Sigma DR-35
Sigma DR-35, Made in Japan 1980
On the first-gen (A011) model it was stamped faintly in the black plastic near the manufacturer location. I don't see it anywhere on the G2. I did receive a 1/8 sheet printout with the serial number on it.
- Nov 15, 2011 the only place i've ever found to date any sigma's is in the martin history/ dating your martin, on the martin website. The only thing it says is that s/n's 908 were reserved for sigmas made in '81-'82. I've got a dh28 sigma with a s/n in that range.
- Aug 07, 2017 I received my Sigma 14 yesterday and was amused to see the serial number appears to be '017'. But perhaps that number (located underside near the mount) actually isn't the serial number after all (the leading zero seems odd). Do low serial number lenses usually get a higher or lower resale value? Not planning on selling it just curious.
I finally managed to find another Japan made Sigma, this time a 1980 Sigma DR-35. It’s a beautiful looking Martin D-35 copy with a 3-piece rosewood back. They are pretty hard to come by these early 1980’s Japan made Sigma’s and sometimes very expensive too, between 500-1500€ depending on the model. I didn’t buy this for myself, I’m way too happy with my Sigma DR-41 at the moment and on top of that I’m actually trying to thin out my Japanese guitar collection. I got it for my friend Wolf who just like me have gone from a pretty solid Gibson obsession to realise that perhaps that Martin sound is not that bad after all. There is something of that punchy mids and clear ringing highs in the Martin sound that these Japanese made Sigma’s have too, after all they were commissioned by C. F. Martin & Co. I thought my Sigma DR-41 was loud and had a very punchy midrange but this Sigma is one step beyond, I guess because of the 3-piece back. I like the highs and the overtones better in mine but still, this is an amazing sounding guitar that I thought long and hard about keeping for myself. I was sure that my Sigma DR-41 was made in 1982 since the serial number starts with E82 but since this Sigma DR-35’s serial number also starts with E82 and came with a receipt that proves that it was sold in September 1980 it must have been made that year, or earlier.
This guitar had apparently been in storage for the last 30 years, since the original owner died and that seems plausible, it’s in really good shape for it’s age.
Evernote web clipper for mac. The classic Made in Japan football stamp, burnt in to the back brace that was used from 1978-1983 on Japan made Sigma’s stating: Sigma Guitars – Made in Japan for – C.F. Martin & Co, just like on mySigma DR-41. The rosewood looks really nice on this Sigma, even better than on mine.
Wolf asked me to install a LR Baggs iBeam in the Sigma before he received it and since I recently installed the LR Baggs Lyrics in my Sigma DR-41 it was a pretty easy task. We actually got to try them both out last Saturday when we played live with Cherry & Wolf at La Sonora, it sounded something like this. I did two tests to make it easier to compare the Sigma DR-35 with the iBeam to the Sigma DR-41 with the Lyrics. They both sounds pretty darn great, but in different ways.
The original receipt from 26 September 1980. The guitar cost 475 Deutsche Mark which would be around 245€ today and probably a lot more 36 years ago. Taken from my Instagram
Sigma Lens Serial Number Lookup
Image credit: The Digital Picture
Instructive post by The Digital Picture. How to know the age of your Canon glass? First, let's quote The Digital Picture's post:
Canon has been transitioning to a 10-digit lens serial number (starting in 2008 with the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens) and ending the inclusion of a separate manufacturing date code. While date codes and the shorter serial number are still found on some lenses manufactured as late as 2012, this inclusion will likely end completely. We loved the date code because it made aging a lens easy. However, now we can age a lens based on the serial number alone.
So, want to know the age of a lens using the 10 digits serial numbers? No problem. First, split the serial number in three parts: DD C SSSSSSS. The “DD” part mens the year of manufacturing (see image above). Be aware that the code assigned to the year 2013 is a prediction, the code may also become “DDD”. The “C” indicates the batch, the “SSSSSSS” is the serial number assigned to the lens.
And what about lenses made before the 10 digits system? Check the date code beside the rear lens element, see image below.
Image credit: The Digital Picture
![Sigma Lens Serial Number Check Sigma Lens Serial Number Check](/uploads/1/2/7/7/127765258/624225188.jpg)
The first letter (“U” in the image) indicates the factory where the lens was made. “U” stands for Utsunomiya, “F” for Fukushima and “O” for Oita, all in Japan. The second letter (“R” in the image above) is the code of the year of manufacturing. See below:
- A = 2012, 1986, 1960
- B = 1987, 1961
- C = 1988, 1962
- D = 1989, 1963
- E = 1990, 1964
- F = 1991, 1965
- G = 1992, 1966
- H = 1993, 1967
- I = 1994, 1968
- J = 1995, 1969
- K = 1996, 1970
- L = 1997, 1971
- M = 1998, 1972
- N = 1999, 1973
- O = 2000, 1974
- P = 2001, 1975
- Q = 2002, 1976
- R = 2003, 1977
- S = 2004, 1978
- T = 2005, 1979
- U = 2006, 1980
- V = 2007, 1981
- W = 2008, 1982
- X = 2009, 1983
- Y = 2010, 1984
- Z = 2011, 1985
Canon incremented this letter each year, starting with A in 1986 and before using A in 1960 (without the initial factory code).
Finally, the first two numbers (“09” in the example) mean the month of manufacturing, the final two numbers (“02” in the example) are an internal code used by Canon. Sometimes the month code comes without the leading zero.