Dating Fender

For the majority of Fender's U.S. instrument production history, production dates have been applied to various components. Most notably, production dates have been penciled or stamped on the butt end of the heel of the neck of most guitars and basses. There were periods of time when this was not consistently done, (between 1973 and 1981), and there are certainly other examples of short periods of time, and individual pieces, where the dating was simply omitted. While this neck dating is useful in roughly determining the age of a guitar, it is certainly not definitive. The neck date simply refers to the date that the individual component was produced. Given the modular nature of Fender's production techniques, an individual neck may have been produced in a given year, placed in the manufacturing warehouse and remained in stock for a period of time, and then subsequently paired with a body to create a complete guitar in the following year. So, obviously a neck date, while being helpful in providing a date range of production, it cannot be a definitive reference. Unlike the auto industry which has specific model years for their products, most specifications for a given Fender instrument model, change little if any, through the lifetime of the model. While there have been periods where dramatic changes have occurred, for example: the transition periods between Leo's Fender and the CBS years, as well as the transition between CBS' Fender and the current ownership, generally speaking, most models are feature specific and do not change from year to year.

Serial numbers are also helpful in determining the year of production of a given instrument. Serial numbers have been used in various locations on Fender instruments through the years. They have been placed at the top of the neck plate, on the front of the headstock, on the back of the headstock, and on the back of the neck near where the neck bolts onto the body. They were stamped on the back vibrato cover plate (early '50s Strats), and on the bridge plate between the pickup and the saddles on some Telecasters. But once again, due to the modular nature of Fender's production methods, and the fact that most serial numbers schemes are not sequential and usually overlap from between 2 to 4 years, (from the early days of Fender, through to the mid 1980s), dating by the serial number is not an exact science.

DATING YOUR INSTRUMENT

The following chart details the Fender serial number schemes used from 1950 to 1964. You will notice that there is quite a bit of overlap of numbers and years. The only way to try to narrow the date range of your specific instrument would be to remove the neck and check the butt end of the heel of the neck for a production date, which may be stamped or written there. (If you are not comfortable performing this operation, please use an experienced professional guitar tech in your area).

In January of 1965, Fender was sold to the CBS Corporation.
The serial numbers do not immediately reflect the change, as CBS continued to make instruments using existing, tooling, parts, and serial number schemes. The following chart details the Fender serial number schemes used from 1965 to 1976. You will notice that there is quite a bit of overlap of both numbers and years.

L50,000s up to L90,000s	1965
100,000s	1965
100,000s to 200,000s	1966 to 1967
200,000s	1968
200,000s to 300,000s	1969 to 1970
300,000s	1971 to 1972
300,000s to 500,000s	1973
400,000s to 500,000s	1974 to 1975
500,000s to 700,000s	1976

The following charts detail the most common Fender serial number schemes used from 1976 to the present. You will notice that there is quite a bit of overlap of both numbers and years. The only way to try to narrow the date range of your specific instrument would be to remove the neck and check the butt end of the heel of the neck for a production date, which may be stamped or written there. (If you are not comfortable performing this operation, please use an experienced professional guitar tech in your area). Please note the introduction of the "S" prefix serial numbers. The "S", stood for decade of the 1970s, and began CBS' attempt to use serial numbers to identify the year of production for the piece. The "E", stood for the decade of the 1980s and was, as shown below, introduced in 1979. As you can see by the overlaps of numbers and years, the reference to the actual production date is rather loose.

SERIAL NUMBERS	PRODUCTION DATES
76 + 5 DIGITS S6 + 5 DIGITS	1976
S7 + 5 DIGITS S8 + 5 DIGITS	1977
S7 + 5 DIGITS S8 + 5 DIGITS S9 + 5 DIGITS	1978
S9 + 5 DIGITS E0 + 5 DIGITS	1979
S9 + 5 DIGITS E0 + 5 DIGITS E1 + 5 DIGITS	1980
S9 + 5 DIGITS E0 + 5 DIGITS E1 + 5 DIGITS	1981

EI + 5 DIGITS

E2 + 5 DIGITS

E3 + 5 DIGITS

V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series)

1982