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DATING IBANEZ GUITARS

An Ibanez serial number can tell you two things, year of manufacture and factory [or country] of manufacture. There is no master list to correlate to a model number, these are consecutive serialized numbers only. If you're trying to figure out what model something is from the serial number, figure out what year it is then go to the catalog library for the corresponding year [or year before or after] to find the model. Some models will never be found in the catalogs, that's just the way it is.

On typical Ibanez serial numbers the first 2 digits will indicate year, or the first digit will indicate the last digit of the year, but there are also some that indicate no year at all. Because allot of it can be confusing I'll spell out as many model/serial types as I can remember tonight in a fully inconcise and dribble filled rant. ;)

This page is for dating Ibanez guitars built in Japan only. See the Factories heading a few paragraphs down for little info on guitars produced elsewhere.

Before 1975 Ibanez did not put serial numbers on their guitars. Most just bore a neck plate simply marked Japan. The only way to date these guitars is to find out what years they were available and then comparing all the minute details like scripts, contours, and inlay variances that only the hardcore vintage gurus know. These guitars can be dated by their electronics if they are original. Here is the breakdown courtesy of Ibanez Collectors World.

Until 1977 Maxon used 5 digit serials:
1st character is a production code (1,2,3, etc., maybe related to different production location)
2nd character indicates the year of production (2=1972, 3=1973, etc.)
3rd character indicates the month of production (0=January, 1=February, ... 9=October, .=November, X=December)
4th and 5th character is the day of production (01 to 31)

Although guitars already had serials from 1975, between 1977 and 1982 they used a 6 character serial on pickups:
1st character is a production code (1,2,3, etc., maybe related to different production location)
2nd character indicates the year of production (7=1977, 0=1980, 1=1981, etc.)
3rd and 4th character indicates the month of production (01=January, ... 12=December)
5th and 6th character is the day of production (01 to 31)

This is a list of Alvarez Artist Series guitars (with 4 digit model numbers) that are no longer in production. Alvarez used 4 digit model numbers for pre-1999 Professional Series guitars. From 1999 they used two letter and two number model names.

Quickly locate your Adobe product serial number so you can reinstall or update your product, upgrade from Adobe Creative Suite to an Adobe Creative Cloud membership, and more. Also learn how to fix. Dec 30, 2019 Alvarez began this series of serial numbers with 1 and ended with 12. If the first number of your serial number is '1,' your banjo was produced in 1989. If it is '2,' your banjo was produced in 1990, and so on.

1975 - Present, This old style serial number will either be on the neck plate or impressed into the back of the headstock. It consists of a letter, A - L, followed by a 6 digit number. The letter stands for the month, A for January etc., the first 2 digits will be the year, 76 is 1976, 96 is 1996, the last 4 digits will be the consecutive production number for that months production, 1356 would be the 1356th guitar produced that month. This form of serial numbering is still used today on guitars where the number is impressed into the back of the headstock. A761356 - The 1356th guitar produced in January '76

1987 - Present - These serial numbers will either be on the neck plate or on a serial sticker affixed to the back of the headstock, with some models still following the impressed old school serial numbers shown above. There are many variables of numbering through these years and between different models and are broken down into 3 categories, stickers, plates, and the impressed numbers that follow the old school style detailed above.

HEADSTOCK SERIAL STICKERS
PLATE NUMBERS
CUSTOM SHOP
NO SERIAL NUMBER
ODDITIES

1987 - 1996 - Guitars built in Japan between these years will have a serial number beginning with F followed by 6 numbers. F is the production factory which stands for Fujigen. The first digit will be the last digit of the year, ie. F8***** is a guitars made in Fujigen in 1988. The last 5 numbers will be the consecutive number denoting production count for the year with the caveat that each month will start at predetermined intervals of 3000 or 5000, etc.

1997 - Present - Under the old numbering scheme 1997 would show duplicate numbers to 1987 so the serial number was changed to the F and 7 digits, now the first 2 denoting year of production. F98***** is a guitar built by Fujigen in 1998. The last 5 numbers will be the consecutive number denoting production count for the year with the caveat that each month will start at predetermined intervals of 3000 or 5000, etc. Presently it is set at 3000. With production year beginning in November - 00000～02999 - November, 03000～05999 - December, 06000～08999 - January, 09000～11999 - February, 12000～14999 - March etc.

Factories - Shown as F for Fujigen in the examples above, other factories used that mainly produced the budget models were C for Cort [Korea], S for Samick [Korea], W for World [Korea], and guitars are also built in I Indonesia, China, and who knows where else. These serial numbers are usually quite different from the MIJ numbers, have many extra digits because of the enormous volume of guitars produced, and I am not familiar enough with any of them to tell you how to figure out the dating.

Alvarez Serial Number Decoder

Cort Serial Numbers - Cort serial numbers are denoted with a C prefix followed by either 7 or 8 digits. I'm not sure what year the changeover occurred but using the formula it will be easy for you to tell. A 7 digit number example - C5030567 - translates, 5 = 1995, 03 = 3rd month [March], 0567 = 567th guitar built in March 1995. An 8 digit number example - C03114373 - translates, 03 = 2003, 11 = 11th month [November], 4373 = 4373rd guitar built in November 2003.

Premium Serial Numbers - Prior to 11/2011 there are 5 digits followed by a letter. The letter denotes year, starting in 2010 with A, with a 5 digit production number. Post 11/2011 they changed to alpha, 4 numbers, alpha, the first letter being the month, A for January, the last being the year, B for 2011, C for 2012, etc. Z will be the year 2035. Month, production number that month, year.

Sugi Serial Numbers - Alphabet Production Month (A = January to L = December), Next two numbers are Production Year (09-2009. 10-2010), Next number 5 is Model number. 5 is UV77REMC [2 is FRM1, etc], Next Two numbers is monthly series number.

Everything Else - The Guitar Dater Project will decode W, S, I and who knows what other prefixes [factory codes]. I do not know how accurate the system is but t

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