Dating a Strat neck....

[PorkyPrimeCut]

There a bit of uncertainty involved here.

A friend has just got off the phone to a mate of his who acquired a Strat a few years ago. I think it was inherited.

He took it into a shop to get it looked over. One guy said the neck felt amazing. They took it off & he saw a red stamp with the number 62 & the letter M.

It was only a glance so he can't be certain if there were any more letters.

He's gonna get it back in a couple of days.

What are the chances of it being an original 62 Strat neck?

I've read that 62 was the first year they used stamps but were they ever  red? Also could the M mean Mexico (perhaps it was 82 & not 62).

We're getting all excited that he's got a very valuable Slab neck. Could be wrong though.

[Soochdaddy]

62 M doesn't seem authentic.

When stamps started (as you mentioned, a 62 could have a pencil date), my understanding is that the format was two digits of neck code, three letters for the month, and a few more digits...

Damn, there was a link I checked out yesterday that had a whole bunch of info about this.  I'll try to dig it up.  it was either in the "offset guitars" section of the forum, but possible on the FDP...

Anyway, I'm no expert but that neck stamp doesn't seem like it came from an original 62 neck.

[Soochdaddy]

http://jimshine.com/jazzmaster/intricac ... jazzma.htm

This is it... from the "Anyone know the difference...." thread in the offset guitars forum.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

The "62 & an M" was just how he put it on the phone.

He thinks the M was before the number. Its frustrating that he doesn't know & that its in the hands of a tech. I really, really want to take a proper look at it.

As I said, this is all from a glance. Hopefully we'll find out more in a day or two.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I'm sure I saw a page full of neck stamp photos. I forget if it was on the forum or elsewhere. Anyone remember this?

The fact that the ink is red is curious too.

My JM neck is a 59 pencil date. I did a fair bit of research into pencil-dated neck but no next to nothing about stamp-dated necks.

[Orang Goreng]

I'm sure I saw a page full of neck stamp photos. I forget if it was on the forum or elsewhere. Anyone remember this?

http://www.ksvintage.com/jimshine/index.cgi?g=36

Also could the M mean Mexico (perhaps it was 82 & not 62).

Fender didn't have Mexcian facilities in '82.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Ah, thats it. Thanks.

I'm starting to think that he may have seen the red stamp on the underside of the heel.

I'm sure I've seen plenty of more recent necks stamped like this.

Thankfully we've not got his hopes up too much.

[Orang Goreng]

This one might be the most relevant to your query:



Funny one, BTW, as Jim mentions elsewhere on the same site that the stamping started in april. Hard to keep up!