Hi Ethan, here's what the serial number means. (If anyone here sees I made a mistake, please feel free to correct me!):
- The first 2 numbers are the year it was made. In this case, "76" = 1976.
- The rest of the numbers are a sequential number that indicates which # Alembic instrument it is. So for example, the 1st instrument Alembic ever made was 72 01. This means that your guitar is the 273rd instrument that Alembic has ever made.
- Also, Alembic later started adding letter codes that indicated the model, like D = Distillate, X = Excel, etc. The fact that yours doesn't have one means it was originally either a Series 1 or Series 2 - although back in 1976, Alembic didn't even have model names; basically, they were all Series 1 or Series 2 anyway, hence why they didn't have codes. Later on, they retroactively added the name "Series 1" or "Series 2".
That's really all you can tell from the serial number itself. However, you can post a request to the "Serial Number / History Requests" section of the Alembic Club
here, and Alembic will look up the original build record and post any information that they have. This usually includes the original completion date, specific woods used, the original buyer, etc. They usually wait a few months and then respond to a bunch of requests all at once, so it may take a little while.
