# Gibson Custom Shop Serial Numbers



## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

What is the best way to check a custom shop guitar serial number, like a historic?


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Sorry, my bad. 

I mean online, like a database to verify the guitars manufacturing info and such?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

The only one that I'm aware of, other than the actual manufacturer,
is this one, the Guitar Dater Project...http://www.guitardaterproject.org/

Your options for manufacturer are on the right.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

sulphur said:


> The only one that I'm aware of, other than the actual manufacturer,
> is this one, the Guitar Dater Project...http://www.guitardaterproject.org/
> 
> Your options for manufacturer are on the right.


Don't think that one has custom shop numbers, might be wrong though


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Yea, I checked this one out earlier and it says it doesn't support custom shop.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

id never rely on that anyways.
whats to stop a counterfeiter from using an actual serial number, and making 1000 guitars with it?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Diablo said:


> id never rely on that anyways.
> whats to stop a counterfeiter from using an actual serial number, and making 1000 guitars with it?


I don't get this statement.

So, you're saying that it's the sites fault if you have a copy/counterfeit?
Or, it's their fault for not distinguishing it? 

It's a database of existing production guitars, what's the problem?


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## noman (Jul 24, 2006)

Contact Gibson or Fender. They'll have the relevant info.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

If it's a Les Paul, you can find tons of info one everything Custom shop including serial number details in www.mylespaul.com


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

sulphur said:


> I don't get this statement.
> 
> So, you're saying that it's the sites fault if you have a copy/counterfeit?
> Or, it's their fault for not distinguishing it?
> ...


If you're looking to verify authenticity that site is useless, think about it...


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Jimmy_D said:


> If you're looking to verify authenticity that site is useless, think about it...


That sites purpose isn't to verify anything, that's my point.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sulphur said:


> I don't get this statement.
> 
> So, you're saying that it's the sites fault if you have a copy/counterfeit?
> Or, it's their fault for not distinguishing it?
> ...


It's not the sites fault of anything. 
Just saying, as a source of info for the purpose of verifying authenticity, it's one notch above worthless.

- - - Updated - - -



sulphur said:


> That sites purpose isn't to verify anything, that's my point.


Then why did you recommend it when the OP asked for a resource to "check the serial number" of a guitar?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

That's precisely it, "check the serial # of a guitar", not verify its authenticity.

It's your job to verify that the guitar is real or not, not the site.
Assuming the guitar is not a fake, it's a good source to find out the year of production.

I don't see what the problem is here, or why you don't get that.

What's the difference getting serial # info off of the manufacturer?
That doesn't verify anything either, think about it.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sulphur said:


> That's precisely it, "check the serial # of a guitar", not verify its authenticity.
> 
> It's your job to verify that the guitar is real or not, not the site.
> Assuming the guitar is not a fake, it's a good source to find out the year of production.
> ...


I think we disagree on what "check the serial number" means.
lets leave it at that, cuz I have no idea why you've gotten so pissy about it.


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## deadear (Nov 24, 2011)

Like stated earlier all a counter fitter has to do is get a legit serial number and put out a bunch of guitars with the same number so checking serial numbers does not mean much to verify if a guitar is a Gibson product.


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## boyscout (Feb 14, 2009)

sulphur said:


> I don't get this statement.
> 
> So, you're saying that it's the sites fault if you have a copy/counterfeit?
> Or, it's their fault for not distinguishing it?
> ...


You and I likely agree in principle... too many people piss on guitardaterproject for no good reason. It doesn't claim to be - and is not - a reliable way to ensure that a guitar is genuine.

One of the reasons for that is that it is not a 'database' of manufactured guitar serial numbers, it is a calculator which uses known serial number formats to produce information about the manufacture of a genuine guitar bearing the serial number provided. It's therefore often useful, if a known-genuine guitar is in hand, for finding out when that guitar was manufactured.

It isn't perfect. There are things it can't decipher, including many Gibson Custom Shop formats and some years/formats where the manufacturer's serialization technique was not well-considered/predictable. It can also report manufacturing information for a serial number that was never used but which fits formatting rules, for example a serial number for the 400th guitar made on a day when only 300 guitars were made.

However guitardaterproject is a good effort and a nice tool to have for what it does; people shouldn't be so quick to sneer at it.

Specific to the OP's question, what Custom Shop guitar are you looking at? The CS Customs are not easy to decode, ask Gibson. Then there's a bunch of limited-run Artist, Collectors Choice, and other special runs that each have their own special encoding.

However Custom Shop's large output of Historic Reissues give up their somewhat-vague information from serial numbers pretty easily. The first digit is the historical year being emulated (9=59, 0=60, etc.), the second is the year of the decade of manufacture (3=2013 *OR* 2003 for example), and the remaining digits describe the order in which the neck of the guitar was produced and stamped... a very rough and sometimes-unreliable indication of where in that year's run the guitar was produced.

This sometimes-ambiguous system was preserved for decades because the guitars were, after all, historical reproductions so they should have serial numbers like the guitars they were emulating. Gibson announced this year that they are changing the system to something more-ordinary that ensures that a serial number henceforth only appears once, but they haven't been widely-lauded for it.

HTH


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

^^well said.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Diablo said:


> I think we disagree on what "check the serial number" means.
> lets leave it at that, cuz I have no idea why you've gotten so pissy about it.


I'm not getting pissy, I just don't get the dismissal of the site.

Whether you check with that site, or the manufacturer, either way,
it doesn't verify the validity of the guitar, just the serial #.


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## Knightforce (2 mo ago)

My god man, that is what a serial number look up site is supposed to be for & do! "Authenticate the Guitar" Enter your serial Number, info comes back with year it was made and where it was made at. ie Nashville Tn Kalamazoo, MI etc... and in my opinion that DOES and is authenticating your Guitar right then & there! Its just that there are not too many sites that do Custom Shop Serial Nunbers ie CSxxxxxx. You best bet dude is to just call Gibson, they will be able to give you the Info you're trying to find out. SMFH at some of these replies!


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## Knightforce (2 mo ago)

I just went there " The Guitar Dater Project - Gibson Serial Number Decoder "and the site *DOES NOT support CS serial numbers..*. :

*Gibson*
(Ver. 2.0)
The Gibson Serial Number Decoder currently supports 6 formats from 4 Factories. For guitars made prior to 1977 use the extended search function. This new function will try to match the serial number against older formats, details required for an exact match are listed in yellow. Please post any comments, particularly bugs in the user feedback section.

*Note:* Custom shop guitars are not supported


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## jdto (Sep 30, 2015)

Knightforce said:


> My god man, that is what a serial number look up site is supposed to be for & do! "Authenticate the Guitar" Enter your serial Number, info comes back with year it was made and where it was made at. ie Nashville Tn Kalamazoo, MI etc... and in my opinion that DOES and is authenticating your Guitar right then & there! Its just that there are not too many sites that do Custom Shop Serial Nunbers ie CSxxxxxx. You best bet dude is to just call Gibson, they will be able to give you the Info you're trying to find out. SMFH at some of these replies!


LOL what a first post on an 8-year-old thread!

Welcome to the forum


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