Vintage Fret

Decoder / Brand

Epiphone serial numbers

Pre-1970 Epiphone serials are poorly documented. The modern factory-code format is reliable from the 1990s. A serial is evidence, not proof.

Letters, digits and hyphens. Spaces and dots are ignored.

Brand

Your number, read character by character

Each character of your number appears here.

Entries

Ranked by confidence. Select a row for its rule.

Type a serial number, or press an example. Nothing leaves your device.

Where to look

  • Paper label inside the body
  • Headstock back (modern)
Generic acoustic guitar outline with three marked places where a serial number may be found 1 inside, through the soundhole 2 neck block 3 back of headstock
Generic outline, not any maker's model. Marks 1 to 3 are the usual places; which apply depends on the format and year.

The formats, in order

Each row is one rule the decoder applies. Where two rows overlap in years, a number can match both, and the decoder shows both.

YearsFormatHow sureUsually found
1930 to 1989 Pre-1990 numbers
A paper label with a number, or a stamped number, with no dependable year code.		 Cannot tell Paper label inside the body.
1990 to null Factory code, year and month, 1990s onwards
One or two letters for the factory, two digits for the year, two for the month, then four or five digits.		 Likely Back of the headstock.

Traps

  • Pre-1990 numbers. Documented sequences exist only for parts of the range.
  • Factory code, year and month, 1990s onwards. Epiphone dates by factory-specific codes. Earlier Japanese and Korean numbers do not follow this form.

Dates that matter

  • 1957. Gibson acquires Epiphone. Epiphone production moves to Kalamazoo from about 1958.
  • 1970. Production shifts to Japan. Epiphone instruments are built in Japan from about 1970.

See these on the timeline.

Features that help date it

  • Made in Kalamazoo (1958 to 1969). Label or stamp naming Kalamazoo, Michigan.
  • Japan production begins (1970 to later). "Made in Japan" stamp, usually on the back of the headstock.

Filter all features by brand and year.

Where the rules come from

  • Author knowledge of published collector consensus; not independently verified online

Rules are rewritten as logic, not copied tables. See About for known gaps.

Other brands

Martin, Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Guild, Rickenbacker, Harmony, Kay, Silvertone and Danelectro, Other makers.