Gibson Hummingbird Serial Number Lookup

Cool technology to make finding and buying parts a breeze, including Serial Number Lookup, PartSPIN® and Smart Manuals, found on partstown.com and our industry-leading mobile app; An exceptional customer experience from the team you know and trust with every email, live chat, text and phone call, provided by a friendly and knowledgeable team. Your serial number is also located on the back of your unit, near the connectors or on the bottom of the unit front housing. This too is model dependent.

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Gibson Serial Numbers

some data are taken from the 11th Edition of 'Blue Book of Electric Guitars', By Zachary R. Fjestad
When Gibson start the production of solidbody guitars in 1952, a new serial number system was developed.
5 or 6 DIGITS number ink stamped on the headstock back:
Y NNN(N)
Y= last digit of the year (2=1952, 3=1953, 4=1954, 5=1955, 6=1956, 7=1957, 8=1958, 9=1959, 0=1960)
NNN(N)= production numbers in a consecutive order
4 2205 = 1954
0 9865 = 1960
NOTES: not used on the earliest instruments produced (those done in 1952), a few of these instruments have three digits stamped on the headstock top.
In 1961, Gibson started a new serial number system. It consisted of numbers that were impressed into the wood. This is generally considered to be the most confusing out of all Gibson’s serial number systems used. There are several instances where batches of numbers are switched in order and duplicated, not just once, but up to four times, and seem to be randomly assigned throughout the decade.
Note: If 'MADE IN USA' is stamped in the back of the headstock near the serial number, the guitar is not from the 1960s, but the 1970s.
100-42440 ---> 1961
42441-61180 ---> 1962
61450-64222 ---> 1963
64240-71040 ---> 1964
71041-96600 ---> 1962, 1963, 1964
96601-99999 ---> 1963
000001-099999 ---> 1967
100000-106099 ---> 1963, 1967
106100-108999 ---> 1963
109000-109999 ---> 1963, 1967
110000-111549 ---> 1963
111550-115799 ---> 1963, 1967
115800-118299 ---> 1963
118300-120999 ---> 1963, 1967
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Gibson Hummingbird Serial Number Lookup Online

121000-139999 ---> 1963
140000-140100 ---> 1963, 1967
140101-144304 ---> 1963
144305-144380 ---> 1963, 1964
144381-149864 ---> 1963
149865-149891 ---> 1964
149892-152989 ---> 1963
152990-174222 ---> 1964
174223-176643 ---> 1964, 1965
176644-250335 ---> 1964
250336-305983 ---> 1965
306000-310999 ---> 1965, 1967
311000-320149 ---> 1965
320150-320699 ---> 1967
320700-329179 ---> 1965
329180-330199 ---> 1965, 1967
330200-332240 ---> 1965, 1967, 1968
332241-348092 ---> 1965
348093-349100 ---> 1966
349121-368638 ---> 1965
368640-369890 ---> 1966
370000-370999 ---> 1967
380000-385309 ---> 1966
390000-390998 ---> 1967
400001-406666 ---> 1966
406667-409670 ---> 1966, 1967, 1968
409671-410900 ---> 1966
410901-419999 ---> No Entries
420000-429193 ---> 1966
500000-500999 ---> 1965, 1966,1968, 1969
501009-501600 ---> 1965
501601-501702 ---> 1968
501703-502706 ---> 1965, 1968
503010-503109 ---> 1968
503405-520955 ---> 1965, 1968
520956-530056 ---> 1968
530061-530850 ---> 1966, 1968, 1969
530851-530993 ---> 1968, 1969
530994-539999 ---> 1969
540000-540795 ---> 1966, 1969
540796-545009 ---> 1969
555000-556909 ---> 1966
558012-567400 ---> 1969
570087-570643 ---> 1966
570645-570755 ---> 1966, 1967
570857-570964 ---> 1966
580000-580080 ---> 1969
580086-580999 ---> 1966, 1967, 1969
600000-600998 ---> 1966, 1967, 1968 (LOW END)
600000-606090 ---> 1969 (HIGH END)
700000-700799 ---> 1966, 1967
750000-750999 ---> 1968, 1969
800000-800999 ---> 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969
801000-812838 ---> 1966, 1969
812900-819999 ---> 1969
820000-820087 ---> 1966, 1969
820088-823830 ---> 1966*
824000-824999 ---> 1969
828002-847488 ---> 1966, 1969
847499-858999 ---> 1966, 1969
859001-895038 ---> 1967
895039-896999 ---> 1968
897000-898999 ---> 1967, 1969
899000-899999 ---> 1968
900000-901999 ---> 1970
910000-999999 ---> 1968

From 1970 to 1975 the method of serializing instruments at Gibson became even more random. All numbers were impressed into the wood and a six-digit number was assigned, though no particular order was given and some instruments had a letter prefix. In 1970, the words MADE IN USA were impressed into the back of instrument headstocks (though a few instruments from the 1950s also had this).
000000S--->1973
200000S --->1973-1975
400000S --->1974-1975
600000S --->1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975
800000S --->1973, 1974, 1975

Where Is Gibson Guitar Serial Number

6 DIGITS + A --->1970
B + 6 DIGITS --->1974, 1975
D + 6 DIGITS --->1974, 1975
F + 6 DIGITS --->1974, 1975
NOTES: When the Nashville Gibson plant was opened in 1974, it was decided that the bulk of the production of products would be run in the South; the Kalamazoo plant would produce the higher end (fancier) models in the North. Of course, many of the older guitar builders and craftsmen were still in Kalamazoo, and if they weren’t ready to change how they built guitars, then they may not have been ready to change how they numbered them! Certain guitar models built in the late 1970s can be used to demonstrate the old-style, six-digit serial numbers. It is estimated that Gibson’s Kalamazoo plant continued to use the six-digit serial numbers through 1978 and 1979. So double check the serial numbers on those 1970s L-5s, Super 400s, and Super 5 BJBs!
YY= year (99=1975, 00=1976 and 06=1977)
NNNNNN= production number from 100000 to 200000 range.
MADE IN USA was also included on the transfer and some models had LIMITED EDITION also applied.
99XXXXXX 1975
06XXXXXX 1977
NOTES: A few bolt-on neck instruments had a date ink stamped on the heel area.
Between 1997 and late June or early July 2005, Gibson used the same serialization system on all standard-built guitars. This updated system utilizes an impressed, 8 digit numbering scheme that covers both serializing and dating functions.
YY = last two digits of the production year
PPP = plant designation and/or instrument rank:
001-499 --> Kalamazoo production from 1977 to 1984 when the factory closed.
500-999 --> Nashville production from 1977 to 1989.
All currently manufactured Gibsons (non-custom shop) are stamped with a hand arbor, and start at 300 or 500, and continue until production is finished that day. This hand stamp used to be reset daily at #300 or #500
for all the LP style headstocks. The other shapes (Flying V, T-Bird, Explorer, etc.) were started at 700. When acoustic production began at the plant in Bozeman, Montana (in 1989), the series’ numbers were reorganized. Bozeman instruments began using 001-299 designations and, in 1990, Nashville instruments began using 300-999 designations. It should also be noted that the Nashville plant has not reached the 900s since 1977, so these numbers have been
Examples:
70108276 means the instrument was produced on Jan. 10, 1978, in Kalamazoo and was the 276th instrument stamped that day.
82765501 means the instrument was produced on Oct. 3, 1985, in Nashville and was the 1st instrument stamped that day.
03202652 means the instrument was produced on November 16, 2002 and was the 152nd instrument stamped that day (assuming they started at 500).
NOTES: The Custom/Historic/Art divisions do not use this system. Certain models in the Standard series also do not follow this, either.
YDDDYBPPP
B = batch number was implemeted to better keep track of production and allow for more than five hundred instruments to be produced in a day. At the beginning of each day, the sixth digit is reset to 0. Once the last three numbers reach
699, the batch number moves on to 1, and the last three digits are reset to 500.
028360612 stamped on the 283rd day (October 10th) in 2006 and was the 112th guitar stamped that day.
001071520 stamped on the 10th day (January 10th) of 2007 and was the 220th guitar stamped on that day (it was part of the second batch and the 20th guitar of the second batch - first batch was of 200 guitars).

Gibson Hummingbird Serial Number Lookup Number

Gibson Hummingbird Serial Number Lookup
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Gram Parsons '61 Hummingbird…
This 15 3/4-inch-wide Square Shoulder Dreadnought weighs just 4.60 lbs. and has a wide nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Mahogany back and sides, fine-grain spruce top, one-piece mahogany neck with a nice medium profile, and single-bound rosewood fretboard with 20 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Black headstock with inlaid pearl 'Gibson' logo and pearl crown inlay. Two-layer black on white plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover. Individual gold-plated single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Brown celluloid pickguard with hummingbird, butterfly, and flowers etched in white and yellow. Rosewood tailpiece with two pearl dots and adjustable rosewood bridge.
The top has seven-ply binding, the back has five-ply binding, and the soundhole rings are in three groups of three, seven and three. Inside the soundhole is the orange label with Style 'Guitar' / Gibson 'Humming Bird' / Number '40620' stamped in black. The serial number '40620' is also stamped in blind on the back of the headstock. The 'A' tuner button has shrunk a little but is stable and the 'E' tuner has been changed for a matching, but slightly later (ca. 1964) Kluson double-line deluxe version. Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.25).
'The Hummingbird is numbered among those elite guitars that look like no others, that are unmistakably individual and unique. Of all the models in the history of Gibson acoustic flat-tops, probably the venerable J-200 alone is more immediately identifiable than this peerless 'bird of paradise…Gibson introduced the Hummingbird, their first square-shoulder guitar, in 1960. Their goal: an instrument designed for vocal accompaniment, one whose warm and honeyed tone would complement the voice, not overpower it. In reaching this goal Gibson employed a radical design that resulted in an instrument more boxy than its round-shoulder predecessors…The price and quality of this new model were appropriate for a guitar second only to that of the J-200 among Gibson flat-tops…The new model was not only more visually stunning than the competition of the time (especially that of other guitar companies), it offered superior playing capabilities. The Hummingbird certainly gave the public what it wanted: sales jumped to 595 in 1961 from 156 the previous year. In fact, the model was selling so well that Gibson expanded the Hummingbird concept, creating the Dove, which was based on the same body as the Hummingbird, but had maple back and sides, a long-scale neck, and different external components. The Dove cost approximately 35 percent more than the Hummingbird and filled the price slot between it and the top-of-the-line J-200…By 1965 the Hummingbird had been relegated to number five in the Gibson lineup, according to price, behind the J-200, Dove, Heritage, and Everly Brothers guitars. Also in this year many changes were made in the Hummingbird. One of the more unusual involved triangles or rectangles of black paint on the guitar's sides, next to the neck heel…That year also saw a neck change, in which the peghead angle was reduced to 14 degrees from 17 and the neck was made more narrow, two modifications that affected the entire flat-top line at that time. Also, chrome plate supplanted nickel that year…During 1967 and 1968, in a short-lived experiment, pickguards were attached by tiny screws rather than glued; also, some nickel-plated tuners were found on the 'birds. In 1968 the top-belly bridge was replaced by a squarish bottom-belly design; the adjustable saddle was retained. At this time some Hummingbird tops were also finished with the traditional dark brown sunburst instead of the trademark cherryburst. The last year for the ultra-light Hummingbird construction that produced such excellent sound was 1968. Near the end of that year Gibson initiated major changes intended to increase production while keeping warranty work to aminimum. Thus, the braces on both top and back became large and bulky, as did the solid-wood bridge pad' (Eldon Whitford, David Vinopal, & Dan Erlewine, Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars, pp. 111-114).
'Keith Richards has used Hummingbirds quite frequently throughout his career, alongside other acoustic guitars. His Hummingbird can be heard in many Rolling Stones songs, such as 'Let it Bleed', 'Love in Vain', 'No Expectations', and 'Dead Flowers'. Other notable Hummingbird players include Jimmy Page, Brian Jones, Marc Bolan, Sheryl Crow, The Edge, Bono, Sarah Harmer, Mick Jagger, Alan Sparhawk, John McLaughlin, Gram Parsons, Ryan Adams, KT Tunstall, Lefty Frizzell, Stoll Vaughan, and currently Michelle Branch is using one' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Hummingbird).

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