Fender Decal Question

[cstarace1]

Hey everyone, I know that during Fender's golden age in the 50's and (most of?) the 60's, decals were applied over the lacquer finish to the headstock. However my question is...at what point in history did this change to the decals being covered by a clear coat and therefore less likely to be rubbed off? My assumption is sometime during the late 60's or early 70's, but I'm wondering if anyone knows the exact year?

Thanks!

[AwesomeWelles]

1967 I'd say.

When most of the headstocks were changed to the bolder font logos.

[Highnumbers]

This is a complicated question because it varies. Not just by the period but even within the same year.

I have a couple of Olympic White ‘62 offsets (one Jag one JM), the body has no clear coat but the headstocks do, so they’ve yellowed slightly compared to the body. This was done to protect the decal.

Then I have a ‘64 sonic blue Jaguar that has a clear coat on the body but none on the headstock! Consequently some of the decal is flaking off the headstock and it is bright sonic blue, no greening like the body.

I also recently had a ‘64 Burgundy Mist Jaguar and the headstock has a clear coat over the decal (from the same year as my sonic blue that doesn’t have a clear coat on the headstock (!!).

So it’s all over the place, unfortunately.

[Buddy Bing]

l had a flaking logo on my 1966 Mustang. One day my beloved noticed this and filled in the missing gold (on the F) with nail polish. It was her first restoration project and she didn't feel constrained by stuffy convention.

[øøøøøøø]

Another interesting point:

For some years after they switched to the poly finishes, the headstocks were still finished in lacquer (ostensibly bc the other finish reacted poorly to the decals?), so there’s an interesting transitional period of years where the headstock face yellows at a dramatically faster rate than the rest of the neck

[PlayWithPride]

l had a flaking logo on my 1966 Mustang. One day my beloved noticed this and filled in the missing gold (on the F) with nail polish. It was her first restoration project and she didn't feel constrained by stuffy convention.

Neither did George Harrison. He used some of his wife's nail polish:

[ldp54002]

My 1965 Mustang seems to be in the transition period. The outline of the decal is easily visible; combined with Fender's general practices at that time, I assumed it was on top of the finish. There is a very clear witness line around the entire decal that you can feel when running your fingers over it.

That said, I noticed a couple weeks after buying it that there was finish checking on top of the decal. I busted out a jeweler's glass and it looks like there is an incredibly thin layer of lacquer over the decal--just enough to seal it in. They didn't build up any layers to sand it down to be even with the rest of the headstock.

It seems to have protected the decal as none of it has flaked off over the years, even though the rest of the headstock has some battle scars.