Dating B.C. Rich neck-through guitars is relatively easy, although slightly imprecise by the 1980's. Beginning in 1972, the first B.C. Rich guitar was stamped 'Proto', and subsequent guitars were consecutively numbered beginning 001, 002, 003, etc.

When distribution came back to B.C. Rich in 1974, a system of serial number coding began using a 5-digit code (XXYYY) with the first 2 digits indicating the year and the last 3 indicating the production number. That would make the first guitar of 1974 to have been numbered 74000, followed by 74001, 74002, 74003, etc. Throughout the '70s, production numbers were low enough that the serial numbers pretty much reflect the year of manufacture.




Seagull Guitar Serial Number 5 Digitsl