In the case he still had the owners manual, cord, polishing cloth and tremolo bar. He kept the bridge cover on it too! The real surprise was that when he finally did his first string change he kept the originals and dated the pack! He also had a nice thick neck strap with it. Knowing him he probably bought it with the guitar!
The serial number puts it at 70'-71'. I pulled the neck when doing a full cleanup but it's got the infamous green stamp that is almost totally illegible. Here's where things get interesting; The Volume pot is dated to 1970 while the tone pot is 1965! A side note: I traded my 80' antigua Stratocaster to my dad very briefly in the mid 80's for this guitar and when I did I had a hot lead pickup installed (probably a Seymour Duncan 1/4 pound). The original pickup was still in the case but the four digit code suggests 1967?!?
I know for a fact that except for the month or so I had this guitar it had never been out of my dads possession since new so the date codes seem pretty weird. Another oddity is that it's a A width neck. Playing back to back with the 66' Jazzmaster it is obvious that it's narrower at the nut and thicker back to front. This piece of my family history isn't going anywhere anytime soon!!
