Fender Custom Shop Serial Numbers Database
Fender Serial Number Lookup for Guitar and Bass Guitar Dating
Dec 21, 2012 I'm buying a 2006 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster Pro Closet Classic and the seller emailed me the certificate of authenticity that identifies the guitar with a 4 digits serial number, there's no letters before it.
Fender Serial Number Lookup can help players and collectors value their basses. Dating guitars via serial numbers is a key way to help find the age of your guitar.
Leo Fender started building electric guitars back in 1950 and produced his first bass guitar a year later. Fender guitars and basses are easily the most popular instruments ever made.
Boy scout merit badge booklets online. The Fender company has gone through three major periods or eras in its existence.
- The original company headed by Leo Fender ran from 1946 to 1965. (Usually referred to as “Pre-CBS”)
- From 1965 to 1985 Fender was owned by CBS (Usually referred to as “CBS era Fender”)
- From 1985 to present the company (originally headed by William Schultz) is called Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Initially all Fender production was done in Fullerton, California, but in recent decades Fender guitars are made in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Korea and China.
How Do You Determine the Value of a Fender Instrument?
Collectors value instruments based on a number of factors. Dating the guitar via serial numbers is of key importance.
In general the older the instrument the more valuable it is and having a pre-CBS era instrument is highly desirable. A 1964 instrument can be worth 25% more than an instrument from 1966.
So knowing what you have can affect the price from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. It’s no wonder there is such a fuss about fender serial number lookup and dating your guitar.
Where Can I Find My Fender Serial Number?
- On most Fender guitars and basses you should be able to find the serial number on the back of the headstock or neckplate.
- For acoustic instruments, you should be able to find it inside the sound hole.
Best Places to Check Fender Serial Number Dating
Fortunately, there are plenty of sources for dating your guitar and tracking its serial number, but sometimes it’s hard to find them all. This article will hopefully help to put the best resources for fender serial number dating in one place.
2013 Official Vintage Guitar Price Guide (Official Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide)
The Vintage Guitar Price Guide is an amazing resource for Fender guitar and pretty much any popular manufacturer. There is a new issue every year that reflects current trends. But if you are a casual observer you don’t need to buy a new one every year.
Vintage & Rare – Serial number identification and decoding
This article “Serial Number Identification and Decoding” article on Vintage & Rare’s website is probably one of the most complete resources of serial number information for Fender guitars and basses.
The Guitar Dater Project
The Guitar Dater Project is a great quick and easy way to date a number of brands including Fender. By entering the instrument’s serial number and a few other pieces of info you can get the year of manufacture and sometimes information about the factor where the instrument was built. There’s not a lot of information here, but it’s another good resource.
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Hope you find these links useful
Terri
| Until the early 1980s, Grover Jackson worked for the guitar builder and manufacturer Wayne Charvel. Charvel made copies of the Fender Stratocaster and was the first manufacturer with a 24 frets guitar, the 'Superstrat'. In 1980, Grover started his own company and focused primarily on building individual customer requirements. One of the first customers was the guitar player of Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads. This became the 'RR' model which was based on the Flying V. or Gibson. Due to the high quality of the Jackson guitars, more and more guitar players, especially from the heavy-metal scene, had a custom-made guitar built at Grover Jackson. This resulted in legendary models such as the King V, Soloist, Concert and Dinky. The guitars were produced in San Dimas, California and later also in Ontario, California. In 1985, IMC acquired the greatest interest in Jackson and began to devote more time and attention to a more extensive guitar market. | While Jackson still makes top products, Jackson also began to produce cheaper versions of their standard designs in Asia in an effort to make their products more accessible to people with a small wallet. In late 2002 bought Fender Musical Instruments Corporation Jackson IMC, and American productions were moved to the Fender factory in Corona, California. Grover Jackson |