Epiphone Korean serial numbers

The Korean codes

Reading a Korean serial

The structure is the same as any modern Epiphone: factory code, two-digit year, two-digit month, sequence. U96051234 reads as Unsung, May 1996.

Two-digit years in the 90s range read as the 1990s, and values up to 30 read as the 2000s or 2010s. That works because Korean contract production began well after 1930, so there is no genuine ambiguity to resolve.

Why Korean Epiphones have a following

The Korean plants of the 1990s — particularly Peerless, Samick, Unsung and Cort — built instruments for a great many brands, and the standard was high enough that Korean-era Epiphones now trade above their Chinese and Indonesian equivalents from the same catalogue position.

That premium is worth knowing about when reading a listing. A seller describing a guitar as “Korean-made” is making a claim that affects the price, and the serial prefix is the fastest way to check it.

Common questions

Are Korean Epiphones better than Chinese ones?

Korean-era instruments from the 1990s generally trade at a premium, which reflects both build reputation and scarcity. It is a generalisation rather than a rule — the Korean plants built across the whole price range, and modern production from other countries is frequently excellent.