- #FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL NUMBERS#
- #FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL NUMBER#
- #FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL#
- #FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIES#
#FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL#
Additionally, there have been plenty of artist models, limited editions and other rare models that use a unique serial number.
#FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL NUMBERS#
As mentioned above, many reissue models use serial numbers that don't really correlate to their age.
#FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIAL NUMBER#
There are a number of exceptions to all these serial number schemes. The neck dates on these guitars, however, are usually reliable. These have serial numbers starting with V and do not strictly correlate to years. The major exception to all of this is the American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) series.
#FENDER JAPAN JD SERIAL SERIES#
For example, a Signature Series guitar from 1998 would have a serial starting with SN8 followed by five digits. Here are the rough serial number ranges for the early Esquires and Telecasters:Īmerican-made signature series instruments follow a very similar scheme to the above, but use a prefix S before the decade letter. In this early period, the serial number can be found on the bridge of the instrument (see image). Esquires, Broadcasters and Telecasters shared a serial number sequence, while the landmark Precision Bass had its own system. In the early years, Fender serial numbers schemes were specific to the model.
Through much of Fender's production history, Fender workers would print or write a production date on both bodies and necks where the two pieces meet. Learn everything you need to know to choose the right Stratocaster for you. For Fender during the turning point era of the mid-'60s, check out Fender and the CBS Takeover. Similarly, take a look at Behold the Jazzmaster for general timeline of the history of everyone's favorite offset guitar. There's A Brief History of the Stratocaster Part I and Part II that follows the evolution of the most popular Fender guitar of all. We also have some other blog posts related to Fender that can hopefully be of some help. Some browsing around the Fender section of the Price Guide can definitely help you find which model you have. This can be a tall order for someone less versed in guitar history, but we do have some resources here on Reverb to help you out.įor starters, there's the Reverb Price Guide which has thousands of entries with pictures and details on various guitars and other gear. Perhaps the best place to start when dating your Fender is to get an approximate idea of the era based on the instrument's design and components. Once you have the information you need, if you're interested in selling your Fender, you can use Reverb to get it in front of the largest audience of musicians in the world by clicking on this link. Instead, the best approach to dating a Fender is to combine indicators from the design of the instrument, the dates found on the neck and body, along with the serial number. This also means that various parts used on a particular guitar may have come from different points in time, so no single number can absolutely define when the instrument was built.
Features like bolt-on necks and pickups wired into the pickguard all helped the Fender factory churn out guitar after guitar, day after day.
His guitars were built en masse by an entire factory, not a single luthier toiling over one instrument at a time. Like Henry Ford, part of Leo Fender's genius was in optimizing the company's production efficiency. The most important thing to keep in mind when dating a Fender is the highly modular nature of the designs.