Martin serial numbers
Match a Martin serial against Martin's own year chart, 1898 through 2025, without doing the squinting yourself. The chart records the last number issued in each calendar year, and we find the row your number falls under. Guitars and ukuleles on the main run, plus the Sigma-Martin block from 1981 and 1982.
Enter the serial as it appears on the instrument.
Where to find the serial number
One place to look, and it doesn't change with the era. Sight down into the soundhole at the neck block, the wooden block where the neck meets the body. The model designation is stamped alongside the number. Read it while you're in there, because it is what tells you whether the number belongs to the run this chart covers.
All years: Stamped into the neck block, the wooden block where the neck meets the body. Sight down into the soundhole to read it; the model designation sits alongside.
This chart covers the main guitar and ukulele run. Little Martin and Backpacker instruments carry numbers that look just like main-run numbers and are charted separately, on parallel runs of their own, as are the Solid Wood, HPL and SO ukulele series and mandolins from before the runs merged in 1991. Read a current Little Martin number against this chart and it lands in the middle of the last century, so check the model designation before you take the year.
The year is the year the number was issued: a breakpoint marks where one calendar year's numbering stopped, so the reading places a serial inside the year its number was assigned, and the instrument itself can have shipped later. That, with the parallel runs above, is why the main run comes back at probable rather than certain.
Some Martin serial numbers can't be dated from the number alone: Numbers below where the run opens.
Sigma-Martin, 1981 to 1982
| Years |
|---|
| 1981–1982 |
Main guitar and ukulele run, 1898 onward
| Years |
|---|
| 1898–present |
Frequently asked questions
Which years does GearSerials cover for Martin serial numbers?
We cover Martin serial numbers from 1898–2025.
How many Martin serial-number formats does GearSerials track?
We track 2 serial-number formats across 2 eras for Martin.
Where is the serial number on a Martin instrument?
It depends on the era. We document 1 placement for Martin instruments. See "Where to find the serial number" above for the exact spot for your instrument's era.
Are there Martin serial numbers GearSerials can't date?
Yes. Some Martin serial numbers can't be dated from the number alone: Numbers below where the run opens.
How do you read a Martin serial number?
You look it up against Martin's year chart. The number holds no year digit and no date code: it is a position in one sequence that has run continuously since 1898, and the year comes from the chart row the number falls under.
Why is a Martin year probable rather than certain?
Two reasons. Martin's chart dates the number: each row closes off one calendar year's numbering, so the year you get is the year the number was assigned, and the guitar can have shipped later. And Little Martin, Backpacker, the ukulele series and the older mandolins run on parallel numbering of their own, on numbers that look identical to main-run numbers, so one of those read against this chart would come back holding a year that was never its own.
What are Martin serial numbers 900001 to 902908?
Sigma-Martin instruments from 1981 and 1982. Martin footnotes that block out of its main chart, and when the main sequence counted past it in 2002 it skipped straight over. Those numbers were never issued twice. A number from inside the block comes back holding both years, because Martin publishes the span without splitting it, and the answer comes with one question: what does the label inside the soundhole say? Say it reads something else and the reading is withdrawn, because no other Martin format claims those numbers.
My Martin serial number is higher than the last row on the chart. What then?
The answer says the number is newer than the chart we carry, and points you at our next annual refresh. Martin publishes one breakpoint per year, so a number issued after the newest breakpoint we hold has nothing to sit between. The chart stops where Martin's published rows stop.
Does a Martin serial number identify the model?
Not on its own, but the stamp beside it does. Martin stamps the model designation on the neck block alongside the serial, so both are readable in one look through the soundhole. On the main run the number carries only the instrument's place in the sequence.
Martin and associated model names are trademarks of C.F. Martin & Co. GearSerials is an independent reference resource and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by C.F. Martin & Co.