Telling the year of a fender..

[Spin]

hi..is anyone familiar with the little formula for telling the year of a fender guitar from the serial number..??

thanks
spin

[Emeric]

www.fender.com

Look under the drop down box for FAQ.

[gomanvangough]

I just checked my silverface deluxe reverb amp that I bought new in 1968 and couldn't find any of the date markers suggested my Fender. My amp has all the orginal tubes and the GZ34 and 6V6's were manufactured my RCA. I used to work on electronic equip back in the tube days and I'm pretty sure there should be a two letter date code on RCA tubes used for warrenty purposes. It should be possible to trace the mfg date of the tubes. I'll bet RCA can help or if you know an old "sparky", he may still have the date codes in his tube caddy.

[gomanvangough]

Follow up: I was able to find the EIA number on the power transformer. Mine is 6-7 44 which means the transformer was manufactured the 44th week of 1967 which would be be consistant with the purchase date 1968.
So... Whats a 1968 Siverface Deluxe Reverb amp in mint condition worth anyways? (it's not for sale)

[Spin]

hey thanks everyone...its a 93 strat...that fender web site worked great

spin

[foo]

Just to offer a little more help - I used to buy/sell old guitars and amps to enhance my collection.
I have several reference books which I haven't looked at for years which detail a couple of other ways to tell dates in both guitars and amps.
One way is to check the numbers on the pots in both guitars and amps, and also the codes on the speaker rims.
If you have a question on your stuff, go ahead and post it here or email me and I'll try to dig up the info for you.

foo

[Spin]

hey thanks man

spin