King V Pro serials

[adoxtater]

Hey guys, I did some searching but couldn't find a good reference for Japanese serial numbers (for the Pro series stuff). I've got a couple King V Pros and wanted to find out a bit more about them if possible, like build date, etc. Can anyone lend some insight?

My old King V Pro: J401765
My new King V Pro (well, new to me haha): J400670

Anyone have any ideas on this? Thanks so much!

[Brooke]

I'd like to know too..

[RobRR]

I have J30124x and J40178x... the only thing you can really tell from the serial is the year. First number after J is the year, so for me would be 1993 and 1994, both yours are 1994's. The rest of the numbers are the sequence in which they were made, seems to start over every year. Other than that, not much else you can find out about them.

[Newc]

^^ what he said.

1996 was the last year that the serial directly indicated the year for Japanese models. About mid-way through 1996, they started using the "96" numbers - every bolt-on serial started with "96". Best you can get now is going by the length of the serial, and even then it's a rough estimate.

6 digits on a plate beginning with (and including) "96" indicates 1996-1997 maybe 98. A 7th number was added sometime after that.

Any bolt-on with more than 8 numbers is a non-Japanese-made import.

For neckthroughs, however, I'm not sure how they did/do those from 96-present. Haven't had one from the mid-late 90s. My Morton starts with 06, so I'm assuming that's the year it was made (bought in 07 IIRC).

But, neckthroughs were serialized by the year, so you can find J012345 from 1990 and J112345 from 1991 all the way up to J612345 in 96.

So, there were almost 1800 guitars made between your two Vs.

[adoxtater]

Wow! I knew I'd get the info I was looking for here You guys rock. For some reason I was thinking my original one was older than 1994, but I guess not! It's good to know when they were born, though, so thank you so much!

[Brooke]

I don't think that there were 1800 KV Pro's made though but rather each Pro model received the next number in the sequence right?

for example J400670 was a KV Pro but J400671 could have been a RR Pro, or a soloist Pro.

[Nazgul]

for example J400670 was a KV Pro but J400671 could have been a RR Pro, or a soloist Pro.

or a Warrior pro, or a Grover Jackson RR, Grover Jackson Soloist, Grover Jackson anything else etc......there were MANY MANY guitars that shared this type of serial .

[Spivonious]

Just a guess, but isn't it likely that the build date is written in the neck cavity?

[RobRR]

We wouldnt know, because theyre all neckthroughs.

[Spivonious]

We wouldnt know, because theyre all neckthroughs.

I thought we were just talking general "Professional Series" not the ____ Pro variants.

[Brooke]

We're taking about this..

I'll use any excuse that I can to post a picture of my baby.

[adoxtater]

We're taking about this..

I'll use any excuse that I can to post a picture of my baby

Any chance to be a pic whore and I will gladly have a look

[Newc]

I don't think that there were 1800 KV Pro's made though but rather each Pro model received the next number in the sequence right?

for example J400670 was a KV Pro but J400671 could have been a RR Pro, or a soloist Pro.

Right, which is why I said "1800 guitars", not "1800 KV Pros"

Professional Series neckthroughs were done in batches of 12. 1800/12=150, so 150 batches of 12 of each model.

or a Warrior pro, or a Grover Jackson RR, Grover Jackson Soloist, Grover Jackson anything else etc......there were MANY MANY guitars that shared this type of serial .

As I understand it, you will find the same number in the Japanese-market models as you would the Pro series. J000645 could be a Soloist Pro AND a GroverJackson King V Pro at the same time.

[Nazgul]

J000645 could be a Soloist Pro AND a GroverJackson King V Pro at the same time.

No it couldn't. All of them were made at the same factory...why would they duplicate the serials?

[Newc]

2 different markets.

Did the GJs even have "J" serials?

They did "U" and "J" serials to differentiate between "U"SA and "J"apan manufacture.

Why put a "J" serial on a Japanese-made, Japanese-market-only guitar?