Searching for a 'Date of Birth' guitar

Zukabak

Ok,
So this is possibly a daft question, with a simple 'Nope' answer.. but here goes anyway.

I (along with lots of people I guess) would like to buy a guitar that rolled out of the factory on the same day I was popping up in a maternity ward. I know lots of people like the idea of a 'Birth Year' guitar, but I'd never even considered the possibility of owning a 'Date of birth' guitar, until I found out that my buddy has an SG with a serial that states we've got the same birthday... and as he's had it over twenty years, he understandably won't sell it.  

So, the mad question is, does anyone know of a site or resource etc that would let you search for guitars for sale by serial number?
For instance, I know that 1980 Les Pauls aren't a particularly desirable model so don't command silly money; but when you consider that only about two hundred were made that day, then maybe only twenty came to the UK and who knows how many are still kicking about forty years later, never mind for sale.. the odds of finding one are miniscule. 

Probably pissing in the wind really, but the fact that I've found a guitar with my birthdate on it has really made it mega desirable! 

peteri

Don't want to spoil the hunt or anything - but the chances of the serial number being that accurate are also pretty slim

Winny_Pooh

1980? Get an older Greco/Tokai

fretmeister

I once asked Fender whether that was possible - they said no. They'd have trouble confirming the actual month let alone the day.

munckee

Would be easier to change your date of birth!

Zukabak

That's a good point about the serial actually, I hadn't considered that they might not be the most reliable.
It's probably not that important though, as it would still SAY it was made on my birthday..haha

A Tobacco burst Tokai would be great.. it's not even down to the actual guitar (which I appreciate sounds a bit daft) it's more the idea of the object being the same age.

english_bob

A birth year guitar is probably more achievable, and more likely to actually be what you think it is than one with a specific date.

More achievable for us seventies and eighties babies than it is for the fifties and sixties guys.

I was born in 1979. If I was going to do this (and I would be interested in it being a good guitar too) I'd probably go for something Japanese, or maybe a Peavey T-60.

Jalapeno

My Tom Anderson is stamped with my birth-DAY&MONTH, but not year. Total fluke though.

Zukabak

english_bob said:

A birth year guitar is probably more achievable, and more likely to actually be what you think it is than one with a specific date.

More achievable for us seventies and eighties babies than it is for the fifties and sixties guys.

I was born in 1979. If I was going to do this (and I would be interested in it being a good guitar too) I'd probably go for something Japanese, or maybe a Peavey T-60.

Yep, birth year's not difficult.. a '80 Tokai LS80 would be great. 
Time to start looking for one now then I guess, I've got almost a year to make it a 40th Birthday pressie to myself! 

webrthomson

Gibson serials tell you the date the guitar was built post 1977 (allegedly) – this is the info for my 1977 LP custom:

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
on November 1st, 1977

Production Number: 8

From:

https://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx 

How reliable this is is debatable, I'd guess they have the year right the rest, maybe, would be my guess

Zukabak

webrthomson said:

Gibson serials tell you the date the guitar was built post 1977 (allegedly) – this is the info for my 1977 LP custom:

Your guitar was made at the
Nashville Plant, TN, USA
on November 1st, 1977

Production Number: 8

From:

https://www.guitardaterproject.org/gibson.aspx 

How reliable this is is debatable, I'd guess they have the year right the rest, maybe, would be my guess

Yep, it's how I know my buddy's Gibson SG was (allegedly) born on the same day as me! 

Musicwolf

Great idea.  Anyone know where I can lay my hands on a 1963 Strat?  It shouldn't cost much 'cos it will be really old and all the mojo will have drained away by now.  I think that I read somewhere that there was a glut of them in the UK around that time.

Jimbro66

Musicwolf said:

Great idea.  Anyone know where I can lay my hands on a 1963 Strat?  It shouldn't cost much 'cos it will be really old and all the mojo will have drained away by now.  I think that I read somewhere that there was a glut of them in the UK around that time.

Yes, but they were all pink! Is that your colour?

Musicwolf

  Jimbro66 said:

Musicwolf said:

Great idea.  Anyone know where I can lay my hands on a 1963 Strat?  It shouldn't cost much 'cos it will be really old and all the mojo will have drained away by now.  I think that I read somewhere that there was a glut of them in the UK around that time.

Yes, but they were all pink! Is that your colour?

Unfortunately I have a phobia about all things pink following a rather embarrassing incident involving a flamingo  

Sassafras

Never understood the date of birth guitar thing myself.
But I'm a miserable git that can't stand the joy other people feel.

Funkfingers

Zukabak said:

the fact that I've found a guitar with my birthdate on it has really made it mega desirable! 

Speaking very plainly, this is a bad way to choose an electric guitar. (It is not even a particularly clever way to choose an analogue synthesizer.) There are too many variables for one particular example, manufactured on one specific day, to be a zinger.

fretmeister said:

I once asked Fender whether that was possible - they said no. They'd have trouble confirming the actual month let alone the day.

In the case of Fender instruments, the rubber stamp dates on the neck heel and in the pickup cavities relate to the completion of those parts NOT the date on which they get assembled into a complete guitar or bass guitar.

During the CBS era, if orders were flooding in for the sunburst finishes, any black, blonde, natural or s**t brown bodies stayed in storage until demand picked up again.

davros

Ooh, got me looking at 1981 Tokais now - tempting

steveledzep

Gordon Smith keep good records.  I have two and they were able to tell me the actual date they left the factory from the serial numbers.  Mine are 24th February 1992 and 23rd September 1998.

Zukabak

Funkfingers said:

Zukabak said:

the fact that I've found a guitar with my birthdate on it has really made it mega desirable! 

Speaking very plainly, this is a bad way to choose an electric guitar. (It is not even a particularly clever way to choose an analogue synthesizer.) There are too many variables for one particular example, manufactured on one specific day, to be a zinger.
*************


Oh, I know it's irrational.. as I say, I think it's merely the fact that it shares my birthday. I'm not overly bothered about the fact it's an SG or anything, if it'd have been a battered Squire Strat I think I'd suddenly still have needed to own it! 

Sassafras

I don't think guitars had yet been invented when I was born.

Nitefly

Interesting point though - is the "build date" the date they started building it, or the date they finished building it, or the date it left the factory?