Gibson Skylark Lap Steel Serial Numbers

Posted : admin | On 05-03-2021



Hi everybody! It's time to let a couple of treasured guitars go; up for sale is my Epiphone Joe Pass and my vintage Gibson Skylark lap steel. I'm emailing you before they go on Craiglist. Gibson Skylark lap steel (late 50s early 60s - serial number and additional pics on request) $1000 FIRM One single coil Melody Maker style pu Korina wood body. 1957 Gibson Skylark Lap steel with the original case. The guitar is in exellent condition, you may spot a few light marks but no major dings etc. All original and amazing piece of history. Korina wood and laquered fretboard are in fantastic condition. Slight aging on the plate and bridge cover nickel.

Before collectibility and value can be determined about a Gibson guitar (and before you emailme asking, 'what kind of Gibson guitar do I have?'),several things need to be identified:
  1. The type of guitar (flattop, archtop, solidbody, lapsteel, etc).
  2. The exact model within the type.
  3. The year it was made (or approximate year/era).
  4. Oringinality (have any of the parts been changed or modified?).
Gibson skylark lap steel serial numbers list

First Determine the Type of Guitar and the Model.
Sometimes there is a tag inside the guitar stating the 'style' or model.If the model is hollow, look on the inside for any tags and madenote of any ink stamps (sometimes the model is ink stamped inside the guitar).But unfortunately, especially on the low to mid line models,usually there is NO tag or label inside the guitar specifying what it is.If this is the case, start at the beginning and first determine whattype of guitar you have.These are several different types of Gibson guitars made.Once this is known, go directly to the section aboutthat type (listed in the blue table of contents text above),and look at the model pictures and descriptions that matches your guitar.

Here are the general types of Gibson guitars:

  • Electric Solid body Gibsons: body is a solid piece of wood(no soundhole or cutouts), 1.5' to 2' thick, pickups and knobs routed into the top of the guitar.
  • Flattop Acoustic Gibsons: single round sound hole under the strings, body 3.5' to 4.5' thick with a flat top, usually not electric(but often owners add a sort of bolt-on electric assembly).
  • Acoustic Archtop Gibsons: two 'f' hole stylesound holes cut in the top, body 3' to 4.5' thick, slightly arched top, acoustic with no pickups (but sometimes these models have bolt-on electic assembly added later by players).
  • Electric Archtop Gibsons: same as above ('f' holes, arch top)but the factory installed electric pickups into the guitar with volume/tone knob(s).
  • Electric Thinline Archtop Gibsons: same as above (electricwith two 'f' holes in the top), but the body is thinner at 1.5' to 2' thick. These are always electric from the factory.
  • Electric Lapsteel Gibson: a small solidbody guitar (no cutoutsor sound holes) that is playedin the lap, Hawaiian style, with a metal slide bar, pickup and knob routed into the top.

Once the type of guitar is determined, figuring out the exact model isMUCH easier! (just go to one of the above six linked webpages that describes your guitar, and compare each model specs to your guitar, until you find the one that matches).

Next Determine the Year or Approximate Year.
Gibson guitars usually have a FON (Factory Order Number), a serial number, or both(but sometimes neither!) Various serial number systems were used by Gibson,and often the same serial number could be used in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.See the serial number/FON section for details.Duplicate or no serial/FON number doesn't make things easy, but there are other traits that allow theserial number to make sense (see the General Specs sectionfor more details). Also mid to top end instruments usually have a label insidethe guitar with the serial number. Guitars with no label are usually lower end instruments(or are a solidbody guitar!)

Probably the first thing when trying to determine the year on an old Gibsonis whether the guitar was made 'pre-WW2', during WW2, or 'post-WW2'. This is easy to do, as Gibsonused different peghead logos for pre-WW2, 'wartime', and post-WW2 (see the General Specs section for more details). Knowing the general era of the Gibson guitar will make Gibson's rather complicatedserial number/FON systems less tangled.

Next Determine the Exact Model.
There are several general questions which can be asked in determining a guitar's model,once the type of guitar (flat top, arch top, etc.) has been determined:

  • What is the color of the top of the guitar? Common top colors include 'sunburst' (a yellow center that fades to a darker red or brown around the edges),black, natural and 'cherry red' (a translucent red which shows the wood grain).
  • What is the color of the back of the guitar? Common back colorsinclude translucent dark brown, translucent light brown, sunburst, cherry red, etc.
  • What is the body size? (measure the guitar across the top at the widest point, which isthe guitar's 'hips'). This is really important for all model types except solidbody electrics.
  • What is the style of fingerboard inlays? (dots, blocks, trapezoids, double parallelagrams, etc.)
  • What is the style of 'Gibson' peghead logo? That is, is it white silkscreen,gold silkscreen, or pearl inlay? Also if the logo is pre-WW2, wartime, or post-WW2 (see above).Also fancier models can even have some sort of pearl inlaid decoration (a 'crown' or longskinny 'diamond') on the pegheadjust below the 'Gibson' logo.
  • What is the style of binding? Binding is the whitish/yellowish/tortoise 'band' that goesaround the edges of the body. Most Gibsons have some sort of body binding.Often binding is multi-layers (white/black/white, etc).Some guitars also have binding on the neck. The more binding a guitar has, the fancierthe model.

Finally Determine the Originality.
Originality of an instrument is very important. Modifications (any modifications),are a bad thing in the eyes of a collector. This will greatly influencevalue. Modifications can often be determined by looking at the modelspecs for a particular year guitar in this web page (after the approximate year is determined), and compare to your instrument.

Gibson guitar serial numbers are, like a lot of serial number systems from guitar manufacturers, a complicated beast.

But with a little bit of research you should be able to find out when your Gibson was built and in some cases where.

There are a number of distinct time periods for Gibson’s serial numbers, where the systems differed. There are also other ways of determining the age of your instrument, including FON’s and things such as logo designs.

FON’s

Skylark

In addition to serial numbers older Gibson guitars also had Factory Order Numbers (FONs) imprinted. In some cases, in fact, only FONs were used and there was no serial number (this was mainly for early low-end models).

FON’s (and serial numbers) on Gibson guitars are usually found either on the inside of the back of the guitar (inside the sound hole) or on the back of the headstock).

FON’s were used from 1902 to 1961.

Other Identifiers

There are some other ways you can get an idea of the age of your Gibson.

Logo

Gibson’s logo has been largely unchanged since 1947 but before that time the logo changed a bit, so you can use that to help identify the era your guitar was built.

Made in USA

From 1970 onwards a “Made in U.S.A” was engraved below the serial number. This can help determine if your guitar was from the 1960s or 1970s (some guitars during those 2 decades had the same serial number).

Other Features

You can also use other features to help identify the time period of your instrument. Some of these include:

  • Volutes: Extra bits of wood carved into the headstock where it meets the neck. These were starting to be added in 1969 – so if your instrument didn’t have them then it’s likely to be pre-1969
  • Things such as tuners, capstans, plates can also give you clues – though remember that an older instrument could have had these items replaced so it’s not a definite clue.

Serial Numbers

O.k. so why discuss all these other aspects, when this post is supposed to be about serial numbers!

Good question – and the answer is simply that the serial number system used up until 1977 wasn’t the easiest or most reliable system – so you may not be able to accurately determine anything about your guitar using the serial number alone.

O.k., let’s take a look at the different time periods of serial numbers from Gibson Guitars.

1902-1947

The following serial numbers apply just to acoustic guitars.

During this period, the system was actually relatively simple. Guitars were just given the next available number.

The chart below shows the year that relates to the serial number. The serial numbers shown represent the approximate last serial number for that year. The first serial number for acoustic guitars was 100.

YearLast Aprox Serial #
19031150
19041850
19052550
19063350
19074250
19085450
19096950
19108750
191110850
191213350
191316100
191420150
191525150
191632000
191739500
191847900
191953800
192062200
192169300
192271400
192374900
192480300
192582700
192683600
192785400
192887300
192989750
193090200
193190450
193290700
193391400
193492300
193592800
193694100
193795200
193895750
193996050
194096600
194197400
194297700
194397850
194498250
194598650
194699300
194799999

1947 to 1961

Once the serial numbers hit 99999, Gibson decided to change to a new system, rather than go into 6 digits.

The new system used a letter to prefix the numbers. The first guitar in this new system was A 100 which was in April of 1947.

YearLast Aprox Serial #
1947A 1305
1948A 2665
1949A 4410
1950A 6596
1951A 9420
1952A 12460
1953A 17435
1954A 18665
1955A 21910
1956A 24755
1957A 26820
1958A 28880
1959A 32285
1960A 34645
1961A 36147

1961 to 1970

A new system, introduced in 1961, was made to cover all of the instruments in Gibson’s line (not just acoustic guitars). This was pretty poorly done though (IMO) and meant that some serial numbers were reused so a certain serial number could be from a guitar from different years.

Gibson Skylark Lap Steel Serial Numbers List

YearAprox Serial # Range
1961100-42440
196242441-61180
196361450-64220
196464240-70500
196271180-96600
196396601-99999
1967000001-008010
1967010000-042900
1967044000-044100
1967050000-054400
1967055000-063999
1967064000-066010
19670670000-070910
1967090000-099999
1963, 1967100000-106099
1963106100-108900
1963, 19671090000-109999
1963110000-111549
1963, 1967111550-115799
1963115800-118299
1963, 1967118300-120999
1963121000-139999
1963, 1967140000-140100
1963140101-144304
1964144305-144380
1963144381-145000
1963147009-149864
1964149865-149891
1963149892-152989
1964152990-174222
1964, 1965174223-176643
1964176644-199999
1964200000-250335
1965250336-291000
1965301755-302100
1965302754-305983
1965, 1967306000-306100
1965, 1967307000-307985
1965, 1967309848-310999
1965311000-320149
1967320150-320699
1965320700-321100
1965322000-326600
1965328000-328500
1965328700-329179
1965, 1967329180-330199
1965, 1967-68330200-332240
1965332241-327090
1965348000-348092
1966348093-349100
1965349121-368638
1966368640-369890
1967370000-370999
1966380000-385309
1967390000-390998
1965-68400001-400999
1966401000-407985
1966408000-408690
1966408800-409250
1966420000-426090
1966427000-429180
1966430005-438530
1966438800-438925
1965-66, 1968-69500000-500999
1965501010-501600
1968501601-501702
1965, 1968501703-502706
1968503010-503110
1965, 1968503405-520955
1968520956-530056
1966, 1968-69530061-530850
1968-69530851-530993
1969530994-539999
1966, 1969540000-540795
1969540796-545009
1966550000-556910
1969558012-567400
1966570099-570755
1969580000-580999
1966-69600000-600999
1969601000-601090
1969605901-606090
1966-67700000-700799
1968-69750000-750999
1966-69800000-800999
1966, 1969801000-812838
1969812900-814999
1969817000-819999
1966, 1969820000-820087
1966820088-823830
1969824000-824999
1966, 1969828002-847488
1966847499-858999
1967859001-880089
1967893401-895038
1968895039-896999
1967897000-898999
1968899000-899999
1968900000-902250
1968903000-920899
1968940000-941009
1968942001-943000
1968945000-945450
1968947415-956000
1968959000-960909
1968970000-972864

1970 to 1975

It didn’t get any less confusing during this time either. The biggest telling factors for guitars from this period, as opposed to the guitars from 1961 to 1969 is the “Made in U.S.A” that can be found on guitars from 1970 onwards.

6 Digit Serial numbers were still used so a lot of the same numbers were also used on 1960s models. To make matters even more confusing, there wasn’t really an order for these serial numbers – so you could have something from 1975 that started with a 1 and something from 1972 that started with a 9.

NumberYear
0XXXXX1973
1XXXXX1970-1975
2XXXXX1973-1975
3XXXXX1974-1975
4XXXXX1974-1975
5XXXXX1974-1975
6XXXXX1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975
7XXXXX1970, 1971, 1972
8XXXXX1973, 1974, 1975
9XXXXX1970, 1971, 1972

Some serial numbers also used a letter (just because?)

NUMBER YEAR
XXXXXX + A1970
A + XXXXXX1973, 1974, 1975
B + XXXXXX1974, 1975
C + XXXXXX1974, 1975
D + XXXXXX1974, 1975
E + XXXXXX1974, 1975
F + XXXXXX1974, 1975

1975 to 1977

Thing get a little simpler. These serial numbers started with either “96” “00” or “06” with the 96 representing 1975, the 00 representing 1976 and 06 representing 1977. Not sure why these numbers were used, but at least it was uniform!

Serial #Year
99XXXXXX1975
00XXXXXX1976
06XXXXXX1977

1977 to Present

Finally, in 1977 a much more logical serial number system was introduced.

Gibson Skylark Lap Steel Serial Numbers Lookup

This is an 8 digit system and follows the format YDDDYPPP.

  • The YY represent the year the guitar was made
  • The DDD is the day of the year that the guitar was made
  • The PPP represents the factory the guitar was made in and the number of production

So, for example, let’s take the serial number 80351045.

  • This guitar was built in 1981 – 80351045 – remember in the format that the year is the 1st and 5th
  • This guitar was built on the 35th day of the year – so this would have been February 4th – 80351045
  • This guitar was built in the Kalamazoo factory and it was the 45th instrument stamped that day.

So this serial number represents the 45th guitar built on February 4, 1981 in the Kalamazoo factory.

Factories

The Kalamazoo factory operated until 1984 and guitars made in that factory from 1977 to 1984 had the last 3 digits (the production number) that were between 001 and 499.

Guitars built in the Nashville factory from 1977 to 1989 used the production numbers 500-999.

For example, the serial number 81457556 – would be May 25th, 1987 and the 56th guitar built in the Nashville factory. The first guitar built that day would have the production number 500.

Guitars built in the Nashville Factory from 1990 onwards have production numbers 300-999 – so the first guitar produced that day would have the production number 300.

Lap Steel Fender

The Montana factory uses production numbers 001-299 and this was from 1989, when that factory was opened.

Exceptions

There are guitars that will be exceptions within all of these time periods.

If your guitar doesn’t seem to fit within any of these systems, check out the resources below to see if you can decipher your serial number.

Thanks for Reading

I hope this helped you to decipher your (often complicated) Gibson serial number.

Photo Credit

By Henry Zbyszynski from Cambridge, USA (P1060339) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons