Guitar Serial Numbersquote Originally posted by na. As you can see, it could mean many things depending on the manufacturer. Alembic The first 2 numbers of the serial number correspond to the year it was built. There may also be present a letter code designating a certain model. The latter digits indicate the individual instrument and its place in production. SamAshB2CStore/Attachment/gibson-comparisons2.jpg' alt='Ibanez Electric Guitar Serial Numbers' title='Ibanez Electric Guitar Serial Numbers' />American Archtops The digits after the dash in the serial number are the year that the guitar was made in. Tom Anderson The neck plate of each guitar has the date it was completed along with the letters A,N or P which stands for a. Arpeggio Korina The first 2 numbers they will have a space between them are the year of manufacture, then a 0, then the production number for that year. Benedetto Benedetto archtops have a 4 or 5 digit serial number. G. S. Brandt The year is on the label inside of the guitar you can also use a mirror to read the inside of the top of the guitar which is signed and dated. Breedlove On the label, inside of the guitar the first two numbers of the serial number is the year the instrument was made. Ibanez Electric Guitar Serial Numbers' title='Ibanez Electric Guitar Serial Numbers' />How Much Is My Guitar Worth This is one of the most frequent questions to hit the GNW editors mailbox every week. Some of you tell me youve bought a guitar and. Ibanez, Aibanzu is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese. Buscarino The last two digits of the serial number is the year in which the guitar was made in. M. Campellone The first three digits of the serial number are the sequence of production the next two are the month the last two are the year in which the guitar was made. Carvin From 1. 96. Carvin Guitars Do Not Have serial numbers. Year   Serial 1. Citron The first two digits of the serial number is the month in which the guitar was made. I bought this guitar from a small shop on Sunset Boulevard in 1986 for 200. It is in very good condition overall, but I had some work done, including installing. Well gang here it is the ultimate list on serial numbers from today to yesterday. Now I know there are a few yawning out there but think of those who do not know how. Ibanez Wiki, The wiki about Ibanez electric guitars that anyone can edit. GENERAL VINTAGE GUITAR RESOURCES Vintage Guitar Magazine this is Vintage Guitar 101 and all neophytes are advised to start here. Of course, my favorite. Collings The date is on the label on the inside of the guitar. Comins The date is on the label on the inside of the guitar. Charles Cote Basses Before 1. Charles Cote Basses Do Not Have Serial Numbers. Danelectro Most Danelectro serial s have 4 digits. DAngelico John DAngelico built 1,1. Year Serial 1. Year Serial 1. Year Serial    1. DAquisto Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Dean Dean guitars made in the USA have a 7 digit serial number. Dean imported guitars no year in the serial number. Dean for the year of manufacture. Dobro Regal Year    Serial 1. B prefix on most 1. Cyclops models. Regal OMI 1. D or B followed by 3 or 4 digits ranking last number year. B Metal. D Wood 1. Eisele Get a mirror and look at the underside of the top of the guitar for the date. English The date is on the label on the inside of the guitar. Epiphone Epiphone started in 1. C. G. Conn company. Frutiger Black Font Free Download. Gibson Guitar. and were American made until approx. Japan and later Korea. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Epiphone Made By Gibson 1. Year    Serial 1. A 1. 00. 0 1. 95. A 2. 00. 0 1. 96. A3. 00. 0A4. 00. Fender Year    Serial 1. Up to 6,0. 00 1. 95. Up to 1. 0,0. 00 4 or 5 digits inc 0 or prefix 1. Year    Serial 1. Up to L1. 0,0. 00. L 5 digits. beginning ofthe infamous L Series 1. L1. 0,0. 00 L2. 0,0. Year Serial 1. L2. L5. 0,0. L5. 0,0. L9. 0,0. Year    Serial 1. S6 5 digits 1. 97. S7 or S8 5 digits 1. S7, S8 or S9 5 digits   Year    Serial 1. S9 or E0 5 digits 1. S9, E0or E1 5 digits 1. E1,E2 or E3 5 digits 1. E2 or E3 5 digits 1. E3 or E4 5 digits 1. E4 5 digits   Year    Serial 1. E4 or E8 5 digits 1. E4 or E8 5 digits 1. E8 or N9 5 digits 1. N0 5 digits 1. 99. N1 56 digits 1. N2 56 digits Froggy Bottom The month and year that the guitar was made will be on the label on the inside of the guitar. G L G is for Guitar. B is for Bass. BC is for Broadcaster. Year    Serial 1. G0. 00. 53. 0 B0. G0. 03. 12. 2 B0. G0. 09. 88. 6 B0. G0. 11. 65. 4 B0. G0. 13. 27. 2 B0. Year    Serial 1. G0. 14. 69. 0 B0. G0. 17. 32. 5 B0. G0. 20. 24. 1 B0. G0. 23. 72. 5 B0. Year    Serial 1. G0. 24. 98. 3 B0. G0. 26. 34. 4 B0. G0. 27. 16. 3 B0. G0. 29. 96. 2 B0. Gibson Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. A Series from 1. Year  Serial 1. A1. 30. 4 1. 94. 8 A2. A4. 41. 3 1. 95. 0 A6. A9. 41. 9   Year    Serial 1. A1. 2,4. 62 1. 95. A1. 6,1. 01 1. 95. A1. 8,6. 67 1. 95. A2. 1,9. 09 1. 95. A2. 4,7. 55   Year    Serial 1. A2. 6,8. 19 1. 95. A2. 8,8. 80 1. 95. A3. 2,2. 84 1. 96. A3. 5,6. 45 1. 96. A3. 6,1. 47. Epiphone A Series. Dating Service Year  Serial 1. A1. 00. 0 1. 95. 9 A2. A3. 00. 0 A4. 22. Gibson serial s 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Gibsons 1. 96. 0 1. Gibson with the model, color and serial for accurate dating. Gibson Serial Numbers 1. Year    Serial Prefix 1. Gibson Serial Numbers 1. Some Heritage and Vintage reissue have the vintage style serial number. Goodall Look on the label inside of the sound hole for the date the guitar was made. Gretsch Years 1. 96. Years 1. 97. 3 1. Syncromatic Serial Numbers. Year    Serial 1. Guild Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. From 1. 96. 5 thru 1. Guild Guitars had different serial numbers for different models of instruments. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Hollenbeck Read the label on the inside of the guitar for the date. Ibanez In dating Ibanez guitars made before 1. A is Jan., B is Feb, C is March. C7. 60. 28. 7 March 1. In dating Ibanez guitars made after 1. F7. 00. 01. 5 the 1. Lacey The date that the guitar was made will be on the truss rod cover. Langejans The date that the guitar was made is on the label inside of the sound hole. Bill Lawrence The first two numbers of the serial number are the year that the guitar was made in then a letter for the month AJan., BFeb., CMarch, etc then comes the guitars place in production. C. F. Martin Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Year    Serial 1. Mc. Collum Look at the inside of the top for the date of the guitar with a mirror. Mc. Kerrihan Archtops Look on the inside of the guitar. Megas The date is on the label inside of the guitar. Mortoro The last two numbers in the serial number are the year of the guitar unless the guitar is a 7 or 8 string in which case there will be an extra number on the end of the serial number the second and third numbers from the end of the serial number would be the year of the guitar if its a 7 or 8 string. Paul Reed Smith The first digit of the serial number is the last digit of the year in which the guitar was made. Rarebird Beginning in 1. Day Month Year of the instrument DDMMYY. In 1. 98. 8 they switched to a 4 digit serial number. Ribbecke Look on the label for the date the first two digits of the serial number are usually the year. Rickenbacker Serial numbers 1. Serial numbers 1. Year Letter 1. 96. A 1. 96. 2 B 1. C 1. D 1. E 1. 96. 6 F 1. G 1. 96. 8 H 1. I   Year Letter 1. J 1. 97. 1 K 1. L 1. M 1. N 1. 97. 5 O 1. P 1. 97. 7 Q 1. R   Year Letter 1. S 1. 98. 0 T 1. U 1. V 1. W 1. 98. 4 X 1. Y 1. 98. 6 Z   Month Code Jan A Feb B Mar. C Aprl D May E June F July G Aug H Sept I Oct J Nov K Dec L   Year Number 1. Sadowski Inside of the control panel is the date in which the guitar was made. Shanti Use a mirror to read just behind the last tone bar on the inside of the top of the instrument which is signed and dated. Stromberg The Strombergs Charles and Elmer made approximately 6. They used their business cards as labels in the guitars, the telephone number on the card helps to determine the approximate year the instrument was made. Year    Phone on the Card 1. Bowdoin 1. 72. 8R or 1. M 1. 92. 7 1. 92. Bowdoin 6. 55. 9W or 1. W 1. 92. 9 1. 93. Bowdoin 1. 87. 8R 1. CA 3. 17. 4 1. 94. CA 7 3. 17. 4Taylor Starting in 1. Rick Turner The first two digits in the serial number is the year in which the guitar was made. Washburn George Washburn started making guitars in 1. Washburn guitars had a fire sometime in the 1. From 1. 98. 8 on. On all limited editions. Model Name of the guitar. D 9. 5 LTD 1. 99. D 9. 2LTD 1. 99. Ibanez IMG2. X ING MIDI Guitar Synthesizer Controller. Introduction to the Ibanez IMG2. The Ibanez IMG2. 01. Roland guitar synthesizers from the 1. Fujigen factory that made many of the best Japanese guitars of that era. The designers of the IMG2. Roland compatible controllers, benefitted from studying the weaknesses and strengths of the Roland models. The IMG2. 01. 0 a incorporates graphite reinforced neck for stability, playability, and pitch accuracy. The fretboard is ebony, the fretboard of choice in all of the top of the line synthesizer controllers, such as the Roland G 8. Godin guitars. The fragile Roland ribbon connector was replaced by a wired harness. The tricky vibrato touch pads were replaced by a knob. The IMG2. 01. 0 adds a virtual whammy bar mentioned in the Roland service manuals but never implemented by Roland, and Ibanez engineers redesigned the gain structure of the internal trim pots. Proper setup of the trim pots is required for accurate velocity tracking. Simply put, the revolutionary X ING IMG2. The X ING IMG2. 01. Ibanez one of the top guitar manufacturers in the world. If you use this guitar with a vintage guitar synth, or with a modern guitar synth by using a BC 1. BX 1. 3 or similar device nothing seems to plays as easily or as accurately as the Ibanez IMG2. How rare is the IMG2. I have often repeated the web based claim that only 5. IMG2. 01. 0s were produced. That appears to be in question, and currently the number seems to be closer to 2,0. IMG2. 01. 0 user Jonathan Evans pointed out that as of April 4, 2. Mike Matterss excellent website ranging from 3. Given the design costs of the IMG2. I would not be surprised if the production run was larger than 2,0. A note on using the IMG2. GR 3. 00 Occassionally an IMG2. GR 3. 00. This seems to be confined to the low E exclusively. My impression is that due to the design of the IMG2. E is a little brighter, and this brighter sound may be causing the adaptive filter to shift octaves. This is actually a similar experience I had with the low E on the GR 3. B bass synth when I used a G 8. However, if you check out the video demo above with the GR 3. The Unique Design Advantages of the Ibanez IMG2. Guitar Synth Pickup Integrated into the Bridge. The Roland guitar synth pickup is a separate pickup that sits just in front of the bridge of the guitar. This means the pickup is more sensitive to the mechanical operations of the guitar, bending the whammy bar, etc. Also, the fragile multi connector is also exposed, and more likely to be damaged. Again, Ibanez set a new standard in design my incorporating the pickup inside the bridge of the guitarAs a result, the Ibanez IMG2. The unique Ibanez pickup is less sensitive to unwanted body mechanics, while more sensitive to the string vibrations. Comparing the Ibanez IMG2. Roland guitars, it is unmistakable that the Ibanez simply has more output. Custom Precision Tuning Mechanism. In addition to many other innovations in the design of the Ibanez IMG2. IMG2. 01. 0. These tuners, combined with the unique headstock of the IMG2. Steinberger guitars. In addition to being an excellent system for pitch stability, bridge tuners offer simple conveniences combined with the locking headstock, you do not need multiple windings to achieve pitch, and when you do need to adjust the pitch of the guitar, the tuning pegs are within easy reach at all times. The entire bridge design makes a clear statement as to how far Ibanez was willing to go to create the ultimate guitar synth controller. In fact, if you look closely, you will find the words Technology for the Future of Music on the bridge Links to more information Version History Prototype, Large Ibanez Logo, X ING Logo The differences in the Ibanez IMG2. I have not found any variations in the guitar electronics. Prototype It appears that a few Black IMG2. Ibanez reps. I received an email from Laurence Juber, former guitarist for Wings, who confirmed that he has received one of these prototype IMG2. Ibanez with the unusual hardware. These guitars can also be see in some of the print advertisements for the IMG2. IbanezX ING Logo Guitar I have also seen a few IMG2. Ibanez logo featured prominently, and do not include the X ING name on the guitar. I have not kept track of these serial numbers, so Im not sure if this variation occured early or later in the production run, but the prototypes do include the X ING name on the guitar. IbanezX ING Logo Case There are some similar variations in the guitar cases as well There are two types of IMG2. Ibanez logo in the lower left hand corner, and the 4 latch version, which features the X ING logo in the upper right hand corner. Modifications Replacing the Original Locking Nut Having heaped so much praise on the IMG2. I do find a flaw in the design of the locking nut. The original mechanism depended on the use of six, very small posts tightened by a 2 mm hex wrench to hold the strings in place at the nut. I have had 2 or 3 guitars where I could no longer sufficiently tighten the posts to hold the strings in place. I had a similar problem with a Schecter Strat I bought in 1. I fixed the problem the same way my luthier did in 1. I replaced the original nut with a much robust Floyd Rose nut. The part used for this repair Floyd Rose Locking Nut, 4. As you can see in the photos below, I filled in the original holes, sanded and painted black the headstock, then installed the Floyd Rose nut. This worked really well for me, and I kept a Trem Tool attached to the headstock to make changing strings quick and easy. Replacing original 2. Connector with DB2. Connector more info here Do It Yourself IbanezRoland 2. DB2. 5 Connector. Vintage Roland guitar synth players have been replacing the proprietary 2. DB2. 5 hardware for about as long as Roland has been making guitar synthesizers. This video clip shows how to replace the RolandIbanez connector with an industry standard DB2. There is much for detailed information on the 2. DB2. 5 page, including the wiring documentation. Schematics Repairs Service Bulletins There are no known service bulletins from Ibanez addressing any IMG2. Repairs IMG2. 01. G 7. 07G 7. 7Steinberger M5. Opamp Failure. You suddenly notice that one string on your guitar synth system stops working. The first thing you want to do is try another cable Cable failures are the most frequent GR system problem. If you do not have a spare cable, try jiggling either end of the connector, though the problem is most likely to be the end that plugs into your guitar. If the sound comes and goes, then you need to fix your cable. If not, then you most likely have a problem with an opamp inside the guitar electronics. A more remote possibility is that you have a damaged pickup. If you have a GR 7. EDIT foot pedal, followed by 4 and 8. This puts the GR 7. Play each string on the GR 7. The displays shows 1 for the high E string, 2 for the B string, down to 6 for the low E string. If the GR 7. 00 responds to all six strings, then your cable is good, and most likely you have a failed 8. Unless you have been moving the synth pickup around a lot, they usually do not fail on their own. Instead of a synth pickup failure, you possibly could have a problem with the electronics. Inside every GR guitar are a lot of small, integrated amplifiers called opamps. These due tend to fail over time. M5. 21. 8 chips in Ibanez IMG2. M5. 21. 8 chips in Roland G 7. M5. 21. 8 chips in Roland G 7. Click on image to enlarge. The Roland G 7. 07, G 7. STK 1, Ibanez IMG2. Steinberger 2. 4 pin Roland guitars use M5. Unlike the much more popular 4. M5. 21. 8 is difficult to find. I have been using a replacement chip, the NTE7. S chip. More detailed information on opamp replacements in the Roland G 2. Controls on the IMG2. Roland G Series Guitars This diagram shows the controls on the Ibanez IMG2. Roland guitars. Notice the layout is basically the same. Also, note the IMG2.