Fender stratocaster serial numbers

In the Custom Shop was born. The initial master builders were John Page and Michael Stevens. Since then the team has expanded and produced some of the most sought-after guitars made. The Fender Custom Shop produces special order guitars.

Creating limited edition high-end quality instruments. If you love the road-worn relic look, these guys assemble some real mouth-watering pieces. February the Ensenada Mexico manufacturing plant was burnt to the ground, leaving the production to move to Corona, CA for a temporary solution.

Here is a summary of the serial number, model, and year. To gain the best results use our decoder. During this time period, there are a lot of overlaps. Use our decoder to find out which instrument fits your serial number. Serial Numbers were from the midss but we lack instrument details and overlapping makes this period difficult. We know the year the guitar was made and manufactured in Fullerton, USA.

Use decoder to determine. Use decoder for exact year. There are no model details just that this period was in Fullerton, USA. The digits purely stand for a production number. This period of guitars were the U.

S Vintage Series. The date of the guitar should be on the back of the neck. For closer date details use decoder. Serial Numbers with 5 or 6 digits only are from the period and produced from the Cor-Tek factory in Korea.

These serial formats will no doubt overlap with others. Please use the Squire decoder. Use Decoder to find full details. See decoder for full details. Use decoder for dates. On some Telecasters at the bridge in between the pick-up and the saddles. Right here is what the neck date and body date resemble from a Telecaster: If you're not comfy removing the neck of a guitar to peek at the date marker, I encourage you to take it to a regional tech or luthier.

Right here's a break down of serials for the Made in Japan era: in , Fender changed the Made in Japan sticker to state Crafted in Japan. We aim to collect all the knowledge the World Wide Web has to offer. Terms and Condition. Privacy Policy. General contact: contant plex. If you believe that any of the summaries on our website lead to misinformation, don't hesitate to contact us.

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Overview of collecting vintage Fender guitars, basses and amps. General specifications, serial numbers, Fender vintage guitar cases. Private vintage guitar collector. Picture Gallery, Fender section. Contact the vintage guitar info guy. September Fender calendar. For most collectors, pre-CBS pre Fender vintage guitars and amps are the desirable ones. Although CBS purchased Fender officially on January 3rd , it took some time till the guitars changed though by mid , six months before CBS bought Fender, things were already 'on the way down'.

By the end of , the general look andfeel of the Fender guitars had changed significantly. All collectors feel the quality of their instruments and amps suffered as CBS employed more 'mass production'manufacturing processes to the Fender guitars.

The 'large peghead' startingin late as used on the Fender Stratocaster was one example of the bad changes to come. The 'custom contoured' bodies Fender was famousfor no longer were as sculped and sleek. Newer and less attractive plastics were used for the pickguards. Pearl fingerboard inlays replaced theoriginal 'clay' dots. Indian rosewood replaced the beautifully figured Brazilian rosewood on the fingerboards. And by , polyurathane replaced the original nitrocellulose lacquer that was used from Fender's conception.

By early the party was truely over. Fender now employed the infamous'3 bolt neck' and one piece die cast bridge on the Strat, ruining it'stone and feel. Many other models suffered the same miserable fate ofbeing over mass-produced and cheapened by corporate zealots. The Guitar Models. The Esquire was Fender's first electric spanish guitar. Originally introducedin June of as a black and later blond , one or two pickup model, it was discontinued by Fender's marketing arm in September Only about 50 of these original Esquires were shipped, though Fenderhad a backorder of hundreds of units.

And many came backto Fender to have the neck and body! In October , the Broadcaster replaced the Esquire as their two pickupelectric spanish guitar, with a truss rod! The Esquire was re-introduced in early as a single pickup version of the Broadcaster. The and later Esquire, because of its single pickup, does not have the value today of itstwo pickup brother, due to its limited tonal range with one pickup.

By February , the Broadcasterwas renamed the Telecaster though theguitars didn't actually have a 'Telecaster' decal on them until the summer of , because of a naming conflict with a trademarked Gretsch drum line.

The Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster from the 's put the solidbody electric guitar on the map. The Stratocaster was like no other guitar ever produced. With threepickups, a contoured body that made playing guitar comfortable, anda tremolo built-in and designed correctly for the guitar, made itan instant sucess. Even today, nearly 50 years later, the Stratocasteris the electric guitar by which all others are judged.

The Jazzmaster, introduced in, became Fender's 'top of the line' instrument though today'svintage guitar market does not hold this view; it's clearly a3rd class citizen behind the Strat and Tele. Fender truely thoughtthe Jazzmaster would make a sensation in the jazz scene. Instead,it became the main instrument of many Surf-guitar bands of the 's. Likewise, in Fender introduced another 'top of the line' instrumentcalled the Jaguar. Again, this modelquickly lost popularity, starting in with decreased sales.

The shortscale length of the Jaquar was one of its major flaws. Finally the Jaguar and Jazzmaster were discontinued by and , respectively.

Before the death of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana , interest had revived in these models, though no were near the level of Strats and Teles. Now most collectors interested in these models do so because theycan not afford a vintage Strat or Tele. The Bass Models. Fender hit another home run with the Precision Bass, the first fretted electric bass.

Still today, it's the standard by which all basses are judged. Early P-basses late to mid are collectable, but not as much as the models from mid to mid with split coil pickups, aluminum pickguards, and maple necks.

The Amp Models. Tweed covered Fender amps are very collectable. Themore powerful tweed amps with multiple speakers are the most valued bycollectors and players. The tweed Bassman with four 10 inchspeakers and four inputs is considered by many to be thefinest guitar amp ever made.

Year, Model Description Hardwood Amplifiers Tweed Amplifiers June, Esquire 1 or 2 pickups October, Broadcaster replaced the 1 or 2 pickup Esquire December, 'NoCaster' as it is called since Fender clipped-off the name 'Broadcaster' from its decals as the name was already in use by Gretsch.

Click for an inside tour of a first year model of Fender's premier guitar. Also inside a Fender Jazzmaster. Click for an inside tour of the first year for this model. Also check out thecomparison of reproduction and original Fender vintage parts. Fender Body Dates, to present. The earliest models Broadcaster, NoCaster, Telecaster had a bodydate under the neck, in the neck pocket. But by or , thisdate moved to under the lead pickup but didn't show up consistentlyin this spot until Stratocasters also had variable body date positions.

Usually they are seen in the rear tremolo cavity if the Strat isa tremolo model! But it is also common for the body date to beunder the middle pickup. For all models, by about or , bodydates were rarely used.

Here is a timeline of the format the dates, and how they were printed: to Penciled by hand below the truss rod adjustment at the butt end of the neck usually in M-D-YY format.

Early Due to a complaint by a Fender customer as to an obscentity written on the neck butt, no markings were used for the first part of I've seen dates of , so they started using them again at least by mid-year. Mid to March Penciled by hand below the truss rod adjustment at the butt end of the neck in M-YY format.

The 'XX' is not the day of stamping. The 'W' is the neck width where'A' is the narrowest, 'B' is normal, and 'C' is the widest. This new stamp was usually green ink. An example of this type of neck code is 'B'.

So a neck could have either code system! See below for more info. This was stamped in green or red ink. A example of this is '' foundon a Jazz Bass. Again, a neck wasstamped with either the new or the old date stamp, but not both. April to After March , Fender dropped the old style date stamp and continued to use the new style, 8-digit code.

The approximateyear of manufacturer can be determined from this see serial number section below. Sometimesa date is also stamped or pencil written on the butt of the neck. Vintagereissue instruments have the date on the butt end of the neck as was usedduring the time period being reissued. The to Neck Stamps Explained. The neck stamp used from to can be extracted by working fromthe outside inward.

Starting a the right we have the letter B. Thisappears to be the same neck width code that Fender had been using since The firstone or two digits of the code, in this case 3, denotes the model. For Telecasters,Telecaster Thinlines, and Esquires that code is 3. For Stratocasters itis 22 and for Precision Basses it is 5. The other three digits are perhaps some kind of batch or lot number.

It could also be the numberof instruments of this type produced for that month, but I would suspectFender could make more than of any one instrument type in a month.

Hence it is probably a batch or lot number. Stratocaster: 'small' peghead shape from to end of At thevery end of Fender enlarged the peghead shape.

This 'big head' sizewas used till In Fender changed back to the small Strat-style pegheaddesign on most models except the Tele.

Larger 'transition' logo used from late till Thick 'black' logo was used from to The Tele Custom and Esquire used the 'spaghetti' logo from mid to late 's stock not depleted till later. Stratocaster: thin 'spaghetti' logo from to fall Larger gold'transition' logo from fall till Thick 'black' logo from to Pbass, Jazzmaster: followed same trend as the Stratocaster. Jazzbass: from to the Jazzbass always used a 'transistion' stylelogo.

Switched to the thick 'black' logo in Note Jbass never used a'spaghetti' style logo. In the 's Fender changed back to using 'transition' and 'spaghetti'logos, depending on the model. Exceptions: during the s if any particular model be it a Strat, Jaguar, Jazzmaster,Jazz Bass, etc.

Because the normal decals don't show upwhen applied over black. So black pegheads during the s will usually have just a 'Fender' logo, without the model name and in a different font style. Also the 'contour body' decal will be missing. Strat, to Esquire, to Custom Esquire, to Custom Telecaster, to Jaguar, to Jazzmaster, to Precision Bass, to Jazz Bass, to Telecaster Bass, Bass 6, to Typical wear on a 's Fender maple fingerboard.

Fingerboard Material Maple fingerboard, s: from the start in , Fender used a one piece mapleneck with a walnut 'skunk' stripe down the back except on early Esquires with notruss rod , where the truss rod was installed. This was the standard neck on all models until when the Jazzmasterwas introduced with a rosewood fingerboard; the rest of the Fender modelschanged to rosewood fingerboards in mid Rosewood fingerboard, 'Slab' Brazilian , to from mid for the Jazzmaster till August , Fender used a 'slab' rosewood fingerboard.

That is, the bottomof the fingerboard was flat and the board was fairly thick. A picture of a slab board neck as seen from the 'butt' of the neck can beseen in this picture. Also shown is the difference between reissue and original slab board necks. The Musicmaster family also used slab fingerboards usually Indian rosewood for about a year from Sept to Oct Slab fingerboards are also identifiable from the peghead by their 'hump' line humps toward the tuners ,just above the nut.

Rosewood fingerboard, 'Veneer', from August till , Fender useda curved bottom rosewood fingerboard that was much thinner than the slab'board. The veneer of rosewood got even thinner by mid Also by the rosewood changed from Brazilian to Indian rosewood. Veneer fingerboards are also identifiable from the peghead by their 'dished' line dishes toward the nut ,just above the nut. Maple fingerboards, available as special order.

Different thanthe s one-piece maple necks. These used an actual slab maple fingerboard glued to themaple neck, and no 'skunk stripe' down the back of the neck for thetruss rod.

Maple fingerboards, and later: Fender's maple neck changed back to the s style onepiece neck with a walnut 'skunk stripe' down the back. Rosewood Fingerboards, and later: Starting in , Fender switched back to the slab rosewood fingerboardstyle, made from Indian rosewood except on certain recent custom shop models. Fingerboard Dots Black dots: used on maple fingerboards and made of fiberboard-like material in the 's or black plastic later.

White dots: used on rosewood fingerboards Jazzmaster in , all other models in mid Till the end of Fender used 'clay' dots as position markers. Thismaterial has an off-white opaque color. In very late all models changed to pearldot position markers. Side markers remained 'clay' until spring when these too changed to pearl.

White dot spacing: In , the spacing of the two fingerboard dots atfret twelve changed the spacing became closer together. This 'strong V' neck profile becomes famous, and musicians like Eric Clapton prefer its shape. Some Fendernecks produced have a 'small strong V', where the neck isn't so big feeling, butstill has a very strong 'V' shape mostly seen on Musicmasters and Duosonics,and the occassional Strat.

It's back to a conventional 'D' neck profile, but not nearly as thick and large as and prior neck profiles. This neck style is used on most reissue Fenders regardless of the year being copied.

With therelease of rosewood fingerboards on all models in mid, the 'D' neck profilespretty much stay the same throughout the s with only minor variance fromyear to year for example, necks seem to be a bit chunkier than to necks.

Neck Bolt Numbers 3 or 4. In the Telecaster Deluxe from introduction also used the 3 bolt neck plate. In the 4 bolt neck plate came back to the Anniversarystrat. By all Stratocaster models were again 4 bolt. And by , all Fender models converted back to the 4 bolt neck plate. Mid Changed to a 'butterfly' string guide. Click here tosee the difference between reissue and original Fender 'butterfly' string trees.

Only pre-October Esquires have no truss rod. Adjusts at the 'butt' of the neck by the pickups. Click hereto see the difference between vintage and repro Fender truss rod nuts.

Late truss rod changed to adjust at the peghead behind the nut with a'bullet' system on Stratocasters and Jazz Basses. Telecaster and Precision Basskeep traditional truss rod system. The body routes on a 's Fender Stratocaster. Notethe added 'shoulder' near the body's edge to accomodatean attachment screw. Also notice the squared off corner pickup routes. Earlier 's Strat bodies have rounded corner pickup routes.

Body Routes. Initially, when the Fender Stratocaster was introduced in , it hada single layer white pickguard attached with 8 screws.

In mid , Fenderswitches to a multiple layer pickguard with 11 mounting screws. One of theadditional screws required a change to the interior body route on the Stratocaster. Now a added 'shoulder' was left in the electronic route to accomodate oneof the extra pickguard screws.

Starting in the late 's, Fender alsochanged the shape of the pickup routes on the Strat. Now the corners weremore square, instead of being round. Tuners late Fender used 'single line' Kluson tuners, that had 'Kluson Deluxe' stamped in a single vertical row like and later Klusons ; these are easilyidentified as 'early' Klusons and not and later Klusons because 'PAT APPLD' is also stamped below the vertical 'Deluxe' marking.

These are also different because they lack the side worm shaft holefor the tuner shaft there is only a side 'entrance' hole. Also still no side worm shaft hole for the tuner shaft. Still 'no line' style casing had no brand name stamped in the tuner back. Mid to 'Kluson Deluxe' is now stamped in the outsidetuner casing in a single vertical line.

Fender used Kluson tuners exclusively on allmodels.