In general, a higher number means that the guitar was produced later in the year or transferred to the next year’s range.
In the period from 1945 to 1954 there is the transition from handwritten serial numbers to the official labels in 1949, although the numbering remained the same. If you see at least three hard-to-read numbers, you can be pretty sure that it is a pre-war instrument. Often these serials are vague or almost illegible or completely erased. In the early years ( 1939-1945) Gretsch started with handwritten sequential serial numbers ( 001-999), written directly on the inside of the guitar.
