50's Fender Neck Dates: A Poll

[PorkyPrimeCut]

My 60 (which hasn't come in the post...yet) is pencil dated 6/60. You're tick-boxes only go up to 5/60.

QUESTION - Is the pencil dating under or over the final finish. Is it varnished over??

[mreverb]

I put in for 2/59 for my gold guard Jazzmaster.

[Gill]

Just trying to keep this one alive...

Anyone else have  58/59 or early 60's neck dating info to contribute?

Gill

[AjBennett107]

I do but I dont know where to look for it, could you help me out?  Maybe it means that there is no neck date since I cant find it but I want to make sure

[mezcalhead]

If it's there, it's a pencil date on the heel of the neck which you'll see when you take the neck off, like this:

[AjBennett107]

Wow... I thought mine was a 59 because of the serial number index i found online but clearly it is wrong, my neck date is 12-58.

[StevenO]

Wow... I thought mine was a 59 because of the serial number index i found online but clearly it is wrong, my neck date is 12-58.

It's most likely still a 59. The guitar is only as old as it's most recent original part.

[AjBennett107]

Good to know, I'm still learnin

[lalalandstudios]

Its true that a vintage fender IS only as old as its newest part (logical right), but the serial number is not the most reliably dated part. AJ's JM has 58 pots (from the other thread), so it's probably a late 58. I look up the serial number in Werner's list and see what other guitars its close to....

[StevenO]

Its true that a vintage fender IS only as old as its newest part (logical right), but the serial number is not the most reliably dated part. AJ's JM has 58 pots (from the other thread), so it's probably a late 58. I look up the serial number in Werner's list and see what other guitars its close to....

Oh, I see. I just figured since his guitar had such a late 58 neck date that it was probably an early 59 or something along those lines, but if everything suggests it as being a 58, then it's probably a 58.

[Gill]

Serial #'s are a bit weird, I think...

I heard somewhere that they just had a box of them that they culled from, so really, you could be a low 3xxxx and still have a '58 otherwise.  I think the combination of the neck date and the pot dates would be a better judge.

Oh, and you can always just check the date on the original sales receipt...you've all got that, right? 

Gill

[AjBennett107]

Serial #'s are a bit weird, I think...

I heard somewhere that they just had a box of them that they culled from, so really, you could be a low 3xxxx and still have a '58 otherwise.  I think the combination of the neck date and the pot dates would be a better judge.

Oh, and you can always just check the date on the original sales receipt...you've all got that, right? 

Gill

Hmmm yea I thought I remembered buying it in 58... let me go look around my dorm room and see if I can find the receipt  :

[burker]

I just took the neck off my 59' for the first time, and its a 11-59 neck date, which makes sense as its a 13 hole tortioseshell guard model.
Who else had a 11-59?

[mezcalhead]

Serial #'s are a bit weird, I think...

I heard somewhere that they just had a box of them that they culled from, so really, you could be a low 3xxxx and still have a '58 otherwise.  I think the combination of the neck date and the pot dates would be a better judge.

My '58 (with 11/58 neck date and '58 coded pots) has a higher neck plate number than my '59.

[Gill]

Bingo!

Gill