The mystery of Lightstar #00008

I picked up a Lightstar from Jesse a few months back and of corse being a numbers guy the first thing I looked for was the serial number. It was #0008 not number 1 but we already know who has that one.

Before buying from Jesse I had made a deal with James on another Lightstar. He brought it to CF13, it has a couple problems and is currently at the Tom's being rebuilt. Heres where it gets a little strange, the one James brought to CF13 is also serial#0008. Both amps built in 1995. There is one number different in the early portion of the serial number. What gives? How were they numbering these amps?

I would ask bob, or james maybe, that is strange

Bob wasn't there.

I know what happened....
It's a CLONE!!!!!

THE SERIAL NUMBER LABEL GUY WAS DRUNK THAT DAY!!!!!

That is strange I don't know how the numbers work with the Lightstars but with Sunfire the middle numbers indicate versions of the model and board sets.

Hummm....

953 means it was manufactured in March 1995. 957 means in July 1995. Still shouldn't be the same S/N though. Is one a LS 1 & the orher a LS 2? That would explain it.

953 means it was manufactured in March 1995. 957 means in July 1995. Still shouldn't be the same S/N though. Is one a LS 1 & the orher a LS 2? That would explain it.

They are both LS1. I'm telling you the label guy tanked!

953 means it was manufactured in March 1995. 957 means in July 1995. Still shouldn't be the same S/N though. Is one a LS 1 & the orher a LS 2? That would explain it.

Both LS 1's.

What else is wweird is...

Looking at the labels, they were 2 different labels. The fonts are different on each.
I'll bet you, they printed them on site.

They built a few amps, and tested them. Then they went and ran the full batch of amps.
Somewhere, they lost count, and printed #8 twice... There may also be more duplicates if they ran 1-100 when the full batch of amps were built.

From what I understand, they usually built 10 as a pre production run. So there could be copies of 1-10
Not very likely, but possible. That would also explain the 4 month gap between the 2 amps. 4 months of testing before the production batch were run.

What else is wweird is...

Looking at the labels, they were 2 different labels. The fonts are different on each.
I'll bet you, they printed them on site.

They built a few amps, and tested them. Then they went and ran the full batch of amps.
Somewhere, they lost count, and printed #8 twice... There may also be more duplicates if they ran 1-100 when the full batch of amps were built.

From what I understand, they usually built 10 as a pre production run. So there could be copies of 1-10
Not very likely, but possible. That would also explain the 4 month gap between the 2 amps. 4 months of testing before the production batch were run.

This is nearly exactly what I was thinking as I was reading the labels. You just had a better way of saying it.

I noticed the font diff after posting the pics

Snoop told me he has #00009 and I think I read where another guy on this board has a #00009 also.

I noticed the font diff after posting the pics

Snoop told me he has #00009 and I think I read where another guy on this board has a #00009 also.

I remember that. I think the guy had a different year though. I think my Lightstar was the older of the two.

FWIW I've seen a PT-1800 with what I believe to believe to be a typo in the "Model Number" section of the label.

And at least with Carver Professional of that era, the last digits of the serial number were sequential within the month's production.

I agree with Phil. The last 5 digits of the SN only indicate the order of production for the month it came off the assembly line.
Say the Lightstar was produced for 12 months. There will be 12 units ending in 00001, each with a unique year/month code.
Unfortunately the only way to know if you have the actual 1st (or 8th) production unit is to know when production started.

This may seem to be an odd way to number, however, it makes sense if you think about it.
All units have unique serial numbers, and it works no matter how many units are produced.
(Some companies actually take it one step further and serialize their production by DAY.)