fender stratocaster model from serial number

Fender stratocaster model from serial number serial numbers#

Or, at least its most recently dated part. The general rule of thumb is that a bass guitar is as old as its newest part. They just grabbed whatever part or component was ready and put the instrument together to fill an order as fast as possible. So how do you properly determine the year of production for your Fender bass? The challenge with dating a Fender bassīack in the 1950s and ’60s, no one at Fender had any clue that one day these instruments would be highly sought after collector’s items or coveted vintage tone machines and that people would be highly concerned about when any particular bass was made. There are even bridge stamps and pickguard codes in some cases. There are pickup and potentiometer date codes that you can try to identify.

Fender stratocaster model from serial number serial numbers#

Even using official Fender bass serial numbers isn’t as straightforward as you might think. The problem is that a neck might be made and dated and then sit in the factory for a while until finally being bolted to a body produced and dated months later. Ever since Fender started making basses in 1951, they dated certain parts and components to provide a general idea of when the instrument was produced. This is especially true with a vintage bass. I depend on what I see in shops but whether or not I keep a guitar depends on what I see once I get it home, if it isn`t up to snuff I pass it on.and recently in fact I`ve been selling off a lot of my collection, even the custom editions and ExTrads.at this point in my life I would rather have more money than more guitars.Dating a Fender bass guitar to figure out when it was made is not always as easy as it sounds.

Now, I can not and will not lump all Fender Japans together, there were so many variables, it really comes down to each individual guitar.

I am NOT one who believes everything Fender Japan is great, or even good.in my experience I have left more than a few on shop floors because they were not equal to models I already own/ is true that make some great guitars but they also made some crap. Some people seem hung up on the `80s`s stuff but in my case, the very best FJ`s I had/have were from the early 1990`s.so see if the seller can provide you with pictures of the electronics.sometimes those help in telling you the quality of the guitar. Taking a neck off is the best way to figure out just what a FJ can be.but not om the info provided to you, all that is certain is that the guitar is based on a 1962, from those numbers there is no way to tell just where the guitar fits in Fender Japan`s line up.I have owned more than my share of FJ`s over time one thing I discovered is when a guitar was made is less important than where it fits in the pecking order because even today, FJ makes high end models.and by the way, a few years ago they went back to using MIJ again though with a different font than they used in the `80`s. Plus, from the mid to late `80`s, there were other serials made, not just the E`s, I knew when I saw my A serial FJ tele, with the serial on the neck plate, not the bridge plate.that it was from the `80`s so I got it home and found a 1985 pencil date on the neck butt. That first digit is the year theory for E serial Fender Japans just won`t go away will it, even after so many threads and posts by owners who have disproved it time and again? When I see an E serial, I know it was made sometimes in the `80s.but until I take the neck off I won`t know how high up it goes, they made a lot of different models in the series, some high ends some low ends.