with the last two digits covered by solder. Given the codes and the observable features of the guitar, I had dated the year of manufacture as 1965. What really throws me off is the Serial Number. It starts with 77xxxx. The guitar has all of the usuals for a mid 60s Gibson: impressed SN, no “Made is USA” stamp, and no volute. Likewise, it has the original and correct small, mid 60s pickguard, kluson strip tuners, and p90s - and the fading to the cherry color (as compared to the color under the pickguard) look as expected for a guitar of that era. (Note - I restored the tailpiece to a period-correct maestro using the original tailpiece screw holes given that a previous owner swapped tailpieces to a stop tailpiece). Gibson SN lists that I have seen on various online forums that show overlapping SNs for various years do not indicate any in the mid-60s starting with “77”. Should I just chalk this up to the haphazard Gibson SNs of that era - even though I don’t see any references to this serial numbering scheme in any of the “dating your Gibson guitar” resources?
Trying to add a photo - not as easy as pasting it, I am finding out...
Trying to add a photo - not as easy as pasting it, I am finding out...
Last edited: