DATING ESP GUITARS BY REFERENCE OF SERIAL NUMBERS
The serial numbers of ESP guitars were not or hardly administered in the early days of production.
Serial numbers from before 2000 are therefore unreliable for an exact date. ![]()
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SERIAL NUMBERS
The dating of guitars built in the eighties and nineties is often unreliable.
Its administration was done carelessly.
Some guitars from that period have no serial number at all. Also with the neck plate serial numbers do not always give the exact date. (If they already have a number because neck plates with only the ESP logo were also used) The plates with number were made well in advance and used randomly. For guitars without a serial number on the headstock or neck plate, you may still be able to find a serial number on the heel of the neck. There is also a chance that a number is written in the cavity on the body of the pickups. In that case you can decipher this number in the decoder to a date. ![]() Pickup cavity The eight-digit coding system from before 2000 looks like this: DDMMYNNN DD = day of the month (01 - 31) MM = month (01 - 12) Y = Last digit of the year NNN = production number 000 - 999 Example: 25055012 is the 12nd guitar built on May 25th 1995. After 2000 a serial number system was used which is a lot simpler. It consists of 1 or 2 letters followed by 7 digits. The letter (s) indicate the location of manufacture. The first 2 digits are the year, the next 2 digits are the week number, the 5th digit is the day of the week and the last 2 digits is the production number. Example: SS1209210 SS = Custom Shop ESP 12 = 2012 09 = week number 9 2 = the 2nd day of week 9 10 = production number So SS1209210 is the 10nd guitar, built on February 28, 2012 in the Custom Shop of ESP in Tokyo. This system was used until 2015. From 2016 another system was introduced. This system consists of 1 letter followed by 7 digits. The letter is the brand name, E = ESP. The first 4 digits are the production number, the next 2 digits the year and the last digit the series type. (1 = Custom series, 2 = Signatures series and 3 = E-II series). Example: E1234162 E = ESP 1234 = production number 16 = 2016 2 = Signatures Series |
Kirk Hammett Signature (K-) serial numbers The first Kirk Hammett Signature guitars appeared as Custom Shop models back in 1993. Kirk Hammett's signature is on the front of the headstock and the serial number on the back of the headstock. These serial numbers start with K- followed by 4 or 5 digits. Until the official introduction in 1995 the guitars had a 4 digit number, then a 5 digit number was introduced. ![]() Kirk Hammett Signature (K- serial number) This makes proper dating difficult. What they do have in common is that the first 2 digits after the letter prefix contain the year. Productie locations Letter + 7 digits. E and U = Korea. I = Vietnam. L = China. 2 letters + 7 digits. IS and IR = Indonesia. Letter + 8 digits. W = World Musical Instrument Co., Incheon, Korea. 2 letters + 8 digits. IW, IX and IS = Indonesia. WR and GW = World Musical Instrument Co., Incheon, Korea. SX, SK, RS and SP = China. 2 letters + 9 digits. IS = Indonesia. |