Adams and some numbers engraved in the back of the. For a (beautiful grained) AM-50 with W.A. This was a running change, and both Made in Japan and Crafted in Japan decals appear on instruments from. 2007 was another transitional year for Japanese-made Fender instruments, with the return to the Made in Japan country-of-origin identifier on the serial number decal. Crafted in Japan T + 6 digits.Here is the description that the seller gives.How to Date your Fender (By Serial Number) in 60 seconds. Today we are going to examine a guitar that is being listed as a 1961 Fender Stratocaster being sold online from France. Armed with this information, kcbuck was able to tell that poster the following regarding the value of that guitar Mint 98: 1,050.00 USDSo, let’s get started. But, this series is going to be designed to teach the difference between a guitar that is an original vs one that’s a fake.Last year a guy had a Fender Strat with a similar serial number, and he revealed to kcbuck that it was a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, olympic Pearl, Maple Neck axe made in 2000, in Corona, CA. One of the things that most commonly happens to make a guitar seem real is to put some original pre-CBS parts on a guitar.
Fender Stratocaster Lookup Serial Numbers Tend ToThe new.“My father bought this guitar in 1961. Please note that fender serial numbers tend to overlap by at least a year, and thereby the date of your guitar can only be approximated.In late 1976 Fender stopped engraving the serial number on the neck plate and printed it, together with other decals, on the front of the headstock. 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.1961 Stratocaster Fake Neck PlateThe first closeup image here is of the neck plate. In this case “My father bought this guitar in 1961.” But, did he?Everything seems to look ok from here right? But, let’s look closer. Normally these guitars will come with a story trying to increase the trust of the seller. It was refretted TWICE and the painting was redone in 1987 My dad bought this guitar in 1961.”So, let’s take a look at the guitar and see.
Fender Stratocaster Lookup Serial Number DecalAlso, notice how the bottom of the 9 is more rounded on the one below. See how the font below is a little thinner. But, look closely at the font of the serial number.Now look at the font of an original 1961 Stratocaster Neck Plate. Right away I see red flags. We’ll start with the neck heel. What about the rest of the guitar though?Let’s now take a look at the guitar neck. That indentation doesn’t look right according to ones that I’ve seen in the past. They were sometimes done with the end of a phillips head screwdriver or other tools. Fender made marks similar to that in there that area of the neck to show it was completed and ready to move on. Now that hole should actually be there. I’m working on finding out exactly what they meant but I have a theory that it’s the initial of the person who did the screw holes.There is also a hole in an odd position. That was usually an R, C, P or some single letter. A third indicator is that there is finish in the hole but there is no finish in the screw holes. Second of all, it doesn’t look like a standard template hole since it is rounded at the top and doesn’t have screw threads in it. It’s just slightly lower than the actual template would have put it. First of all, it’s not in the right placement. The problem is that the hole there doesn’t look right. Those templates were used to cut out parts or to drill holes so that accurate placement could be on each guitar. Before going any further with the details I can tell you that the decal is wrong. You can also clearly see the letter C drawn on there as noted above.So far things aren’t looking good for this guitar are they?Let’s continue on with the process. Then, when you look at the punch mark near the base of the heel it’s more of an L shape like someone stamping it with a precise tool end. It also has no finish in the hole and has screw threads in it. Let’s take a look at another verified 1961 Strat neck heel to see what I mean.Notice how in this image the template hole is slightly higher positioned. Let’s take a look at a verified 61 Strat to see the differences.As you look at the image below notice how the letter E has a flat starting point from the top. Also, you’ll notice that on the letter E at the very top starting point of the letter on Fender that it is curved on the end. That’s not Brazilian rosewood. Another issue is that the grain pattern on that rosewood is so tight that you can’t see any pores. In fact we have several problems here. Download radeon drivers rx 570Another instant indicator is that the finish above is satin and the one below is a glossy nitro finish. That’s what Brazilian Rosewood looks like. Then, if you look at the rosewood above the nut you’ll see the pores where the lacquer has sunken into them. Also, on the one below you will see the two patent numbers under the decal. The decal above is from a reissue neck or falsified decal. Here comes the ugliest part of all. The originals have a lesser degree of curve there.So, let’s keep going. Just under the stratocaster part of the logo where it curves into the contour body part of the logo the curve is too sharp of an angle. But, that can be changed right? Sure. If you look at the radius it’s way flatter than a 7.25″ radius. It says it’s from January 1961. It should be halfway through the fretboard like the image below.With the body, I see a couple of things right off the bat. On the neck above, the truss rod screw isn’t even touching the fretboard. The one above is clearly a fake and that’s one obvious way to tell. See the next image of a real 1961.Notice how the truss rod screw is up into the fretboard on the real guitar below. The last tell tale sign is that while that guitar is a slab board guitar it’s not a 1961 Fender Stratocaster Slab Board guitar. Well, maybe they put a new fretboard on it? Nope. This is something they hope adds some legitimacy to the guitar. It is a refin and yet you can clearly see the circles at the end of the pickup route left behind from the router.One common thing that people do when creating a fake is to put some original parts on a guitar. Why would that be etched into a guitar that was claimed to be refinished by the owner 20 + years later?Here is an original 1961 Stratocaster body. Finally, the LPB 7 etched in the guitar is what Fender would do for customer ordered custom color guitars. So, each of the pickup routes should have a circle left behind from the router at each end of the route. First of all, in the pickup routes they used pin routers back then. I would need to see them more closely without the pickup covers on them. The neck and middle pickup may or may not be original. The bridge pickup is definitely not from 1961 because it would have a black bobbin (bottom). The pots and capacitor are not original. You can tell by looking at the 10 number. Also, the knobs are not original. You can also tell because the original cellulose pickguards of that era will shrink causing it to pull inward away from the screws. Normally, the pickguard would have a greenish hue to it. That pickguard is not original. The tooling marks are enough to indicate a fake here.For reference, here is an original set of 1957 saddles. Also, there are some indicators with the lettering but with the glare it’s hard to really see them clearly. These are smooth indicating they are newer. With the original saddles you’ll see tooling marks or scratches on them from where the medal was curved and formed. This is a fake definitely. That tells me that most likely the pickup covers and selector tip are fake as well.Let’s take a look at the bridge. ![]() Normally, you’ll see the spidering type checking or shattered look on the neck of the 58 models. So, that’s actually more true checking with the “razor blade” look. I’ve noticed that a lot of them in that era have more of a razor blade looking checking vs the shattered look that you see on a lot of the newer relics. In 58, they were using a little different formula with the nitro. Nearly impossible to tell the difference. I’ve seen some where used the exact methods, tools, etc that Fender used back in the day. This fake was an easy spot. There are more guitars out there than there should be. That’s why Tom Murphy generally uses a razor blade to do the check work on the 58-60 Les Paul’s he ages.That said, I’ve seen some fakes that were too good.
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