Guitar serial number dating
Find the year a guitar or bass was built, read from the maker’s own numbering, and whether that exact instrument has been listed for sale before.
Can't read a digit? Type ? in its place. Looked-up serials are kept, never tied to you. How it works
Type the serial or code from the instrument. We read it as you type.
Cross-check with a pot code
The number stamped on a potentiometer inside the guitar. It dates the part, not the whole instrument.
Date by brand
Dating something else? We also date pianos, amps, synths & pedals, drums and microphones.
How guitar serial numbers are dated
How the dating works
A serial number is not random. Each maker stamps the build date into it in its own way, and those schemes are published. We read the number the same way the factory wrote it. For a Gibson made since 1977 that is exact to the day; for a Fender it is usually the year, and sometimes a two-year span, because Fender assigned its numbers in batches that run a little ahead of the actual build.
Where the number cannot give a year on its own, we say so rather than guess. A pre-1977 Gibson, for instance, carries no date in its serial and the same numbers were reused across years; a Custom Shop or reissue instrument uses its own scheme. In those cases the answer is a note on what the number does mean and where to confirm, not a false year.
For Fender, Gibson and other major brands we go further: we check the serial against the millions of listings we track and tell you whether that exact number has been advertised before, where, and at what price.
Fender serial numbers
From 1976 on, Fender serials start with a letter for the decade and a digit for the year: S for the 1970s, E for the 1980s, N for the 1990s, Z for the 2000s. Since 2010 US instruments read US followed by the two-digit year, and Mexican ones MX followed by the year; earlier Mexican serials use MN for the 1990s and MZ for the 2000s. Older, pre-1976 instruments are dated from the number on the neck plate, which is approximate. The serial is on the headstock on modern guitars and on the neck plate or neck heel on older ones.
Gibson serial numbers
Since 1977 Gibson has used a date-coded serial: eight digits in which two of them are the year and three are the day of the year, so it dates to the exact day. Nine-digit serials from 2014 to 2019 carry the year in the first two digits. The number is on the back of the headstock. Before 1977 the serials were not date-coded, so those need the pot codes and features to date.
How sure is it
Every result carries its confidence. Treat the year as a strong guide, not proof: a serial can be replaced, a neck and body can be from different years, and reissues copy old numbering. For anything that matters, confirm the year against the neck date, the pot codes and the maker’s own lookup, which each result links to. When a serial cannot date a guitar at all, the pots often can.