I'm not that bad off.............yet.
Just curious, Can anyone help me date these two Strats I picked up recently? One is a '62 Reissue, V162629 and the other is a '57 reissue, V174357. Is the Fender serial number system similar to Gibson's at all?

No, not yet. I'll wait until these strings are shot then try that. I was curious to see if the numbers told anything. Thanks anyway!

PTS

All you can do is remove the neck, or if you don't fancy that contact customer services.

Even guitardater project http://www.guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx doesn't recognise vintage reissue numbers.

Neck removal isn't hard, just a little daunting if you've never done it before.
Sending a email to customer services is easier, but takes longer.

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No no and no

Thanks nikininja, I'll try that first. I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend on stage! Have a great weekend!

I'd be afraid to date your guitars as mine would get jealous if I started dating someone elses guitars.Seriously though the neck removal is the closest you'll come to getting the date.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

A quick visual cue to identify the first-generation MIA Fender re-issues is, the dot spacing at the twelth fret was incorrect on the early editions of both Strats and the Telecaster. This anomaly wasn't addressed and emended until the early/mid '90s versions were released AFAIK.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY