Fender Stratocaster Value By Serial Number
1973 Fender Stratocaster Value By Serial Number
- 2.0) The Fender serial number decoder currently supports all documented MIA, MIJ, MIM, MIK and MII formats with the exception of Custom Shop, Relic and Reissue instruments.Please note that fender serial numbers tend to overlap by at least a year, and thereby.
- 1965 – 1976 the serial number was often found with the distinctive big F on the neck plate. If the serial number isn’t in these locations than one should check the back vibrato cover plate, the front and back of the headstock or the area between pickup and saddles. Final Thoughts on Fender Guitars. Fender guitars are just as remarkable for.
- Fender was sold to CBS in January 1965. Serial numbering didn’t change immediately because instruments continued to be made using existing, tooling, parts and serial number schemes. The chart below details Fender serial number schemes used from 1965 to 1976. Notice that there is quite a bit of overlap in numbers and years.
The 1964 Fender Stratocaster is also one of my favorite years for the Stratocaster. It was the mid 60s and the surfing craze had hit. To cash in on it Leo Fender had really started ramping up the custom colored Stratocasters.
The serial numbers do not reflect this change - Fender continued to make instruments using existing serial number schemes. The new Fender did not acquire any physical assets of the old company, just the name 'Fender'. Hence during 1985 to 1987, production of Fender guitars was only done in Japan, while USA Fender created a new factory in.
1964 Fender Stratocaster The Spaghetti VS Transition Logo
The Stratocaster itself hasn’t changed much over the years. From mid-1963 to 1964 there were just minor changes as they “transitioned” the model. However, there were quite a few minor changes including the first major change to the Fender headstock logo. First of all, Fender changed from the “spaghetti logo” to what is now known as the “transition logo” shown below.
The image on the left shows the 1963-early 1964 “Spaghetti logo” while the image on the right shows the mid-1964-1967 “transition logo”. It also has an added 4th patent number as well. Mid-1964 they added Patent Number 3,143,028 to the logo. The patent numbers on the logo are now 2,573,254 & 2,741,146 & 2,960,900 & 3,143,028.
1964 Fender Stratocaster Neck
Another change that Fender made was using Pearloid dots instead of the so-called clay dots as fret markers on the neck. The image below shows the Pearloid dots on the right and the previously used clay dots on the left.
The pearloid dots didn’t start until very late in 1964 and carried over into 1965. There are some instances where you’ll see a 1965 with clay dots and a late 1964 with pearloid dots. The reason for this is that Leo Fender was very miserly. He didn’t waste anything. So, when they were changing parts or tooling mechanisms there would be “transition pieces” like that. You can find those all throughout the Pre CBS era of Fender.
The fall of 1964 also saw the change from the celluloid “mint-green” pickguard to the white ABS plastic pickguard.
The 1964 Fender Stratocaster also stuck with the curved laminate fingerboard made of Brazilian rosewood as you can see in the image below. The main part of the neck was still rock maple and used the same truss rod as well. You can also see the neck date stamp. The 2 on the neck date is often confused for the date it was made. But, it’s actually the number for the model of guitar Stratocaster.
For instance, necks with a 4 in that spot are Jazzmasters. Precision Basses are marked with a 7. As far as build date for the neck you get the model month year. 2 Feb 64. The B at the end of the date is the neck width. You will occasionally see a width of A which is a slightly skinnier neck for smaller hands. The standard width was 1 5/8″.
Other notable changes to the 1964 Fender Stratocaster were the tuning keys. They had been using “single line” Kluson tuners since around 1956. Toward the end of 64, the Stratocaster switched to a “double line” Kluson tuner as seen in the image below and to the right.
1964 Fender Stratocaster Body and Finishing
Fender continued to use the paint stick (which was a piece of conduit flattened on one end) screwed into the upper bout side of the neck pocket as shown below.
1964 also brought on the use of more pieces of wood to make the body and less appealing looking wood because it was cheaper that way. They were trying to make the guitars faster by speeding up production. So, on the sunburst models, the yellow was now being sprayed after the initial yellow dye. It made the yellow look more milky colored to cover up the wood more. Also, the color separation didn’t blend as well as previous models. The 1963 Stratocaster is on the left and the 1964 is on the right in the image below.
One thing you would also see from 1962-1964 was the very occasional use of Mahogany as a wood for the body. Over the years, I’ve seen a handful of authentic mahogany body Stratocasters from that time frame. Here is an example that Eddie Vegas has on his site for sale right now. I’ve always been intrigued with the mahogany strat bodies. They give off a little bit of a different sound than the normal alder does. Very sweet sounding.
1964 Fender Stratocaster Pickups
Since its inception the Stratocaster had been using the black bottom single coil pickups. The only change to them had been around late 1959-early 1960 when they changed from winding them north wound to south wound.
They started the year off with the standard south wound black bottoms then around the spring to early summer started stamping the bottom of the pickups with a yellow date on the bottom showing when it was wound as seen below.
As they moved through the year of 1964 they transitioned to a gray bottom pickup. At this point that was only change to the pickup was the color of the bottom.
Guild Guitar Serial Number Lookup
1964 Fender Stratocaster Cases
There were two color options of Pre-CBS guitar cases through the year of 1964. One, was the cream colored or blonde case used from mid 1963-mid 1964 as seen below. (This one is my favorite).
Here is an image of the burnt orange crushed velvet interior.
The other case used toward the end of the year in 1964 was the black no logo case. It was exactly like the blonde case but with black tolex instead. And it’s called the no logo case because well…it had no Fender logo on it until mid-late 1965 or so.
The insides of the black cases were the same burnt orange crushed velvet interior and the black leather duck foot handle on the case pocket. The case pocket as seen in the above image is angled with the larger side being on the headstock end of the case. These cases were smaller than cases we see today.
1964 Fender Stratocaster Serial Numbers
Serial number range for the 1964 Fender Stratocaster is generally L20000 to L55000 (on the neck plate). If you need to figure out the exact year of your pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster, use the serial number and the general features of the guitar. The serial number is located on the back metal neck plate.
Highlights
Mid 1964 Fender Stratocaster specs:
- A gold Fender peghead decal thicker than previous “spaghetti” logo. This is known as the “transition” Strat logo. Now has 4 patent numbers (3,143,028 added).
- The finish on the sunburst changes (especially the yellow, which is now sprayed in addition to the yellow body dye, and is far less translucent). Sunburst finish has a more “target” look with a more dramatic change of the three colors, with less blending between colors.
Late 1964 Fender Stratocaster specs:
- About 12/64 the “nail holes” are no longer present under the pickguard.
- Pearloid fingerboard dots replace “clay” dots. This transitions in with the 1/4″ fingerboard dots converting to pearl first, followed by the smaller side dots becoming pearloid.
- Plastic white three layer pickguard replaces the “mint green” celluloid (this happens about 12/64 to 3/65, though early style mint green celluloid pickguards can be found on some Strats throughout 1965).
- Tuners change from “single line” Kluson Deluxe to “double line” Kluson Deluxe (where “Kluson” and “Deluxe” are now in two vertical parallel lines).
- Contouring of the body is even less dramatic, especially at the right forearm.
- Pickups change from “black bottom” to “gray bottoms”. Dates are often seen on the bottom of the gray pickups in either a black hand-written pen, or in a yellow ink stamp.
- The metal spacer below the butterfly string tree was replaced with a white plastic spacer.
- Peghead Fender decal has 4 patent numbers (2,573,254 & 2,741,146 & 2,960,900 & 3,143,028).
See the previous year’s 1963 Fender Stratocaster.
See the next year’s 1965 Fender Stratocaster.
Back to the Pre-CBS Stratocasters Home Page
So, when taking breaks from work over the past several days, I've let my OCD side run wild, and have been looking online at the serial numbers of Fender's reissue instruments going back to 1982 and comparing them against their neck dates. I think I've put together some interesting info.
An important clue came from this website: http://www.fenderreissue.com/fender-stratocaster-reissue-strat-serial-numbers
They were able to come up with the rough rule of thumb for the serial numbers and the early reissue instrument production (Fullerton-era Strats, Teles, Precicions, Jazz Basses):
V000001-V004000 - 1982 (4000/year)
V004000-V010000 - 1983 (6000/year)
V010000-V016000 – 1984 (6000/year)
I thought I'd extrapolate from there, for the Corona-era instruments, checking it against the data I was able to find on the neck dates vs. serial numbers, and came up with the following rule of thumb for the correlation between serial numbers and years of manufacture (understanding that there is going to be some variation due to neck plates being used in production somewhat at random rather than consecutively):
V016000-V018000 – 1985 (2000/year)
V018000-V024000 – 1986 (6000/year)
V024000-V030000 – 1987 (6000/year)
V030000-V036000 – 1988 (6000/year)
V036000-V043000 – 1989 (7000/year)
V043000-V050000 – 1990 (7000/year)
V050000-V057000 – 1991 (7000/year)
V057000-V064000 – 1992 (7000/year)
V064000-V071000 – 1993 (7000/year)
V071000-V078000 – 1994 (7000/year)
V078000-V085000 – 1995 (7000/year)
V085000-V092000 – 1996 (7000/year)
V092000-V099000+ – 1997 (7000/year)
Fender revamped their reissue line in early '98, coinciding with the serial numbers reaching V100000. From '98 until the end of '11 - a total of 14 years - the serial numbers made it nearly up to V200000 (14 x 7000 = 98,000), at which point Fender once again revamped their AVRI line in early '12. Since then the serial numbers start with the last two digits of the year of manufacture, making it much easier to date without taking the neck off.
Here are the serial numbers and years of production for the '98 through '11 period:
V100000-V107000 – 1998 (7000/year)
V107000-V114000 – 1999 (7000/year)
V114000-V121000 – 2000 (7000/year)
V121000-V128000 – 2001 (7000/year)
V128000-V135000 – 2002 (7000/year)
V135000-V142000 – 2003 (7000/year)
V142000-V149000 – 2004 (7000/year)
V149000-V157000 – 2005 (7000/year)
V157000-V163000 – 2006 (7000/year)
V163000-V170000 – 2007 (7000/year)
V170000-V177000 – 2008 (7000/year)
V177000-V184000 – 2009 (7000/year)
V184000-V191000 – 2010 (7000/year)
V191000-V198000+ – 2011 (7000/year)
Anyway, just thought I'd share this stuff with anybody that might be interested. It's actually been a lot of fun figuring all of this out! I'll probably continue to collect serial numbers vs. neck dates on and off and see how well my rule of thumb continue to hold.
Hope some of you found this interesting!
—Ivan
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Last edited: Jun 04, 2016 07:30:13