SERIAL-NUMBER-DECODER.CO.UK
Find the date of a Fender guitar by serial number
You can use this Fender serial number decoder to date a Fender guitar. The tool works for most Fender electric guitars including the Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Fender bass guitars, Fender Squier models and many custom shop and reissue models (although some cannot be dated by serial number). If this tool fails you can also get the date by using my pot decoder. To date a Fender acoustic guitar try my Fender acoustic guitar dater.
There are a number of possible locations for the serial number on a Fender guitar. These include the top of the neck plate, somewhere on the headstock, on the bridge plate or the back of the neck near the body.
Enter the Fender’s serial number and select if your guitar was made in USA, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Indonesia or China.
Click here for an idea of what it may be worth (via previously sold items on eBay)
Click here to date another Fender guitar
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Проверить гитару по серийному номеру fender squier
| Manufacturers sometimes want to change their serial number format, especially in Asian countries to which many Western companies have outsourced their production. The decoders are updated when the format of a new serial number format from a recognized manufacturer is known. |
Fake or real
If a serial number is not in the lists or is not recognized in the serial number decoder, it does not mean that the guitar is a fake.
Conversely, it is of course no guarantee whether the guitar is authentic, as a serial number is easy to copy.
Example of a Gibson serial number:
A real serial number is stamped dark on the back of the
headstock. A fake serial number is usually in white.
Brands such as Gibson, Fender, PRS or other renowned brands also issue a certificate of authenticity, but this can also be used for fraud.
An authorized dealer will certainly not sell you a fake, but if you want to buy a guitar privately or via the internet, be careful.
What you should pay attention to is first of all the price.
Authentic guitars and vintage versions keep their value or increase in price.
This of course depends on the condition of the guitar.
What you should also pay attention to is the appearance of the guitar.
Headstock
Note the shape of the headstock, the font used, and the position where the serial number is affixed. You can compare this with original images of the model.
Fret inlays
The manufacturers have advanced equipment to accurately place the inlays between the frets. On a fake you often see a deviation with respect to the original model.
There are more external features that you should pay attention to, such as the logo and printed or stamped serial number, but that differs per brand.
With acoustic guitars, the most common trick is that forgers use cheap plywood instead of solid wood.
To do this, look at the inner edge of the sound hole to see if the wood grain also continues.
If you are in any doubt about the guitar’s authenticity, please first contact the manufacturer’s service department and provide the features (or a photo) that you are unsure about.
The manufacturer will certainly respond to this because they want to combat counterfeits and will take action against them.
MIRC USED guitars
It is often said that guitars where have «USED» printed on them and got a gold-colored sticker are fake.
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Проверить гитару по серийному номеру fender squier
DATING SQUIER GUITARS BY REFERENCE OF SERIAL NUMBERS
From 1982 Fender Squiers are also produced outside the USA, in that year the production startedin Japan. The Korean Fender Squiers were produced from 1988, but there were no serial numbers until mid-1993 documented. Other low-budget countries followed, like China, Indonesia and India.
The serial number registration of these countries also leaves sometimes to be desired.
Where to find the serial number
The serial number is generally stamped on the front or back of the headstock,or in some cases on the neck plate.
If you want to know the production year of your Squier guitar,you can decipher it with the serial number decoder, or find it in explanation about the dating system below.
| Fender-Squier history in short Jerome Bonaparte Squier and his son Victor Carroll Squier, two English immigrants who started a violin building and repair company in Boston in 1881. In 1890 Victor opened a store in Battle Creek, Michigan and a short time later a violin factory at 427 Capital Ave SW. (V.C. Squier Company). Violin, banjo and guitar strings were also produced here. |
In the early 1950s the company also started making strings for the electric guitars of Leo Fender and became in 1963 an official supplier
for Fender Electric Instruments. In 1965, shortly before the acquisition
of Fender by CBS, Fender purchased V.C. Squier Company.
Before the Fender Squier line of guitars was introduced in 1982,
Fender made cheaper guitars such as the Fender Lead series at its
plant in Fullerton, California.
Until the introduction of the Fender Squier series, Fender had never produced low-priced guitars based on the Stratocaster and Telecaster models. He had always used different model designs for the cheaper models.
Japanese labor and production costs were much lower than in America, and to compete with, Fender moved the cheaper Fender guitar production from America to Japan.
Sales in Japan were disappointing, Fender could not compete with Japanese competitors such as Tцkai and Greco.
Fender started negotiations with various Japanese distributors of musical instruments and reached an agreement with Yamano
Gakki and Kanda Shokai to found Fender Japan.
One of the conditions of the agreement was that Kanda Shokai
stops producing its own Greco Fender guitars. Negotiations with Tцkai were interrupted and FujiGen Gakki was chosen.
The first Squier models appeared in August 1982.
Over time, the Squier series has slowly evolved and contains
original model designs. The production has also been moved from Japan to various other Asian countries such as Korea, China, Indonesia and India.
Victor Carroll Squier
The Squiers «Made in USA» have been produced since 1985 in Corona, California.
«Made in USA» – E = Eighties, 6 or 7 digits.
«Made in USA» – N = Nineties, 6 or 7 digits.
Some USA Squiers had no serial number stamped on the headstock but a number without a prefix on the neck plate.
A date with such a number is difficult to determine.
Made in Japan
| LETTER | YEAR | DIGITS | LETTER | YEAR | DIGITS |
| A | 1985-1986 | 6 | B | 1985-1986 | 6 |
| C | 1985-1986 | 6 | E | 1984-1987 | 6 |
| F | 1986-1987 | 6 | G | 1987-1988 | 6 |
| H | 1988-1989 | 6 | I | 1989-1990 | 6 |
| J | 1989-1990 | 6 | K | 1990-1991 | 6 |
| L | 1991-1992 | 6 | M | 1992-1993 | 6 |
| N | 1993-1994 | 6 | O | 1993-1994 | 6 |
| P | 1993-1994 | 6 | Q | 1993-1994 | 6 |
| S | 1994-1995 | 6 | T | 1994-1995 | 6 |
| U | 1995-1996 | 6 | N | 1995-1996 | 5 |
| V | 1996-1997 | 6 | JV | 1982-1984 | 5 |
| SQ | 1983-1984 | 5 |
Crafted in Japan
| LETTER | YEAR | DIGITS | LETTER | YEAR | DIGITS |
| A | 1997-1998 | 6 | B | 1998-1999 | 6 |
| C | 1985-1986 | 6 | N | 1995-1996 | 5 |
| F | 1986-1987 | 6 | O | 1997-2000 | 6 |
| P | 1999-2002 | 6 | Q | 2002-2004 | 6 |
| R | 2004-2006 | 6 | S | 2006-2008 | 6 |
| T | 2007-2008 | 6 |
Made in Japan
| T | 2006-2008 | 6 | U | 2007-2008 | 6 |
In 1987 Fender opened the plant in Ensenada, Mexico where built amps and combos. The production of Squier guitars started here in 1991.
MN — M = Mexico, N = Nineties MZ — M = Mexico, Z = 2000’s
On February 11, 1994 the Ensenada plant burned down and production was temporarily moved to Corona.
CA – C = China A = Axl (made by Axl).
CD, CT en CJ – C = China. Probably made by Yako (Taiwan).
«Made in China»
CAE – 10 digits.
NC – 6 digits. YN – Y = Yako (Taiwan) N = Nineties, 6 digits.
«Crafted in China»
CY – C = China Y = Yako (Taiwan), 8 or 9 ditgits.
CY appears on all models produced in China and is by far the most common form.
CXS – C = China X = Axl S= Squier, 9 digits.
CGS – C = China G = factory code S= Squier, 7 or 8 digits.
CGRA, CGRB, CGRG, CGRH, CGRI, CGRJ, CGRK and CGRL
— C = China. GR = Grand Reward (factory)
— Last letter A, B, G, H, I, J, K, L = factory code , 8 digits.
COS – 8 digits.
COB – 9 digits.
Serial numbers with COS or COB prefix are Crafted by Cor-Tek, China.
Samick factory, Korea
The dating of the Korean instruments built before 1993 is uncertain because information about them is incomplete or missing.
Korean Squiers with a black logo on the headstock always have a thin laminated body. They are the lowest quality Korean Squiers. They were built between 1992 and 1995.
The serial numbers start with CN2, CN3 and VN4.
Silver logos were used for models built in the late 80s and for the Fender Squier Series strats, built in 1992 and 1993. These serial numbers start with CN2, CN3 and VN3.
Squiers with a gold-colored logo have an alder body or ash wood if it
is from the ProTone series.
The Squiers with a gold-colored logo were built from mid-1995.
Stratocasters, Telecasters, Bullets, P-Basses and Jazz basses were built from 1987 to 1998.
Stagemasters and Showmasters were built between 1999 and 2002.
The models from the 24 series were built between 2002 and 2004.
The Series 24 guitars were released by Fender in January 2002 in honor of Squier’s 20-year anniversary.
The Master Series models were built between 2004 and 2007.
«Made in Korea» and «Crafted in Korea»
CN — C = Cor-Tek (Cort) N = Nineties, 6 or 7 digits.
KC en KV — KC = Korean Cor-Tek (Cort), 8 digit. KV = Korean Saehan(Sunghan), 8 digits.
«Made in Korea»
VN — V = Saehan(Sunghan) N = Nineties, 6 or 7 digits.
S and E -S = Samick, 6 of 7 digits. E = Young Chang, 6 or 7 digits.
Squiers with prefix S and E are from the late eighties and early nineties.
E-letter serial numbers were used on Young Chang’s Fenix brand guitars.
M — 7 digits. Used in the early 90s, characterized by the high-gloss maple neck and plywood slim 40 mm body.
Some Squier IIs were made in India around 1989-1990, with
«MADE IN INDIA» on the headstock. The Squier IIs made in India seem to follow the numbering scheme in the USA.
The serial number is on a sticker on the back of the neck, close to the attachment point with the body.
Some more recent Squiers, including the Vintage Modified series
(the serial numbers start here with SH), were in Introduced in 2007.
The VM series has «Crafted in India» on the back of headstock.
With this VM series the serial number is stamped on the headstock
and therefore has no sticker.
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