Headstock just below the serial no Then I went to Gibson.com and downloaded the Gibson serialization guide. I suppose I can safely assume that the lap steel was produced during the 50/60's. In the guide, there's this line: 'Some time in 1953, instruments were ink stamped on the headstock back with 5 or 6 digit numbers, the first. Contact the Gibson company if the source code cannot be found, or has been rubbed off, and read them the serial number found on the back of the body of the amp. While the serial numbers were randomly assigned and do not immediately tell you the age of the amp, Gibson has a large database of serial numbers that than can search to find out which. Legrande 11 serial number 969L by Stan Scantling: 4. 1959 Gibson Skylark Custom Deluxe lap steel - REDUCED! 1950 Supro Lap Steel SOLD PLEASE CLOSE.
1965 Gibson Skylark
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. 1957 Gibson Skylark Korina Lap Steel Guitar (GIE1128) C $2,094.95. From United States. Number of bids and bid amounts may be slightly out of date.
The bottom of Gibson’s lap steel line for most of the 1950s was held by the venerable BR-9, a relatively plain instrument that nonetheless shared a pickup with several more expensive models. Although not as eye-catching as its siblings, the BR-9 was still the company’s best-selling steel. Gibson attempted to capture even more of the market by introducing an even cheaper model, sometimes referenced in shipping ledgers as the EH-500 but always named in official literature as the Skylark.
This new model was first shipped in mid 1957 with a list price of $64.50, in the same range as the Supro Comet and the Harmony H4. The Skylark’s case listed for $24.00, more than one third the price of the instrument itself. The instrument was built of limba wood, which Gibson called Korina in catalogs; this had previously been used to build the Consolette steel and would become most famous as the material behind the Explorer and Flying V models of 1958. Unlike its more expensive brethren, the Skylark featured the same narrow single-coil pickup as the Melody Maker guitars. This pickup was installed with a slant in a metal plate housing the bridge, controls, output jack and hand rest. The fretboard featured a similar pattern to the BR-9 but recolored in black, with the frets numbered to aid beginners. While the overall construction was noticeably cheaper than even the BR-9, the headstock logo was a new three-dimensional chromed piece that was definitely flashier.
The large majority of Skylarks fit the above description, though there are a few exceptions. 45 Skylark Deluxes were shipped in 1958 with “custom deluxe” stenciled on the headstock and dot markers on the fretboard, which actually made the Deluxes plainer than the standard Skylark. At least one was shipped with a white crinkle finish like the BR-9. However, the basic model remained unchanged until 1965. At that point, Gibson made a number of changes to the Skylark that were never reflected in catalog pictures or descriptions. The body was henceforth made of mahogany and finished in translucent red, much like the revamped Century of the same period. The pickup was no longer angled, and the headstock shape was altered.
The first revamped Skylarks were shipped sometime in the second half of 1965. It has been assumed that the new version continued to be built until Gibson ceased steel production altogether in 1967, in which case more than 120 must have been built. However, the extreme rarity of this variant today suggests that fewer made it out the factory door. Shipping records do not differentiate between the two versions, so it is impossible to be certain. The serial and pot codes on this particular steel suggest early 1965, but the messiness of Gibson serials from this period makes any conclusions hazy at best. This steel remains in remarkably clean, essentially mint and entirely original.
Before collectibility and value can be determined about a Gibson guitar (and before you emailme asking, 'what kind of Gibson guitar do I have?'),several things need to be identified:- The type of guitar (flattop, archtop, solidbody, lapsteel, etc).
- The exact model within the type.
- The year it was made (or approximate year/era).
- Oringinality (have any of the parts been changed or modified?).
First Determine the Type of Guitar and the Model.
Sometimes there is a tag inside the guitar stating the 'style' or model.If the model is hollow, look on the inside for any tags and madenote of any ink stamps (sometimes the model is ink stamped inside the guitar).But unfortunately, especially on the low to mid line models,usually there is NO tag or label inside the guitar specifying what it is.If this is the case, start at the beginning and first determine whattype of guitar you have.These are several different types of Gibson guitars made.Once this is known, go directly to the section aboutthat type (listed in the blue table of contents text above),and look at the model pictures and descriptions that matches your guitar.
Here are the general types of Gibson guitars:
- Electric Solid body Gibsons: body is a solid piece of wood(no soundhole or cutouts), 1.5' to 2' thick, pickups and knobs routed into the top of the guitar.
- Flattop Acoustic Gibsons: single round sound hole under the strings, body 3.5' to 4.5' thick with a flat top, usually not electric(but often owners add a sort of bolt-on electric assembly).
- Acoustic Archtop Gibsons: two 'f' hole stylesound holes cut in the top, body 3' to 4.5' thick, slightly arched top, acoustic with no pickups (but sometimes these models have bolt-on electic assembly added later by players).
- Electric Archtop Gibsons: same as above ('f' holes, arch top)but the factory installed electric pickups into the guitar with volume/tone knob(s).
- Electric Thinline Archtop Gibsons: same as above (electricwith two 'f' holes in the top), but the body is thinner at 1.5' to 2' thick. These are always electric from the factory.
- Electric Lapsteel Gibson: a small solidbody guitar (no cutoutsor sound holes) that is playedin the lap, Hawaiian style, with a metal slide bar, pickup and knob routed into the top.
Once the type of guitar is determined, figuring out the exact model isMUCH easier! (just go to one of the above six linked webpages that describes your guitar, and compare each model specs to your guitar, until you find the one that matches).
Next Determine the Year or Approximate Year.
Gibson guitars usually have a FON (Factory Order Number), a serial number, or both(but sometimes neither!) Various serial number systems were used by Gibson,and often the same serial number could be used in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.See the serial number/FON section for details.Duplicate or no serial/FON number doesn't make things easy, but there are other traits that allow theserial number to make sense (see the General Specs sectionfor more details). Also mid to top end instruments usually have a label insidethe guitar with the serial number. Guitars with no label are usually lower end instruments(or are a solidbody guitar!)
Gibson Skylark Lap Steel Serial Numbers List
Probably the first thing when trying to determine the year on an old Gibsonis whether the guitar was made 'pre-WW2', during WW2, or 'post-WW2'. This is easy to do, as Gibsonused different peghead logos for pre-WW2, 'wartime', and post-WW2 (see the General Specs section for more details). Knowing the general era of the Gibson guitar will make Gibson's rather complicatedserial number/FON systems less tangled.
8 String Lap Steel
Next Determine the Exact Model.
There are several general questions which can be asked in determining a guitar's model,once the type of guitar (flat top, arch top, etc.) has been determined:
- What is the color of the top of the guitar? Common top colors include 'sunburst' (a yellow center that fades to a darker red or brown around the edges),black, natural and 'cherry red' (a translucent red which shows the wood grain).
- What is the color of the back of the guitar? Common back colorsinclude translucent dark brown, translucent light brown, sunburst, cherry red, etc.
- What is the body size? (measure the guitar across the top at the widest point, which isthe guitar's 'hips'). This is really important for all model types except solidbody electrics.
- What is the style of fingerboard inlays? (dots, blocks, trapezoids, double parallelagrams, etc.)
- What is the style of 'Gibson' peghead logo? That is, is it white silkscreen,gold silkscreen, or pearl inlay? Also if the logo is pre-WW2, wartime, or post-WW2 (see above).Also fancier models can even have some sort of pearl inlaid decoration (a 'crown' or longskinny 'diamond') on the pegheadjust below the 'Gibson' logo.
- What is the style of binding? Binding is the whitish/yellowish/tortoise 'band' that goesaround the edges of the body. Most Gibsons have some sort of body binding.Often binding is multi-layers (white/black/white, etc).Some guitars also have binding on the neck. The more binding a guitar has, the fancierthe model.
Finally Determine the Originality.
Originality of an instrument is very important. Modifications (any modifications),are a bad thing in the eyes of a collector. This will greatly influencevalue. Modifications can often be determined by looking at the modelspecs for a particular year guitar in this web page (after the approximate year is determined), and compare to your instrument.