Fender Stratocaster Serial Number Mz

How Old is My Fender Guitar?

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Contents

  • 1 How Old is My Fender Guitar?
  • 3 1950-1954 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers
  • 4 1954-1963 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers
  • 5 Late 1962 – Early 1965 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers
  • 6 1965-1976 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers
  • 7 1976-Present USA Fender Guitar Serial Numbers
  • 8 Fender Anniversary, Reissue, Special Edition, and Signature Series

I often get asked, how old is my Fender guitar? Most of the time this question can’t be answered specifically. The Fender numbers tell the story of the company over the years. Unfortunately, the serial number placement is sporadic and many ID numbers over lap between years and models. In many instances, there is no exact known date for a specific guitar. That is why I decided to write this article. I want to help you understand how to tell the age of your Fender as well as any Fender you see.

Fender like Gibson has been producing guitars for many years. Certain styles and colors have come and gone over the years, but there is no real obvious way to tell how old a Fender is other than the identification number. Unfortunately, Fender decided not to simply write the date of manufacture on the guitar. They decided that it would be easier to decipher the serial number code than just write the year on the guitar. I say this only joking. Most manufactures don’t actually write the production dates on the guitar in plain view. First let’s take a look at where to find ID numbers on a Fender guitar.

Where do I find my Fender Serial Number?

This article is intended to help you date your Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Precision Bass guitars all the way back to the early 1950s. In order to tell how old your Fender is you will have to find the identification number or neck number. The serial number location has changed a few times of the years. From 1950 to 1954 Fender guitar unique numbers were stamped in the bridge cavity cover plate. From 1954 to 1976 Fender stamped its guitar’s serial number on either the top or bottom of the neck plate. Modern Fender production guitars, 1976 to the present, have their ID numbers on the front or back of the headstock near the Fender decal. In 1982 Fender decided to start making reissued vintage guitars. These guitars were replicas of the early 1950 and 1960s era guitars. True to form the reissue guitars have their identification numbers stamped in the neck plate.

The serial numbers on the outside of the body are not the only way to date a Fender guitar however. Fender also dated the neck when it was manufactured. After the neck was finished, a Fender employee would either stamp or handwrite the date on the end of the guitar neck on its heel. This marking is only visible when the neck is removed from the body because it is covered in the neck pocket. Almost all Fender guitars have a dated neck. Some Fender guitar bodies and pickups also have dates written on them. Few Fender guitars have dates written on the bodies under the pickups, in the routed out cavities, and near the wiring harnesses. Fender only decided to write dates on the bodies for a few years here and there. They never really did that consistently.

What does the date on the neck mean?

Many people think that the date on the heel of their Fender neck is the production date of the guitar. After reviewing the ID number, you might find out that the two corresponding dates don’t coincide. Why is this? It all has to do with how Fender produced guitars. Leo Fender was a genius with minimizing the costs of production. Unlike Gibson, Leo found did everything the cheapest and fastest way possible. He made a bolt-on neck, so the neck and the body could be manufactured at the same time. He wired the pickguard with pickups, so all the wiring could be finished before the body was even dry from finishing. That’s how the Fender production line worked. The number and date on the neck is simply the date that the neck was finished–not the date that the guitar was completed. Necks could sit for days, weeks, or even months at a time before being matched with a body. After the entire guitar was assembled, the identification number was stamped in place. Being many months later, the serial number date and the neck date might not match. Remember, these serial and neck numbers were never really intended for historical dating. They were simply internal numbers to help with production.

Fender Serial Number Guide

Now that we have talked about where to find your Fender guitar ID number and what it means, here is the Fender serial number database that I have compiled. It includes most of the Fender serial numbers issued along with the corresponding dates and a short history of Fender Guitars through the years.

  • 1950 – 1954
  • 1954 – 1963
  • Late 1962 – Early 1965
  • 1965 – 1976
  • 1976 – Present USA
  • Fender Anniversary, Reissue, Special Edition, and Signature Guitar
  • Made in China

1950-1954 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers

When Leo first started putting identification numbers on his guitars, he segregated them by model. Each models unique numbers started at 1 or a number close to it. That means that there could be a Tele, Strat, and Precision bass with the exact same serial number. He didn’t stop doing this until after 1954.

Telecaster – Esquire – Broadcaster – No-caster

NumbersYears
33-8601950-1952
0005-07461950-1952
0748-13311951-1952
0161-04701951-1952
2911-53681951-1954

Fender Stratocaster Serial Number Mz 2

Serial

Stratocaster

NumbersYears
0-60001954

P Bass

NumbersYears
161-3571951
299-6191952
0001-01601952
0161-04701951-1952
0475-08401952-1953
0848-18971953-1954

1954-1963 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers

At some point in 1954, Fender decided to stop grouping the guitar ID number by model. He started using one sequence of serial numbers for all the guitars coming off of the Fender production lines including Teles, Esquires, Strats, and P-basses. Some of these identification numbers are still out of sequence, jumbled up, or missing. You may notice that there is a great deal of over lapping numbers in these nine years. The only way to verify an over lapping date is to check the corresponding neck date and body date. This list is a little convoluted because there are so many over lapping serial numbers. The number column represents the general number grouping that Fender and most experts agree on. The low and high columns show the range of identification numbers that have been positively matched to specific years. As you can see, there is quite a bit of overlap. For some reason during 1955, 1957, and 1958 Fender decided to place zero or a dash in front of ID numbers periodically. Some guitars in these years have them and some don’t.

1954-1963 Fender Guitars

NumbersLowHighYears
0001-69990001101461954
7000-89993152107981955
09000-169997895169571956
17000-2499910604285221957
25000-33999022878515931958
34000-43999022878515931959
44000-5899939993666261960
59000-7099955531777541961
71000-9399969520962031962
94000-9999981977999241963

Late 1962 – Early 1965 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers

Toward the end of 1962 Fender’s success kept on building. He was nearing his 100,000th guitar. Instead of adding another digit on to his 5-digit ID numbers, Leo decided to add an “L”, presumably for his first initial, in front of the serial numbers and start the sequence all over again. This time all the identification numbers under 10,000 fill the empty digits with zeros.

For example, the 989th guitar’s ID number would not be L989. It was L00989. Since this change wasn’t until the end of 1962, only a few true 1962 Fenders have an “L” serial number.

Late 1962 – Early 1965 Fender Guitars

NumbersLowHighYears
L00001-L19999L0001L603301963
L20000-L59999L08825L925601964
L60000-L99999L23537L999441965

1965-1976 Fender Guitar Serial Numbers

In early 1965, Leo Fender sold Fender Musical Instruments, Inc. to CBS for $13 million. A lot of changes happened to the company as well as the guitars themselves under the new ownership. The identification number sequences were no exception.

CBS came up with a new numbering system to take advantage of the fact that Leo did not use 6-digit ID numbers. CBS continued the sequence Fender started in 1954. These 1965-1976 era guitars are commonly referred to as the F series because of the neck plate design change. The new neck plate only had the Fender F logo stamped in place.

Late 1965 – 1976 Digits

NumbersLowHighYears
100000-1199991001731589771965
120000-1799991001731589771966
180000-2199991121722613431967
220000-2519991566572631151968
252000-2919992043522627741969
292000-2989992241602908351970
290000-3449992789163040891971
345000-3799992618633310311972
380000-5399992584956540301973
540000-5999993169876026151974
600000-6569994170246771991975
657000-6699995951217172571976
670000-7999991971-1976

1976-Present USA Fender Guitar Serial Numbers

In 1976, Fender decided to stop stamping ID numbers in guitar parts and started making decals for the guitar peghead or headstock. Along with the new location a new series of serial numbers were instituted. Fender apparently was thinking long term because they developed a serial numbering system with one-letter codes preceding the indentification numbers. The letters referred to the decade that the guitars were produced. Most guitars then had a number following the one-letter code that designated the specific year. For instance, ID number S76823 would be a guitar produced in 1977. In about 1982 Fender started making import guitars from Japan and around 1990 Fender started importing from Mexico. These guitars have a completely different set of serial numbers that I will talk about later in the article. This section only deals with USA made Fender guitars. Here are the decade numbers:

1976-Present USA Fender
serial number One-letter Codes

LettersDecades
S1970’s
E1980’s
N1990’s
Z2000’s

The new serial number system was a little complicated, but it does make it relatively easy to tell the date of the guitar. Like all Fender’s previous systems, they are problems with this one. Fender mass-produced the headstock decal without matching them with the annual production schedules of the guitars–meaning they made more decals for a given year than guitars. See the problem?

There were a few years where excess headstock ID number decals were produced and held over to the next year, the some guitars are actually dated with a previous year decal. It wasn’t until 1991 that Fender actually got this system straighten out. To get the exact date on guitars made between 1976 and 1991, it is important to cross-reference the dates on the neck written on the heel. Here are a list of dates and codes that overlap years.

1976-Present USA Fender
Overlapping One-letter Codes

LettersDecades
S7January 1977 – April 1978
S8December 1977 – December 1978
S9November 1978 – August 1981
E0June 1979 – December 1981
E1December 1980 – January 1982
E2December 1981 – January 1983
E3December 1982 – January 1985
E4December 1983 – Early 1988
E81988 – 1989
E91989 – 1990
N91990
N01990 – 1991

Aside from all of the errors and overlapping serial numbers, this system was quite improved from the previous ID number systems. If Fender would have executed the indentification numbers as planned, USA Fender guitars would be numbered as the following without any exceptions. You can use this table to lookup your Fender serial number after 1976.

1976-Present USA Fender Guitars

NumbersYears
760000-7999991976-1977
800000-8999991979-1981
1000000-89999991976-1981
S100000-S6999991979-1982
S700000-S7799991977
S740000-S8999991978
S810000-S8799991979
S880000-S9899991980
S950000-S9999991981
E000000-E1999991979-1982
E110000-E1299991980-1983
E200000-E2999991982
E300000-E3199991983
E320000-E3999991984-1985
E400000-E4999991984-1985, 1987
E800000-E8999991988-1989
E900000-E9999991989-1990
N900000-N9999991990
N000000-N0999991990
N100000-N1999991991-1992
N200000-N2999991992-1993
N300000-N3999991993-1994
N400000-N4999991994-1995
N500000-N5999991995-1996
N600000-N6999991996-1997
N700000-N7999991997-1998
N800000-N8999991998-1999
N900000-N9999991999-2000
Z000000-Z0999992000-2001
Z100000-Z1999992001-2002
Z200000-Z2999992002-2003
Z300000-Z3999992003-2004
Z400000-Z4999992004-2005
Z500000-Z5999992005-2006
Z600000-Z6999992006-2007
Z700000-Z7999992007-2008
Z800000-Z8999992008-2009
Z900000-Z9999992009-2010
1000000-1099999Early 2010
US1000000-US1099999Late 2010
US1100000-US11999992011

Fender Anniversary, Reissue, Special Edition, and Signature Series

Throughout the years, Fender has run many limited edition, reissue, and custom guitars. All of these guitars’ ID numbers do not follow the unique number sequence of the regular production guitars. These guitars usually have a special two to four letter prefix before the serial number. Each prefix is unique to that model guitar. Here is a guide to lookup all of the different types of special Fender guitars with their own serial number pattern.

Fender Anniversary, Reissue, Special Edition, and Signature Guitars

PrefixNumber of DigitsExample Serial NumberGuitar ModelYears
255250000125th Anniversary Stratocaster1979-1980
AMXN6AMXN000001California Series1997-1998
C6C000001Collector’s SeriesUp until 1965
CA5CA00001Stratocaster Gold1981-1983
CB5CB00001Precision Bass Special and Jazz Bass Gold1981, 1982
CC5CC00001Stratocaster Walnut1981-1983
CD5CD00001Precision Bass Special1982
CE5CE00001Precision Bass Special, Black and Gold Telecaster1981-1983
CNSee Korean Guitars
CO5CO00001Precision Bass Special1982
D6D000001Jazz Bass1981-1982
DN6DN000001American Deluxe Series1998-1999
DZ1 year digit + 5 or 6DZ100001American Deluxe Series2000-present
FN6FN000001USA Guitars made for exportCan’t be determined from SN
G6G000001The Strat1980-1983
GO5GO00001Precision Bass Special and Stratocaster Gold1982, 1982-1983
I6I00001USA guitars for export stamped USA on heel1989-1990
LE6LE000001Blonde Jaguar and Jassmaster sold as set with Blonde Deluxe Reverb Amp1994
MNMexican Fender Serial Numbers
NCSee Squire Guitars
SE6SE000001Signature Models1980’s – 1st digit designates specific year
SN6SN000001Signature Models1990’s – 1st digit designates specific year
SZ6SZ000001Signature Models2000’s – 1st digit designates specific year
T6T000001Fender Tribute SeriesCheck Heel of Neck
V4, 5, or 6V000001Vintage Reissue Guitars Except Tele ’52Introduced in 1982 Check Neck for Year
VNKorean Fender Serial Numbers
XN5XN00001FRS and Telecaster ’52More variations of serials may exist
XXX of 5003001 of 50035th Anniversary Stratocaster1989-1990
XXXX on Bridgeplate40001U.S. ’52 Vintage Telecaster Reissue1982-1988 Check Neck for Year
XXXXX on Bridgeplate500001U.S. ’52 Vintage Telecaster Reissue1988-present Check Neck for Year
XXXX on Back of Headstock40001Custom Order1987-present Check Neck for Year

Fender Stratocaster Serial Numbers Guide

Related Guides

Fender Squire and Chinese numbering and dating guides are coming soon.

You can also find more information on the Fender site.

Although a serial number is helpful for roughly determining the age of a guitar, this is often not the exact date. Usually, the production date is stamped or written is on the heel of the neck. To read this it is necessary to unscrew the neck from the body.

Fender Stratocaster Serial Number Mz 1


Most specifications for the Fender guitars are hardly changed. Although there have been periods in which major changes occurred as the acquisition of Fender by CBS, and the transition from CBS Fender to the current owner (Fender Musical Instruments Corporation), most models are in general not changed.

At the Stratocasters from the early fifties the serial numbers were stamped on the back vibrato cover. On some Telecasters at the bridge between the pickup and the saddles.

Fender Stratocaster Serial Number Z1015028

Patent numbers
Between 1960 and 1977, were added several patent numbers to the models. These became in the head under the Fender logo stamped.
e.g.
PAT, 2,573,254 2,968,204 3,143,028 2,976,755 DES 187304
2,573,254 for pickup and bridge combination.
2,968,204 for the single coil pickup patent awarded in 1961 under other for Jaguar, Stratocaster, Duosonic.
3,143,028 the patent granted in August 1964 for Fender's adjustable neck construction.
2,976,755 for the split coil pickup design. (Used since 1957 to the Precision Bass)
The DES is the serial number.

Fender Stratocaster Serial Number Mz