ESP / LTD

ESP is a complex brand to date because the company's own records pre-2000 are incomplete — ESP Japan lost many records in a late-1990s factory fire. What remains well-documented is the post-2000 import format where a letter prefix identifies the factory (Korea, China, Vietnam, or Indonesia). Year encoding within the digits varies by factory and isn't uniformly published, so the decoder recognizes the format but leaves year null.

Sources 2 Communitys view all

Decode a ESP / LTD serial

Quick pick

Find your shape, jump to the format

E + 7 digits Letter-prefix import (2000+) primary e.g. E1234567 2000+
W + 8 digits W-prefix (World Korea, 8 digits) e.g. W12345678 Varies
8 digits Pre-2000 Japan date-coded (DDMMYNNN) e.g. 25055012 1975–1999

Supported formats

Letter-prefix import (2000+)

2000+

Example E1234567 Try it →

Single letter factory code + 7 digits (E/U = ESP Korea, L = China, I = Vietnam) or two letters + 7-8 digits (IS/IR = Indonesia, IW/IX = Indonesia World, plus some 8-digit Indonesia variants). Year encoding within the digits varies.

Gotchas & format-specific sources

Year decoding is not consistently documented across factories — we match the format and leave decoded year null.

2 less common variants

W-prefix (World Korea, 8 digits)

Varies

Example W12345678 Try it →

W + 8 digits. World Musical Instrument Co., Incheon, Korea — a major ESP/LTD contract factory.

Pre-2000 Japan date-coded (DDMMYNNN)

1975–1999

Example 25055012 Try it →

8-digit numeric: DD + MM + Y + NNN. DD = day of month (01-31), MM = month (01-12), Y = last digit of year, NNN = daily production rank. Example 25055012 = May 25th, year ending in 5, build #12.

Gotchas & format-specific sources

The single-digit year is ambiguous without additional context. The decoder snaps to the closest plausible decade in 1975-1999 using the listing year; without a listing year it leaves year null.
ESP Japan lost many pre-2000 production records in a late-1990s factory fire — physical inspection (pickups, hardware, logo style) is often required to confirm decade.

Where to find your serial

Modern ESP and LTD serials live on the back of the headstock. Pre-2000 ESPs had the serial in varied locations.

Back of headstock (post-2000)

Standard for all modern ESP and LTD production.
Varies (pre-2000)

Inside body on hollowbodies, neck plate on some solidbodies, neck pocket on others. Physical inspection required.

Sources

Note on source quality: ESP explicitly acknowledges that many pre-2000 records were destroyed in a factory fire and dating instruments from that era via serial alone is often impossible. For pre-2000 instruments, physical inspection (pickups, hardware, logo style) is usually required.

Guitars Collector — ESP Serial Numbers Community

Reference documenting ESP/LTD factory letter codes: E/U = Korea, L = China, I = Vietnam, W = World Korea, IS/IR/IW/IX = Indonesia.
Killerrig — ESP LTD Serial Number Decoding Community

Additional factory-code reference plus notes on pre-2000 limitations.

Every format rule on this page traces back to at least one of the sources above. If you spot an error or have an additional authoritative source, see the methodology.