Olympia Guitars Serial Numbers

Inspect the guitar’s body for brand markings and serial numbers. Check hollow body models for a label inside the soundbox that can be viewed and read through the sound hole(s), or numbers engraved on the neck, head or fingerboard. Look on the head and back of the guitar for electric models which often have an engraved plate.

OLYMPIA TAKOMA OD-5 ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH CASE - $150 (CONESTOGA)
OLYMPIA TAKOMA OD-5 ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH CASEThis is going to be a great guitar for anybody from a student to a Gigging Musician. Needs new strings. I'll put a set on if I find time. It does have one chip in the finish at the top corner of the headstock. Also has a couple of ding ...
OLYMPIA TAKOMA OD-5 ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH CASE - $150 (CONESTOGA)
OLYMPIA TAKOMA OD-5 ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH CASEThis is going to be a great guitar for anybody from a student to a Gigging Musician. Needs new strings. I'll put a set on if I find time. It does have one chip in the finish at the top corner of the headstock. Also has a couple of ding ...
Guitars Dreadnought OD-5 Acoustic with Case - $125 (Sequim)
Condition-Used Excellent Olympia Tacoma Acoustic Guitar Serial Number: SI 20310707Full Size - Right HandedFinish- Natural100% of the sale of this item will benefit PENINSULA TRAILS COALITIONSupport the Olympic Discovery Trail! The 134 mile trail starts in Port Townsend headin ...
Olympia by Tacoma OD-5 Dreadnought Acoustic $200 obo - $200 (Dallas)
Olympia by Tacoma OD-5 Dreadnought Acoustic $200 OBOGreat playing and sounding dreadnought just in time for the holidays! Would make a good practice guitar for intermediate or a great starter acoustic guitar for a beginner. 1.6875' nut. Closed back tuners. Cream binding lining the body and f ...
Olympia by Tacoma Acoustic dreadnaught guitar OD-5 - $150 (greensboro)
Beautiful Korean-made Olympia dreadnaught, solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides. Low action, excellent tone, very hard to find guitar. Comes with case. ...
Tacoma Olympia OD-10s acoustic dreadnought guitar - $140
Olympia OD10S Acoustic Dreadnought Guitar made by Tacoma. Solid Spruce top, Mahogany back and ribs, Rosewood fretboard and bridge, Abalone rosette. Mother-of-Pearl fret markers, Cream binding with black purfling, Chrome tuners, and Natural Gloss finish. Does not come with a hard case. Bought in Seat ...
Olympia OB-3CE 5 String Acoustic Electric Guitar - $250 (Trinidad)
I'm selling my son's Olympia 4 string Acoustic Electric Guitar. It does not have a case. Why am I selling: My son passed a couple of years ago and I'm ready to let it go. Let me know if you have any questions. ...
Guitar Olympia OP-2 Parlor Acoustic - $135 (leymone)
Unusual Olympia Parlor guitar, 36' tall w/ lower bout 13 1/2'w. Well played and fully opened-up, decent comfortable action. New strings, bone saddel and nut installed, comfortable action. Well seasoned tone woods. Ideal beginier/ travel guitar for any player.- Spruce top- Mahogany back and s ...

ACOUSTIC GUITARS

Epiphone used a serialnumber system for their acoustic guitars. Two or three digits were ink stamped on the neck block or blind stamped on the interior back of the Recording models, three digits (or four ?) blind stamped on the interior back of the Seville models.

WL030737 D Major defects detailed. Our guitars are project guitars to repair. There may be more defects that we could not detect upon our inspection. Fair and accurate to the best of our knowledge. Guitars and necks are stamped Used on the back of the headstock with an imprint stamp. Serial numbers are partially removed by our supplier. OLYMPIA TAKOMA OD-5 ACOUSTIC GUITAR WITH CASEThis is going to be a great guitar for anybody from a student to a Gigging Musician. Needs new strings. I`ll put a set on when it sells. It does have one chip in the finish at the top corner of the headstock. Also has a couple of dings on the front. Please check the pictures. I tried to show every imperfection.

Recording E s/n 94 ink stamped on the neck block

Recording C s/n 275 blind stamped on the interior back below the soundhole

NOTE: Fisch & Fred mention a four-digit Seville 4 Special (called Model 4 Special s/n 5417) on page 235 .

The Masterbilt serialnumber system did not start with the number 1000 but with the number 5000. The reason for this is unknown. The serial numbers were blind stamped on the interior back under the bass f-hole, generally below but sometimes on the (oval) label, maybe even without a label like the earlier Recording and Seville models.

Broadway s/n 5053 blind stamped without a label
De Luxe s/n 5369 blind stamped below the label
De Luxe s/n 6677 blind stamped on the label

From about 1934 forward, the serial numbers were ink typed directly on the label (Long Island label) or letter pressed on the label (rectangular Masterbilt label, Green label and Blue label). see pictures

Quite often the serialnumber was also blind stamped (some handwritten) on the underside of the bridgefoot. Occasionally the serialnumber was handwritten on one of the braces.

Zenith s/n 7738

Olympic s/n 6851

Olympic s/n 11690

Epiphone Guitar Serial Numbers

The s/n is sometimes ink typed on a label where it should have been letter pressed. According to Wiedler Epiphone often applied a newer type label with the old s/n typed in when a guitar was brought in for repair. There are also a few cases of a s/n on an older than typical label, probably either by mistake or because they had ran out of the current type see pictures For a reason unknown a new numbering system was applied in 1944 which started with number 50.000.

NOTE: Although the Sorrentino and the Howard guitars were offered under another brand, they are part of the same serial number system.

References :
Felix Wiedler, NY Epi Reg
Jim Fisch & L.B. Fred, The House of Stathopoulo, 1996, pp. 221-225

ELECTRIC GUITARS

“While Epiphone’s SN systems for acoustic instruments and 1950s electric hollow bodies appear to be pretty straightforward, the SN systems of their other electric instruments and amps are much less so. Over the years a number of different SN systems were used.” (Wiedler)

“With the inception of the Electar line in late 1935, Epiphone began a new numbering system which was employed solely on the electric instruments (Electar, Century, Coronet, Zephyr, Kent, Harry Volpe model). This manifested itself in the form of a blind stamped number between three and five digits, usually located on the top rear of the headstock. (Fisch & Fred, The House of Stathopoulo, page 225)

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Wiedler wrote us June 2013: “The Electar series started at a lower s/n than 3-digit. The earliest example I have documented is s/n 25.

Until circa 1938 the s/n stamp is located on the top edge of the headstock. When the headstock shape of the Spanish electrics changed to the center-dip style the stamp was moved to the back of the headstock.

Wiedler wrote us May 2016: “The first Electar instruments from 1935 don’t show a serial number. In c. 1936 serial numbers started possibly near SN 1 (first documented is SN 25) and reached the 7000s by the time electric instrument/amp production was virtually halted during WW2. Currently I have listed Zephyr Spanish SN 7182 as the last pre-war electric guitar.

When Epiphone restarted electric instrument production in 1946, only the Zephyr Hawaiian model carried on with the old SN system – the first documented is SN 7307. All other electric models used a new 5-6 digit SN system – with model-specific 2-3 digit prefix followed by a 3-digit serial suffix. This lasted until 1949. Around 1950 hollowbody electrics adopted the label/SN system of acoustic instruments (first documented example: Zephyr Regent SN 60182), while electric Hawaiian instruments used a new SN system starting around SN 9000.” see pictures

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