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This new numbering scheme was short-lived and was replaced only a few months later by an improved scheme that identifies an instrument’s country of origin and year of manufacture in the body of the serial number.
The charts below detail the most common Fender serial number schemes from 1976 to the present.
Once again, there is quite a bit of overlap in numbers and years.
Given the modular nature of Fender production techniques, an individual neck may have been produced in a given year, then stored for a period of time before being paired with a body to create a complete guitar, perhaps, for example, in the following year.
Therefore, while helpful in determining a of PRODUCTION DATES, a neck date is obviously not a precisely definitive reference.
The only way to try to narrow the date range of your specific instrument is to remove the neck and check the butt end of the neck heel for a production date, which may be stamped or written there (if you’re uncomfortable doing this yourself, please refer to an experienced professional guitar tech in your area). instruments with “V”-prefix SERIAL NUMBERS is to remove the neck and check the butt end of the neck heel for a production date, which may be stamped or written there.
SERIAL NUMBERS with an “S” prefix denote the 1970s (signifying a CBS attempt to use SERIAL NUMBERS to identify production years); an “E” prefix was introduced in 1979 to denote the 1980s. Vintage Series instruments and “V”-prefix SERIAL NUMBERS. * NOTE: “N”-prefix SERIAL NUMBERS denoting the 1990s were introduced in 1990.
instrument production history, PRODUCTION DATES have been applied to various components.
Neck-dating can be useful in determining the was produced, rather than the complete instrument.
These SERIAL NUMBERS did not identify the country of origin in the body of the number.
Instead, the instrument's country of origin appears on the decal on the back of the headstock, near the serial number.
The chart below details Fender serial number schemes used from 1950 to 1964.
