American pot manufacturers had their own numerical EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance) codes, for example 134 = Centralab, 137 = CTS and 304 = Stackpole. There are very many electronic companies worldwide producing potentiometers, but most American vintage guitars of the 20th Century used pots by just a few manufacturers. You can look up Gibson potentiometers by their part number in the Gibson pot index on this site. Many pots do not have part numbers, but the larger guitar manufacturers did list pots by part number in their spare parts manuals. Once decoded, the writing on the back or sides can be very informative in dating your guitar Part numbers
#Japanese guitar identification serial
But read on, dating a vintage guitar with pot codes is sometimes more reliable than dating with serial numbers!Īn early 1960s pot from a Gibson guitar. There are many exceptions and variations to the general rules described below, some of which are highlighted in the examples at the end.
Finding them is not always easy this is obviously not something for the faint-hearted, but once performed a few times, nowhere near as daunting as it might at first seem. Codes can be faded, worn, obscured by solder and other components, or simply very small. So reading them will require opening control cavities, removing scratchplates, or in the case of a semi acoustic, removing the pots entirely. So where are these codes? Normally they are stamped or inked onto the back or sides of the pot. Many pots don't carry all of this information, but the better quality guitars produced in America usually do. Better quality pots are often stamped with a number of codes typically part numbers, date of production, manufacturers codes and resistance values.
#Japanese guitar identification full
The pots, or potentiometers to give their full name, are the variable resistors that control volume and tone.
If you've been reading articles about dating a vintage guitar, you may well have come across mention of pot codes, and the concept of using pot codes to date your guitar.
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