Dating Your Guitar

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"When was my Landola made?" is one of the most frequently asked question our customer service replies. With this table we have tried to make it easy for every Landola player to date his or her guitar by interpreting the serial number printed on the manufacturer's sticker located inside the guitar. Very early Landola's i.e. manufactured pre-1961 were marked by punching the serial number to the edge of the top head.

The numbering system has changed three times along with the owner changes. We have not been able to track down all the serial numbers. Some archives have been lost during the owner changes. However, the process continues and we will update these pages when we find more information.

Here you can find the specifications on our different models through the years.

E 221

V-69 (12-string)

V-72

E 231 (12-string)

V-73 (12-string)

SERIAL NUMBER	YEAR	NOTES ON COMPANY AND PRODUCTION
didn't use serial numbers	1942-1945	Company was called Veljekset Mattson Oy (in english The Mattson Brothers Ltd).
0-2000	1946-1948	In September 1945 the company became Ab Munkers Oy (Munkers Ltd). The first factory made guitar was launched on the market in 28 Feb 1946. The company invested in export and marketed guitars abroad.
2000-3000	1949	estimated serials, 850 guitars in 1949
3000-5000	1950	estimated serials, 1700 guitars in 1950
5000-7500	1951	estimated serials, 2700 guitars in 1951
7500-10500	1952	estimated, 10 000 Landola guitars in October 1952
	1953
	1954	The company concentrated only on the guitar production
	1955
	1956
	1957
	1958
	1959
	1960
	1961	The new company was called Oy Landola Ab (Landola Ltd)
	1962
	1963	First time participating in the Frankfurt Music Fair.
	1964
	1965
	1966	140 guitars produced per day
	1967	Move to a new factory in Sandsund
	1968
	1969	The annual output 40 000 instruments, 85 % exported
	1970
	1971
	1972
3 -2xxxxx	1973	In 1973 Landola Ltd was sold to Musiikki-Fazer, the largest firm in the music business in Finland. The company was called Fazer-Landola. The annual output 40 000 instruments, 75 % exported
4 - 2xxxxx	1974
5 - 3xxxxx	1975	Since the early 1970s the first digit of the serial number has denoted the year of manufacture. The decade has to be judged by the rest of the serial. For example serial 5 - 300000 was given to a government minister in the opening party of the new factory in 1975.
6 - 3xxxxx	1976
7 - 3xxxxx	1977
8 - 3xxxxx	1978
9 - 3xxxxx	1979
0 - 3xxxxx	1980
1 - 3xxxxx	1981
2 - 3xxxxx	1982
3 - 4xxxxx	1983	Oy Landola Ab bought the company back.
4 - 4xxxxx	1984	Annual output 20 000 guitars, 40 % exported
5 - 4xxxxx	1985	Arctic birch were re-entered in to production
6 - 4xxxxx	1986
7 - 4xxxxx	1987
8 - 4xxxxx	1988
9 - 5xxxxx	1989	In 1989 production exceeded half a million. For example guitar number 9 - 500606 was made in 1989.
0 - 5xxxxx	1990	Annual output 10000-14000 guitars.
1 - 5xxxxx	1991
2 - 5xxxxx	1992	For example guitar number 2 - 523527 has been made in 11 May 1992
3 - 5xxxxx	1993
4 - 5xxxxx	1994
5 - 5xxxxx	1995
96 - month - serial	1996 -	Audiosal Oy Ab bought the company. Production strategy was changed from quantity to quality. Annual output round 3000 guitars. New numbering system was introduced. Read more from below.

The models manufactured in 1980–1992 in this table you can find out the model numbers and their year of manufacture.

Since 1996, each Landola guitar has featured a serial number that pinpoints the year and the month when the guitar was manufactured. Reading left to right, the first two digits represent the year and the second pair of digits represents the month. The rest of the digits are factory specified i.e. year - month - serial

So, for example if the serial number were 0201-14725 the guitar would have been made in January 2002.

02
Year

01
Month

14725
Serial