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Post subject: 1992 strat, made on September 3rd
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:48 pm
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I'm looking to get hold of a strat made on a specific day, can I get one and ensure it's certified? I'm looking for one made on 9/3/92

Thanks, the good Dr.


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Post subject: Re: 1992 strat, made on September 3rd
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:12 am
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dr.feelgood8888 wrote:
I'm looking to get hold of a strat made on a specific day, can I get one and ensure it's certified? I'm looking for one made on 9/3/92

Thanks, the good Dr.


Well, the short answer is -no-...not really. First and foremost you need to realize and remember that Strats are "modular" from the stand point of manufacturing...in other words, all of the parts that go in to creating that final product, were very likely made on different days...in most cases different weeks or months and in some cases different years! In the case of my '96 MIM Standard for example, the neck is stamped "Feb 8, 1996" and the body is stamped "Feb 14, 1996". Further if you look at the serial number on that '96 neck, the serial number actually reflects that the neck may have actually been made in 1992 and NOT 1996...in other words, the neck may have sat in a warehouse for a few years before it actually got used in 1996 to make "a guitar".

Aside from the whole modular issue, you need to remember that a guitar neck and body are never made "in a day" anyways. Unless we're talking "custom shop" (which is still never made in a day), Fender and Squier guitars are all mass produced. Think of it this way (I'm going to use round numbers as an example here); the factory (regardless of where it's located) receives a pallet of body blanks on a given Monday. Those body blanks are checked in and probably put in to storage until the factory get's an order to make X so many guitar bodies. At that point...which may be days, weeks or months later, that skid of blanks is sent to the CNC department to be cut. After the bodies are "rough cut", they'll get loaded back on to another pallet or cart and sent to the sanding department which may or may not get to them right away...it may be a couple of days (or weeks) before the bodies get filled, sanded and ready to be finished. Once they get sanded, they are then sent to the finishing department where they get the first coats of finish....then they still need top coats, and after that they need to be buffed, etc.. Then they will often go back in to the warehouse where they may sit for days, weeks, months or again even years until they are then later paired with a neck and then sent to the electronics department to get the pickups and such installed after which they are sent to hardware for bridge installation, etc., etc., etc.. It's a multi-step process that takes weeks, months or years.

Unfortunately there is nothing (that I know of at least) to indicate when the final assembly is performed (meaning when the neck is attached to the body, the guitar is strung and set up then packed in to a shipping container)...and there's nothing to indicate that this is even done on the same day. Even though the neck and body on mine are both stamped February of '96, the guitar may not have been assembled until sometime in March, April, May, etc. and that final assembly may have taken place over the course of a couple of days. My wife bought the guitar for me new in August of '96...but who knows how long it sat on the store rack and how long it sat in a warehouse before that...

So again, -no- you're not going to find a guitar that was "made on such and such date"...simply because they are not made in a single day. Since this specific date obviously has some significance to you, my suggestion would be to keep an eye on places such as Ebay and Craigslist and watch for bodies and necks made on the date you stated then once you have those parts, just assemble it yourself. The guitar may not have been "made" on that specific date but at least the various parts will reflect it...assuming you can find them. Of course you should be prepared for this search to take a while...who really knows how many, if any, necks and bodies were actually made on that specific date. Even -if- the factory was pumping out bodies and necks on that specific date, since we're talking the early 90's here, who knows how many of those parts are still going to be around, let alone available...kind of like finding 2 grains of salt on a beach....they could very well be there somewhere but good luck finding them!

Sorry if that's not what you were looking to hear but I hope it helps!

Peace,
Jim


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