1983 S500

[Blake]

Hello,
Need a little help here. Totally ignorant about G and L, and the S500. I just came to own a 1983 S500, serial # GO11671. From my limited research, it apears that this was the 17th guitar made in 1983, since the numbers begin with GO1154. That is if the guitars are sequential. I have seen 2 differering dates for the first year of the S500, 1982 and 1983. A couple of questions for the knowledgable here.
1. What was the first year of production for the S500? 2. There are no S500's listed in the resgistery, should I register it? 3. Does this guitar have any significant value, monetary or historically, or should I just play the hell out of it. The guitar has never been played and has spent it's entire life in storeage. Thanks in advance of any info forthcoming.

[Elwood]

Hello,
Need a little help here. Totally ignorant about G and L, and the S500. I just came to own a 1983 S500, serial # GO11671. From my limited research, it apears that this was the 17th guitar made in 1983, since the numbers begin with GO1154. That is if the guitars are sequential. I have seen 2 differering dates for the first year of the S500, 1982 and 1983. A couple of questions for the knowledgable here.
1. What was the first year of production for the S500? 2. There are no S500's listed in the resgistery, should I register it? 3. Does this guitar have any significant value, monetary or historically, or should I just play the hell out of it. The guitar has never been played and has spent it's entire life in storeage. Thanks in advance of any info forthcoming.

Welcome Blake, sounds like a primo axe !!
The early serial numbers aren't sequential.
The dates are in the neck pocket, but if the guitar is pristine I would keep the neck on so as not to crack the finish.
They get a little sticky after time and G&L makes 'em tight !
Also there is a proper and improper way to remove the neck.
(if you decide to do that there is info on the site so things are kept intact and you don't let the magic smoke out )

Yes your guitar is significant, and will only increase in value . 1982 was when the S-500's came out.
They are fantastic guitars that are meant to be played, just be careful and wipe it down after playing.

We neeeed to see pics, just cu'z we like em alot.
I'm sure others can give some other links ,
here's a couple:
http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=18

I found 79 S-500's registered up to 1986, You should register yours and make it 80

early S-500's in the registry

[Blake]

Thanks so much for the response! Would appriciate more input. The guitar is a Tobacco Sunburst and I will get pic's for you shortly. Again thanks!

[Craig]

Hello,
Need a little help here. Totally ignorant about G and L, and the S500. I just came to own a 1983 S500, serial # GO11671. From my limited research, it apears that this was the 17th guitar made in 1983, since the numbers begin with GO1154. That is if the guitars are sequential. I have seen 2 differering dates for the first year of the S500, 1982 and 1983. A couple of questions for the knowledgable here.
1. What was the first year of production for the S500? 2. There are no S500's listed in the resgistery, should I register it? 3. Does this guitar have any significant value, monetary or historically, or should I just play the hell out of it. The guitar has never been played and has spent it's entire life in storeage. Thanks in advance of any info forthcoming.

First, welcome!
Here's some good starter reading material for you:

Welcome! Read This First
Serial number significance
How do I determine an instrument's age?
Production List of G&L Instruments (USA)
Is there a good source for getting G&L instrument values?

That should get you started. We do have a lot of G&L information in the G&L Knowledgebase, so peruse both sub-forums.

Hope this helps.

[KenC]

Welcome to G&LDP. With a sunburst body, it's likely that your S-500 is mahogany. That puts it on the uncommon side, since 'hog was used for a fairly short period in the first half of the '80s.

As Craig said, the serial numbers do not follow any sequence for early G&Ls. They were used at random when the instruments were built, so the best they can do is give you an approximate year. I believe the "first numbers" for each year on G&L's website are just the number that went onto the first guitar built after January 1st. I have an F-100 with serial number G000504, which is lower than the "first" G&L built 1980. Mine has neck and body dates from a couple of months into production, though. On the other hand, my L-1000 has a serial number a couple of hundred higher than the "first" (according to G&L's website), but the body and neck are both pre-production.

It's more accurate to estimate dates from an instrument's features. Is your guitar's serial number on the bridge or the neck plate? An S-500 with the number on the bridge will be from '82 or early '83. A skunk stripe on the neck would put it pretty firmly in 1982. The neck construction had changed by the time the SC models came out in September '82.

Ken