Vintage Guitar Suddenly Older

[belleswell]

Hello
I recently joined the site to get some input on dating a Deluxe Custom SG I have. I bought it used in 72 from a girl that had purchased it for church. Her words when selling it to me were "too much guitar". lol She had told me that it was a 72 and I had never bothered to check the serial number to date it. I recently did and used this site to date this http://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx

The serial number is 884634 and according to the site, it dates it to 68 made in my home State at the Kalamazoo plant.


The pot number is 137673 This was the only pot number that was completely visible. The others had soldered wire over where parts of the numbers were stamped. The following is a quote from the site I listed above.


"Potentiometer Info
This potentiometer was made by
CTS Corporation (Chicago Telephone Supply)
in the 93rd week of 1946 or 1956

This means that (given this is an original part) this is the earliest possible date your guitar (speaker) was made."


I'm a little confused by this statement. 46 or 56? 93rd week?

The last number I have is the pat # for the pups and it's 2,737,842 and the same number on all 3 pups.


I had read that the site I keep referring to for dating may not be the most reliable for dating vintage instruments.

Regardless, I was led to believe from day one with this guitar, that it was a 72 and now find it may be 4 years older. This may make it a pre-Norlin made one? I'm not sure.
If it is 4 years older and a pre-Norlin made model, it may have approx doubled what I thought it was worth.
I could use some expertise in dating this one and knowing whether or not it's pre-Norlin. Thanks for any assistance and info you can give.

The Red SG with the Kahler was made in Oct of 85 at the Nashville plant. I bought this one new in early 86.
Cheers


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[BluesHawk]

Belleswell, you have one heck of a find there. And a little mystery to add to your joy. It's fascinating and I'm not the only one here who's almost as curious as you are right now.

This particular Forum, folks are knowledgeable and very helpful. However the focus here is more on second-tier instruments, mostly vintage Asian guitars. You're talkin top-tier and possibly an elite guitar. So the place to go is the Gibson Guitar Forum where you'll find folks with experience specific to your guitar.

I'll try to find the link...I'm on their LPSpecial forum group. And please keep us posted here on what you learn, okay?

[BluesHawk]

Bells, talk with these folks...you'll get yer answers:

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/forum/10-sg/

[belleswell]

[BluesHawk]

Looked at your photos, Jeff. Thinkin ya might get serious about guitars?

[Phizix]

Just looking through the old catalogs yours looks much more like the SG's in a '67 or '68 catalog than a '72. I don't know exactly when the finish you have was introduced but I think you are very close with late '67.

Check this if you haven't already.
http://www.gibson.com/Files/downloads/b ... umbers.pdf

Your number isn't even listed but its closest to 1967... Seemingly... Like you said you will probably have to get some help from gibson to nail it down for sure, good luck!

[theehman]

I'm betting the solder on the pot is covering the last number so it's actually 137673x, which would be the thirty-odd week of 1967.