Heritage Guitars has been building in the former Gibson Kalamazoo factory since 1985. Their standard serial scheme uses a leading letter (B = 1985) that increments through the alphabet, with a post-2009 switch to a double-letter format. A number of bare 6-digit Kalamazoo-stamped instruments exist and are not documented in any official decoder — we recognize the format but leave the year unknown.
Sources 1 Manufacturer 1 Community view all
Single letter B–Y followed by 5 digits. B = 1985, C = 1986, …, Y = 2008. Heritage skipped Z entirely — 2009 instruments used the 1YYXXXX standard-collection format, and the double-letter system picked up at AA = 2010.
A followed by a second letter A–P and 5 digits. Second letter increments from A (2010) through the alphabet: AA = 2010, AB = 2011, …, AP = 2025.
HC + 1 + YY + 4-digit rank. After the HC prefix the leading 1 mirrors the standard-format identifier; the next two digits are the 2-digit year (2020+). Heritage's official decoder documents only this 8-character layout; a bare HC + 4–7 digit form previously matched here has been removed for lack of sourcing.
Seven-digit serial starting with 1. Digits 2–3 are the 2-digit year; digits 4–7 are the rank.
Six-digit purely-numeric stamp confirmed on genuine Kalamazoo-built Heritage instruments but undocumented in any official source. We match the format but leave the year unknown.
Heritage serials are impressed on the back of the headstock. Custom Shop and small-run instruments sometimes also carry a paper label inside the body.
Back of headstock
Primary location for all standard Heritage instruments across all eras.
F-hole label (hollowbody)
Archtop and semi-hollow Heritage models typically have a corresponding label visible through the F-hole.
Heritage's official dating tool with a letter-to-year dropdown spanning B (1985) through AP (2025).
Community reference confirming the single-letter and double-letter year conventions and detailing the post-letter digit layout (day-of-year-remaining + build rank).
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.