decoding universe serial numbers?

wildkoba · #1 03-18-2002, 01:01 AM

hi there. pardon if this has been mentioned before, but i own a uv7bk (you know the one, black with green dots/pickups that everyone seems to hate). anyways, i'm trying to figure out what the serial number on the neck joint signifies. there's no F code (i've read the faq on serial numbers), just a 6 digit number. hell, it doesn't even say "ibanez" in the heel joint- just the numbers (256719).

anyone know wot's uh the deal? any info would be much appreciated.

rock on.
wild koba

satch · #2 03-18-2002, 12:39 PM

After my knowlegde, you are the happy owner of a very rare, and the very first electric sig. guitar ever built. It was built long before Vai was born. Your guitar is from 1925 :thumbsup:

(Edited by satch at 11:41 am on Mar. 18, 2002)

7 Dying Trees · #3 03-18-2002, 01:06 PM

Are you looking on the neck joint??? Thre neckplate should have the ibanez and universe logo on it...

And then as far as serial numbers go, both mine are 91XXXX , from 1991...

wildkoba · #4 03-18-2002, 05:05 PM

[quote] satch on 11:39 am on Mar. 18, 2002
After my knowlegde, you are the happy owner of a very rare, and the very first electric sig. guitar ever built. It was built long before Vai was born. Your guitar is from 1925 :thumbsup:

YES!!! i ROOL!

and naw man...all i see on the neck joint is "256719." no ibanez markers, no nothing. it sure as hell looks like any other uv7bk, though. i even have the limited warranty card (with the bottom half long-ago sent) in my case. i found this in feb. 96 in rochester, ny, so i'm guessing it's one of the early 96 models or maybe a 94 or something?

the plot thickens.
wild koba

SalemB · #5 03-18-2002, 05:17 PM

I'm surprised to hear that the neck plate doesn't have the universe logo. Does the part of the warranty card that you got tell the serial number as well? The number sounds valid, but no logo - that's strange.

littlegreenman · #6 03-18-2002, 05:20 PM

it could be anything, it's not likely a UV neck plate, I've got a 91 UV that has a Korean neckplate on it, I don't even know what the hell 7 string neck plate existed in Korean guitars then, it isn't right, but then, I'm not the original owner of this UV and neither was the guy before me, so who knows, it could have been a stolen guitar, unfortunately that is life sometimes, I had one stolen too, who knows what the serial number says on it now. *I hate thiefs, they complicate and ruin everything!

wildkoba · #7 03-19-2002, 09:43 PM

Quote:

SalemB on 4:17 pm on Mar. 18, 2002
I'm surprised to hear that the neck plate doesn't have the universe logo. Does the part of the warranty card that you got tell the serial number as well? The number sounds valid, but no logo - that's strange.

the part of the card i still have doesn't say anything, and i don't remember whether there was a sticker on the part i mailed.

i was mildly paranoid yesterday about this, thinking that i own a stolen universe. i bought it from what i perceive to be a reputable guitar store (house of guitars, rochester, ny) in 96. i have the standard uv case, and everything else is perfectly legit. i'm not so paranoid now, but now i'm just confused.

hm.
wild koba

Rich · #8 03-19-2002, 09:51 PM

Sorry guys, that just kicked my memory into gear. From 95' on we see these 250K plates on both the Jems and the UV's, only the UV plates no longer say Universe on them. After 95' on UV's only means 97' with the return of the silver dot so you'll only find those plates on late BKG's and the BKS's. On Jems it means the very last of the DY's and then all the remaining FP's till 00'. (if you foreign guys have different years still available I'm just quoting by US spec, I think I remember some BFP's with these plates)(I just realized the BKG's were done by 95' so this may have been changed in 94', but I still think they're 95' guitars and some were still imported in 95')

(Edited by Rich at 9:00 pm on Mar. 19, 2002)

wildkoba · #9 03-19-2002, 10:56 PM

rich: you da man. first you help bail me out with my satch guitar problems, and now this.

interesting, indeed. so from what you're telling us, it seems like a bought a UV that was hot off the presses. if they didn't make them in 95 (my model, at least), i'm deducing that i have a 96 model universe. that's amazing turnaround time! i bought that thing in early feb., 96- maybe that's what the smoke coming out of the case as i drove it home was.

so does the "25" in "256719" mean anything? as in, can i say that the "6" stands for "96" and that "719" is the number guitar they made in that year? that's a lot of guitars in barely a month. jesus.

rich- you rock. thanks again.
wild koba

Rich · #10 03-19-2002, 11:12 PM

You know they're probably just kooky enough that they do mean something, I sure don't know, hard enough just keeping track they exhist

They didn't make (and/or we didn't import) UV's in 96' either, I'd figure it had been at HOG for a bit. I have plate 259481 here on a BKS, almost 3000 guitars later. Makes me believe they might have used these plates on other models too. 3000 is a very large number.