According to Gibson's shipping totals, one of only
2 Artisans sold in 1976, S/N 00230976. The Artisan
was basically a fancy 2- or 3-pickup LP Custom with
Walnut, Ebony or Tobacco Sunburst
finishes. Official rant (but see below!) 3
pickups were initially optional according to the
Blue Book, and only introduced as a standard in
1979. I don't know what and where the other 1976
Artisan is but maybe this is the only 1976 Artisan
with 3 pickups, and maybe it was the first one ever
sold! The LP Artisan was made 1976 - 1982.
| Technical Data | |
|---|---|
| Model Name | Gibson Les Paul Artisan |
| Serial Number | 00230976 |
| Mfg. date/year | 1976 |
| Grading | VG |
| Date of Purchase | May 2002 |
| For Sale | No |
Any questions? Please check my FAQ!
As for the serial numbering system, there are also Artisans with 6-digit serial numbers (see table below). Very strange since according to all sources I've seen this number should have been assigned between 1970 and 1975, i.e. before the Artisan came out. But it is not unlikely that guitars that were manufactured in 75 got 75's numbers and were sold only in early 1976. The 2 guitars sold in 1976 aren't the whole truth, though.
For the sake of historic completeness, here's a numerically sorted list of apparent 1975/76 Artisans I know of. It appears Gibson's sales records were not particularly accurate as far as this model. Any more links, serial numbers, photos, are appreciated.
| Serial Number | Owner1 | Finish | Pickup # | Photos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 000115 (sic!) | Ebay sale by Angel Music London | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial |
| 220726 | Howard W. | walnut | 3 | Body, serial 9 |
| 250092 | Bengt K., SE | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 250132 3 | MrCrowley | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 250490 | (Ebay sale) | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 263400 | (Ebay sale for the 2nd time 8) | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 600426 | Don H. | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial Number |
| 622378 | Ebay sale (sail4fun1) | walnut | 3 | Body, headstock |
| 622760 | UNK, seen on Ebay | walnut | 3 | Body |
| C9245092, 10 | Cody P. | walnut | 3 | Body |
| C9248882 | (Ebay Sale) | walnut | 3 (modified5) | Body Headstock |
| C92488913 | Ebay sale (kcbars) | walnut | 3 | Body |
| C924993 | thebarknspyder | walnut | 3 (modified)6 | front and headstock |
| C925100 | Bob F. (ebay sale) | walnut | 3 | Body |
| C9254922 | David A. | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial Number, Pot code |
| 00230907 | Joe B. | walnut | 3 | head, serial no. |
| 00230910 | M. Ehlers | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 00230928 | Ebayer arlingtonloan | walnut | 3 | Serial Number, Body |
| 00230976 | myself | walnut | 3 | Serial Number |
| 00231053 | Roxxstarrr | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial Number |
| 00231057 11 | Todd D. | walnut | 3 | Body |
| 00231146 12 | Ebay sale (adkx) | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial Number |
| 00231180 | (Ebay sale) | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial Number |
| 00231256 | Mark M. | walnut | 3 | |
| 062039417 | (Ebay sale) | walnut | 3 | Body, Serial number, Pot codes |
1 Names anonymized
for privacy where requested.
2 According to
the Blue Book of Electric Guitars, these appear
to be rare 1974/75 serial numbers!
3 Very
interesting here: a pre-1976 serial number, and
one of the pots is marked 4th week in November
1976.
4 All photos published with kind permission of
the respective owner
5 A 1966 Matching Pair of Gibson Gold Patent T
Top Pickups in the Bridge and Neck Positions These pickups are
from a 1966 Gibson and sound amazing and A Gibson 500T in the
middle position
6 Pickups of course are not
original. Pots are from different years. Not
sure if any of them are original. Probably
not. Hardware is a bit rough. The TP-6 I bought
from a guy in Denmark and installed
myself. Tuners are Schallers (I think they're
ugly). Holes from original tuners are still
present.
7 This is a
very special one. This new old stock Artisan
was sold on Ebay on November 1st, 2005, for USD
3995. The serial number points to 1977 but the
pot codes are early 1976 ones. Somewhat
transitional and hard to tell.
8 Sold on Ebay
on Nov 2nd, 2005, for US $3.383. Interestingly, this guitar
had popped up on Ebay in May 2003 already. I
doubt anybody touched it inbetween ...
9 Pot codes
are 1377646, hence week 46 of 1976.
10Reselling
again by Cody P.(cpguitars)
11Todd says:
"The pots are all stamped with these
numbers. 70-034 and 1377707". 1976 serial
number and 1977 pot code. Maybe the wooden
parts were made in 1976 and the rest was added
later.
12Sold on eBay on Jan 10, 2010, for USD
2680.
13Sold on eBay on Feb 06, 2010, for USD
2610.
Last modified: Sat Aug 20 23:04:21 CEST 2011
