Gibson Serial Number

[Lloyd]

I have a Gibson, 5-string which was sold to me as an RB-1. The serial number
is 1-9308-33. Can anyone shed any light on the model and year of
manufacture? If replying by email, remove the .NOSPAM from my address.
Thanks!!

[Peter Roehling]

Old Gibson serial numbers usually only have four digits followed by two.
The "1" in front of yours makes me wonder...but Gibson has also done
lots of strange things over the years.

If the banjo IS authentic, and we ignore that first "1", the resulting
9308-33 means that the banjo was likely built in 1929.

P.

[Grover C. McCoury III]

See the Gibson site @ http://www.gibson.com/search/serialnumber.html for Gibson
serial number info.

Yet another $.02 worth from a proud owner of a 1991 Gibson RB-3 wreath and a
1955 Gibson J-45...

Lloyd wrote:

--

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Grover C. McCoury III
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physical: 212 Gibraltar Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
audio: (408)752-9228
electronic: gro...@brightlink.com
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[Lloyd]

Thanks Grover. The number I posted (1-9308-33) doesn't fit anything Gibson
has on their site. I also have a Granada that has the number 9608-40, which
I was wondering about also.
Lloyd

Grover C. McCoury III wrote in message <3B783480...@brightlink.com>...

[Sean Barry]

Lloyd <llo...@cstone.net.nospam> wrote:
: The number I posted (1-9308-33) doesn't fit anything Gibson

: has on their site. I also have a Granada that has the number 9608-40, which
: I was wondering about also.

Last I heard, the Gibson site only does banjo serial numbers back to about
1970, and even then it's inconsistent. You might consult George Gruhn's
"Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars" which includes generally accurate
information on all Gibson banjos. The prefix number 1 is unusual but not
unheard of, apparently to differentiate a style 1 rim early in the
manufacturing process.

Sean Barry

[Wayne55Dud]

Here is a site with a lot of Gibson serial number info:

http://home.cfl.rr.com/tbiggs/

Wayne Norman

Help stamp out
Personal Energy Deficiency Syndrome
Get off your ass.

[Lloyd]

Thanks to everyone who helped. I just learned from Janet Davis that the
1-9308-33 indicates that it is Style 1 (RB-1), made in '93 in August (08).
The 33 indicates that it was the 33rd of this model produced that year.

Wayne55Dud wrote in message <20010813182812...@mb-fo.aol.com>...

[Mike]

Hi, Lloyd...
Uhh, nope. If your banjo was made in 1993 (it wouldn't have been made in
1893), the serial number would look like: 92503003.

The code reads this way, and has since the early 1980's:
the first number is the first number of the year ( 9 of 93)
the next three numbers are the day of that year (250th day)
the next number is the second number of the year (3 of 93)
the last three numbers are the piece of the day (003- the third
instrument of the day)

... and they made no RB1 banjos at all in 1993. They haven't made that
model since the 30's.

Stanger, who used to have to read these numbers at Gibson

[Lloyd]

Thanks...Well then, now I'm back to being confused again about both the
numbers on the two Gibsons in question (#1-9308-33 and #9608-40) I know that
the 9608 is a Granada and the other was sold to me as an RB-1.

Mike wrote in message <3B78C6D6...@onewest.net>...

[Tim]

Wrong! They did make an rb-1 re-issue in the early 90's, just ask curtis
mcpeake. He had one on his used list a while back.
Tim
Mike <msta...@onewest.net> wrote in message
news:3B78C6D6...@onewest.net...

[Lloyd]

They sure did! It is very similar to the RB-250 and is no longer produced.

Tim wrote in message <9lcgpe$255f$1...@news3.infoave.net>...

[Mike]

Hi, Lloyd...

Both of your Gibsons were made long before the 1980's, when the system I
mentioned came into being. Check out the sites that wre posted in
response to your original question- there are several excellent ones in
the thread.

Gibson has used many numbering systems over the years, and they are very
confusing, even to an expert. To make matters worse, several series have
been repeated over the years as well. And to top it off, most of the
systems they used for a long time were based on 12 piece batches of
instruments, and have nothing to do with the year they were made.
(Gibson used to start instruments in batches of 12. The parts were
collected as they were made in a canvas basket and kept together as they
went through to completion.)

Sometimes the first number indicates a banjo's number in a batch,
sometimes the last number indicated its batch number, sometimes there
was no indication at all, and sometimes the batch number was tied to
other batches. One had to have access to the front office records to
correlate the batch numbers to the year/month/day dates. And, to top
things off, there were a couple of big fires over the years which
destroyed most of the old records!

Taking a running guess at your numbers (I am far from expert on old
Gibson numbers), I would date your RB-1 at 1929 and your Granada at mid
to late1930, possibly early 1931. If you dig up an accurate date, let me
know how close I came, will you?
Stanger

[Mike]

Hi, Tim...
Ya learn something new and different every day! Sure never knew about
the RB-1 Re-issues. They would have had the numbering system I mentioned
though...

thanks for the info!
Stanger