If you feel like your guitar could be highly valuable or just want as much information as possible, we recommend finding an official appraiser or reach out to a Gibson representative.

Determining exactly when your Gibson specimen was made can have high stakes attached to it.

A difference of only one year - sometimes even several months - can mean a four-figure difference in value.

You should be able to use this guide to determine the year of your instrument and then consult the Reverb Price Guide to find its value, all for free.

This makes it especially important to first identify the general era during which your instrument was made before pinning down the exact date of manufacture with a serial number.

The most general physical piece of evidence on the instrument, however, is going to be the logo on the headstock.

Specimens built before 1902 had a star inlay or crescent in place of a logo.

Some flattop guitars of this era started to omit the word The from the inlay.

The original thin script was replaced with a thicker font on higher-end models in the mid-30s, and across the entire lineup by the end of the decade.

Some models (LG-2, J-45, SJ, select L-50s) included an actual banner reading Only a Gibson Is Good Enough in the middle of the headstock.

There were minute changes to which letters were connected in the font between 1961 to 1981, but the main logo had the same look.

Most models get a dotted i again in 1972, with the rest following suit from 1981 onward.

This makes relying entirely on the physical features of a guitar potentially misleading.

Before mid-1950, most Gibson headstocks were thinner at the top when looked at from a side profile.

Instruments will generally have one or both of these numbers stamped or written either inside the body (generally the case on earlier models) or on the back of the headstock.

These will generally date an instrument earlier than the serial number, as they were typically applied in the early stages of assembly.

A FON usually consisted of a 3-, 4-, or 5-digit batch number followed by one or two other numbers in most cases.

The consistency around this stopped during WWII and resumed in the early 1950s.

Below is a table of the the highest known number for each production year.

The serial number on this Les Paul Junior indicates that it was made in 1956.

However, while the intent was to maintain a more organized catalog, this system in practice achieved the exact opposite.

The general system was as follows, though with instruments from this era its important to consult key features to get a more accurate age approximation.

The first number of the sequence indicates the decade of production, followed by the three digit day of the year, and finally the year.

The last three (or four as of 2005) digits signify the location of production and batch number, respectively, but this information isnt necessary to accurately dating your instrument.

Leolani Ukulele Serial Number