In 1975, Gibson standardized the serial number system that is still in use today. An eight digit (or 9 digit after July 2005) number on the back shows the date on which the instrument was produced, where it was produced and its order of production that day (e.g. first instrument stamped that day, second, third, fourth etc). The serial numbers are deciphered using the following system:

YDDDYRRR

YY is the production year

DDD is the day of the year the guitar was stamped

RRR is the production order/plant designation number

Production order/plant designation numbers numbers are as follows:

001-499 Kalamazoo, Michigan (1975-1984)

500-999 Nashville, Tennessee (1975-1990)

001-299 Bozeman, Montana (after 1989)

300-999 Nashville, Tennessee (after 1990)

For example, the serial number 90992487 means that the instrument was produced on the 99th day of 1992 (Wednesday 8 April) in Nashville, TN and that it was the 487th instrument stamped that day.

In July 2005 Gibson introduced a 9 digit serial number system. The system is largely the same as the 8 digit system used before, however the 6th digit now represents the batch number. The first 5 and last 3 digits remain the same.

An exception is the year 1994, Gibson's Centennial Year: Many 1994 serial numbers start with "94", followed by a 6-digit production number.

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By the time Gibson began work on its first electric guitar, the company had a 40-year tradition of quality and innovation to uphold. The first Gibson electric had to be nothing less than the best electric guitar the world had ever seen.

In the spring of 1935, Gibson enlisted musician Alvino Rey to help develop a prototype pickup with engineers at the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago. Later that year, research was moved in-house, where Gibson employee Walter Fuller came up with the final design. Gibson introduced the distinctive hexagonal pickup on a lap steel model in late 1935. The pickup was installed on an F-hole archtop guitar, dubbed the ES-150 (ES for Electric Spanish), and the first one shipped from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 20, 1936.

Was the ES-150 the best electric guitar that guitarists in 1936 had ever seen? Jazz musician Charlie Christian, who would establish the electric guitar as an instrument with its own unique voice, thought so. Sixty years later, the Gibson ES-150 is still known as the Charlie Christian model, and some jazz players consider the ES-150's "Charlie Christian" pickup to be the best jazz pickup ever made.

The ES-150's success was a double-edged sword, establishing Gibson as the foremost maker of electric guitars but at the same time challenging Gibson to top this monumental achievement. After a production break for World War II, Gibson did just that.

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