Like Many manufacturers – Fender place a serial number on their instruments to identify the finished article. Over the years the serial number has changed a few times.The Serial Number is accompanied by thepart number.Modern fender part numbers are in the format PPP-MMMM, where PPP is the code for the manufacturing plant and MMMM is the number. On Fenders the serial number traditionally appears at the butt end of the heel of the guitar neck. Fender, however, have not always been consistent and there are examples where it has been placed in different areas or simply omitted. Because of this, neck dating is useful in roughly determining the age of a guitar, but it is certainly not definitive.

There’s some excellent information out on the web when trying to decipher Fender Guitar serial numbers, for starters try Fender.com followed by http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html which has put together an awesome article on the variations Fender have used with their serial numbering over the years. For starters take a look at the following table which illustrates some of the serial numbers used by Fender.

SERIAL NUMBERS

PRODUCTION DATES

Up to 6000

1950 to 1954

Up to 10,000

1954 to 1956

10,000s

1955 to 1956

10,000s to 20,000s

1957

20,000s to 30,000s

1958

30,000s to 40,000s

1959

40,000s to 50,000s

1960

50,000s to 70,000s

1961

60,000s to 90,000s

1962

80,000s to 90,000s

1963

90,000s up to L10,000s

1963

L10,000s up to L20,000s

1963

L20,000s up to L50,000s

1964

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

0,000s

1971 to 1972

300,000s to 500,000s

1973

400,000s to 500,000s

1974 to 1975

500,000s to 700,000s

1976

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 except ’52 Telecaster)

1982
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E2 + 5 DIGITS
E3 + 5 DIGITS
V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1983
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E3 + 5 DIGITS
E4 + 5 DIGITS
V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1984
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E3 + 5 DIGITS
E4 + 5 DIGITS
V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1985
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1986
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E4 + 5 DIGITS
V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1987
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E4 + 5 DIGITS
E8 + 5 DIGITS
V + 4, 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1988
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E8 + 5 DIGITS
E9 + 5 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1989
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

E9 + 5 DIGITS
N9 + 5 DIGITS
N0 + 5 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1990
(For U.S. Vintage Series, check neck date for specific year)

N0 + 5 DIGITS
N1 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1991

N1 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N2 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1992

N2 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N3 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1993

N3 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N4 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1994


N4 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N5 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1995

N5 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N6 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1996

N6 + 6 or 6 DIGITS
N7 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (U.S. Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1997

N7 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
N8 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series)

1998


N9 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

1999
1999

N9 + 5 or 6 DIGITS

Z0 + 5 or 6 DIGITS

DZ0 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (Am. Deluxe)

V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

2000

Z0 + 5 or 6 DIGITS

Z1 + 5 or 6 DIGITS

DZ1 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (Am. Deluxe)

V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

2001

Z1 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
Z2 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
DZ2 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (Am. Deluxe)
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

2002

Z2 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
Z3 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
DZ3 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Deluxe Series)
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)

2003

Z3 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
Z4 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
DZ4 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (Am. Deluxe)
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)
XN4 + 4 Digits

2004

Z4 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
Z5 + 5 or 6 DIGITS
DZ5 + 5 or 6 DIGITS (Am. Deluxe)
V + 5 or 6 DIGITS (American Vintage Series except ’52 Telecaster)
XN5 + 4 Digits

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