National Lap Steel Serial Numbers...

[Terry VunCannon]

Hey all. I had saved this years ago about National Lap Steels serial numbers. Take a look, and feedback welcome on how true this listing is. I have used this to date my laps for quite some time.
1940 - 42 ----------- G suffix
1947 ---------------- V100 - V7500
1948 ---------------- V7500 - V15000
1949 ---------------- V15000 - V25000
1950 ---------------- V25000 - V35000
1951 ---------------- V35000 - V38000 X100 - X7000
1952 ---------------- X7000 - X17000
1953 ---------------- X17000 - X30000
1954 ---------------- X30000 - X43000
1955 ---------------- X43000 - X57000
1956 ---------------- X57000 - X71000
1957 ---------------- X71000 - X85000
1958 ---------------- X85000 - X99000
T100 - T5000
1959 ---------------- T5000 - T25000
1960 ---------------- T25000 - T50000
1961 ---------------- T50000 - T75000
1962 ---------------- T75000 - T90000
G100 - G5000
1963 ---------------- T90000 - T99000
G5000 - G15000
1964 ---------------- G15000 - G40000


1964 - early 68 ----- sticker w/"1" prefix
early to mid 1968 --- sticker w/"2" prefix

[Noah Miller]

It's correct for about 90% of Valco-built instruments and amps. Most of the rest are one year off. I've encountered very few instruments where the the date from this table doesn't make any sense, and I assume that those are the result of factory clearouts.

That said, I think the serial number tables recently published in this book are the most accurate, particularly for the pre-1942 era but later as well.

[Bill Creller]

Those serial numbers were used on their arch top & flat-top guitars as well, and my old National amp has one also. Turns out that the year of the serials came out a while after I bought the steel, a New Yorker, the flat top ( model 1156 )and the amp. At least the list is sorta in the ball park

[Robert Blanton]

Thank you! The serial number makes mine from 1947. Been wondering for the longest time how old the thing is!

[Lee Holliday]

Make sure you all get the Mark Makin book, the definitive guide to all things National, Dobro, Valco.

Regards

Lee

[Michael Lester]

Terry... I just acquired a double 8 National that was advertised as "1950s".

I've done a good cleanup, changed the old 'phone' plug cord to a 1/4" jack and checked out the switches, pups and pots.

But I've never seen a serial number? Where should it be?

Mike Lester

[Noah Miller]

Usually on a National D8 it will be on the underside of the body. It will be stamped into a metal tag which is nailed to the body somewhere; if it's still there, it won't be hidden. But sometimes they do disappear, and rarely you find an instrument that never had one.

From 1964 to 1968 serials were printed on stickers, and those are much more likely to fall off, but they didn't make a ton of double-necks in that period. If it had a screw-on jack, it almost certainly had a serial on a metal plate.