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Epiphone Serial Number Decoding - The Unofficial Epiphone Wiki
I don't think the old EpiWiki is being supported, but Paruwi from the MLP site gave me a link to the archived site. Here's the page regarding serial numbering.
The third set of identifiers is applicable here.
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01-08-2018 06:32 PM
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Mine is definitely an M...
I could see a P being confused with an F, but I've definitely got an M...
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Hmm. Evidently they didn't just use the first 12 letters of the alphabet! Or maybe changed the scheme in mid-course?
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When I asked Pete (Paruwi) the same, he thought that they might have skipped the letter I to avoid confusion with the number 1. That theoretically makes M the 12th for December. Seemed plausible at the time...
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Mine has a R98M serial number. Definitely Peeress 1998. The first year these were offered was the 1999 model year so I assume these 1998 units were among the first ones built. Its a very well built guitar.
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1) At some point during the 10 year run of this guitar, Epi had pics of this guitar with trapezoid fret markers. Yet I have never seen a single example of one anywhere.
2) On the headstock mine actually appears to have the flowerpot inlay between the tuners but it's covered by the black finish. If I hold it in just the right light I can see the whole thing. I've been tempted to carefully scrap the finish away to reveal it but I'm afraid I might find a filled-in route where the inlay was supposed to go, rather than the inlay itself. I think these standard headstocks were grafted onto various necks for various models and they may have all the had the flower pot inlay. Some of them they covered; some of them they didn't. Just speculation.
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I have never seen the double parallelograms on a ZepReg other than a couple pics on the EpiWiki and one other on the net.
I have heard of the hidden flowerpot....might even have been here on this site. Mine does not have this. I'd love to see a pic of yours if you could get that "right angle" for it to appear.
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Brian
Take a real close look at yours. You have to look at a shallow angle with the light just right. It's very hard to see unless you're really looking for it. I'll try to take a pic of mine.
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I've looked. It's not there.
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Brian I can not get my camera phone to capture the outline in the finish. It's so subtle that I had to get a magnifying glass just to find it again. I tried photographing it through the magnifying glass but that didn't work either. But it is definitely there. I initially could not find it all with the naked eye and it had me wondering if I had ever really seen it. Now I'm wondering how I ever saw it in the first place without a magnifying glass. Unless your eye sight is really good you would swear there is nothing there.
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I shall give mine a much closer look as well!
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Skipping the letter "I" in a guitar serial number certainly makes sense, there's plenty of precedent for that scheme. Automobile VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) can't use "I" either, same logic.
Originally Posted by Brian B
For example, car makers are just now able to ship the 2019 model year products, and as VIN standards dictate the tenth character indicate the model year, on a system that had "A" for year 2010 thru "H" for 2018, we now are using "J" to indicate 2019 as "I" was disallowed. In USA, the EPA has rules that dictate model years, to make sure that companies don't avoid meeting a new standard by just declaring the car to be a different "year". Other parts of the world don't all have the same legal constraints, and on occasion will pump out a few vehicles with a waaay out of date model year assigned to them, when it suits their needs. Not that there's anything wrong there..
Last month I bought an Ibanez semi, AS120 built May 1995 per the serial number.
That was just around the time when Ibanez moved production of AS120 from Samick to Cort plant
In fact, the interwebs experts declared "Cort production didn't start later than May 1995, and that Samick production didn't end later than April 1995"
Which would make my AS120 out to be made at Cort.. but it is Samick per the "S" in the serial number, and evidently Samick did end production later than April 95. OR the number was applied before the guitar was shipped, and was predictively showing May before the calendar month was reached. It sort of matters because the guitars from May 95 on were to have had the real deal Super 58 pickups but alas, my POS did not, however even the stock super 50's it had actually sounded quite good. The super 50 PU is much maligned, probably because they were not wax potted, so could burp out some odd sounds compared to the perfect super 58 that superseded them. This was well before the time when *not* having potted PU was a selling feature, ala SD Seth Lover and such. The AS120 had to get returned to the store, due to a bad neck angle. While the guitar played fine for my preferred action (I don't like strings too low) the neck angle had the TOM bottomed out, so nowhere to go for lowering the action if a seasonal adjustment was needed (or more importantly, if I had to resell it!) So regrettably, the white semi hollow with small headstock and big ears + super 58s that I was after still eludes me.
Sorry for the long rambling reply -- timing was such that these anecdotal experiences with SN conventions were still fresh in memory.
John
PS. Here's a pic of a SN that Ibanez forums said should not exist, a Samick plant AS120 date of May 95 (if you see this specific guitar for sale again, be wary of the neck angle):
Last edited by john_a; 01-09-2018 at 07:41 PM.
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If you're going to skip I, then you should also skip O, for the same reason.
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Fair point, but that still leaves P for a month indicator as a "14th" month. Originally Posted by sgosnell
Who knows what those crazy kids at Epiphone are thinking...
Good news. Found my jewelers loupe.
Other news. Didn't find a flowerpot. I am amazed at, with 10x magnification, how many fine/micro scratches there are running down the middle of my headstock face... o.O
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Just picked up this guitar. I have been looking for one for sometime now.
Prefer the natural finish over the sunburst. I think the natural finish with laminate mahogany looks classy.
Plan to install Gibson 57" and change the out wiring and pots.
The Guitar Dater Project - Epiphone Serial Number Decoder
From Guitar Dater Project
Serial number: R99C0583; Your guitar was made at the Peerless Plant, Korea on March, 1999 Production Number: 583
Last edited by Wildcat; 12-01-2018 at 02:49 PM.
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Lovely! I especially like the understated peghead.
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that's a guitar epi should do a premium reissue of!..highly sought after..not many for sale ever around
congrats & enjoy..pup and wiring change will take it next level
cheers
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It's a beautiful guitar. I never understood why they called it a Zephyr Regent though. I have a 1951 Epiphone Zephyr Regent and it has a rounded cutaway, different tailpiece, headstock and Epiphone logo, Tone Spectrum pickup (not a humbucker) and a wooden bridge. It reminds me more of a Gibson ES175. I like the mahogony finish. They should have called it an Epiphone ES175.
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Nice! Enjoy it in good health.
I like how Epiphone got the f-holes right in these. Modern Epiphone f-holes are too wide, these look good.
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I love mine too. Installed a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in it. Tried a few others, like a Humbucker-form P90-a-like and one other type of humbucker, but the SDSL really is the ticket.
I wish Epiphone would bring out a Premium model of this as the ES165 Premium. I think it would be popular.
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Good observation on the F holes. Its more a "classic" look. I like it along with only the neck pickup, and laminate mahogany sides and back.
Originally Posted by Little Jay
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And they got the cutaway right. I know it is petty, but the cutaway on the Epi ES-175 Premium drives me nuts. I'm looking for an inexpensive 175 right now, and the Epi is not under consideration, only because they botched the cutaway. Originally Posted by Little Jay
steven
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Interesting point on the cutaway.
These guitars are rare but if you can wait, they are a great
option IMHO.
Typically these sell for around $500-$600. You can add the Gibson 57" pickup. I just picked up a new one at about the price of a Seth Lover. I anticipate having around $650-$675 after the upgrades. Thats includes a new wooden bridge or upgraded tunamatic wood based bridge.
Originally Posted by stevo58
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I remember playing one of these when I first tried playing jazz "for real", this is going back...yikes...15-16 years now?
I remember thinking it was great, but I talked myself out of buying it. Then I went home and a few days later I talked myself INTO buying it.
Went back to the Guitar Center I saw it at...it was gone. And I never saw one in a store again.
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I believe these were made from 1999-2004. My model was made at the Peerless plant in South Korea. I pasted on one made in Indonesia, according to seller, a while back. So I am guessing manufacturing shifted to Indonesia at some point. Nothing against Indonesia made guitars, I own a G&L made there. But I decide to wait for a South Korean made model based on the reputation of the Peerless plant.
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