Vintage Gretsch Guitar Serial Number and Manufacturing Date code Information
Serial numbers show approximate date of manufacture.  For all dates, you will need to look at the construction technique and components used to get a more precise date of manufacture. Number                                Date 2000   -   3000's                1949 or 1950 4000   -   5000's                1951 5000   -   6000's                1952 6000   -   8000's                1953 9000   -  12000's               1954 12000 -  16000's               1955 17000 -  21000's               1956 22000 -  26000's               1957 27000 -  30000's               1958 30000 -  34000's               1959 34000 -  39000's               1960 39000 -  45000's               1961 46000 -  52000's               1962 53000 -  63000's               1963 63000 -  84000's               1964

New Serial Number Scheme

1965 to 1972

The first 2 digits show Month (Jan = 1 and Dec = 12).
Next digit shows the last digit of the year starting with 5, i.e. 5=1965, 1=1971 etc.

The remaining numbers show the production order of the instrument for the year so if the last 3 digits are 759 this would be the 759th instrument produced that year.

Another New Serial Number Scheme

1973 to 1981

A number is impressed into back of the headstock.
The 1 or 2 digits before the hyphen show the month (1=Jan, 12=Dec.)
The first digit after hyphen shows the last digit of year.
The remaining 3 numbers show the production order of the instrument for the year so if the last 3 digits are 759 this would be the 759th instrument produced that year.

See our Guitar Books !

If you are serious about dating a particular Gretsch, we suggest getting a book on dating Gretsch.  We have a few suggestions here - Books on Collecting Guitars -

Date Codes and Serial Numbers for the vintage Gretsch guitar buyer and the serious vintage gretsch collector.

 
                                               

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