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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:15 pm
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gridlok wrote:
My fourth # is a 5. What the heck do I even own? How come it plays and sounds so amazing. Mine is a MIM HSS and it's just fine!!

I thinketh this to be a loadeth of crap!

Gridlok


it is not your 4th number its your 4th character...... what is it?


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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:20 pm
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Is this how Urban Myths gets started?
Fender puts the guitar all together then someone checks the tonal aspects of the guitar then they take the neck off the tuners out and the string tree off then apply the finish then the serial number and the final finish coat then put it back on the body then tuners, string tree back on then string it back up and check to see if the tonal aspect has change any since applying the finish :shock: :shock: :shock: RIGHT :mrgreen:

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Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:29 pm
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Sounds legit to me. But then, I think green M&Ms make you horny... :roll:


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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:04 am
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russianracehorse wrote:
Sounds legit to me. But then, I think green M&Ms make you horny... :roll:


Sea foam green or surf green? :P


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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:49 am
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And here you have it:

More brand spanking new, highly improbable second hand information which shall now be incorporated forever more into the annals of, "infallible web dogma"; to be expanded upon, rationalized, argued, defended and for the most vehement, to actually stake their reputations upon, all in glorious perpetuity.

Remember, you read it here first!

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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 9:53 am
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an interesting theory but let me point out a couple things, in particular, that just seem illogical with the theory.



01GT eibach wrote:
It is in fact very common to embed all kinds of info in serial numbers from washing machines to DVD players. Such info can often include almost anything. As an extreme example, the serial number of a seawater valve on a US nuclear submarine identifies down to which area of a particular quarry where the iron ore was mined from. Does that surprise you? Again, that is extreme, but hopefully you get my point. The point is that all types of things are commonly used in serial numbers.


i find the example you cite informative. yes, serial numbers are often used for tracking purposes and auditability - in your example, the geographic origin of some of the materials. It would be much less effective, I would think, in having some measure of 'quality' embedded in the serial number.


01GT eibach wrote:
What you do not want is any "tribal knowledge" or "employee subjectivity" embedded in how any manufacturing job is performed. Your comment of "QC'ing the finished product" infers a very subjective check. To the contrary, what you want are explicit manufacturing procedures and checklists that dictate down to the smallest task what the employee does, what they are looking for, and how to properly document it. What you infer "takes too long" is in fact how all modern manufacturing is done these days.


Ironically, this is exactly why the theory seems impossible! If the quality indication had something to do with empirically based or unambiguous factors it would be much more workable. For example, mm of imprecision, alignment of pieces, even something appearance based like wood coloring (though this would be problematic as well). But how on earth are you going to rate something subjective as tone? One of the whole benefits of manufacturing is standardization/normalization. This is inconsistent with the notion of a 'tone grade'. Would fender have specifically trained QC'ers of tone going around testing all the guitars that come off the line so that they are consistently rated and you know that if you have a 4 rated guitar it isnt really a 2 rated guitar? Do the guitars get hooked up to a measuring device so that they can be consistently tone rated? In other words, you say you dont want any "employee subjectivity" intertwined in the manufacturing process but that is exactly what you are going to get with this kind of grading.

It doesnt seem particularly feasible to me....but just my opinion. Besides, my 4th character is a "0" - so much the better if it is true:)


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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:19 am
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OK. My serial # is, MZ6195564. Fender told me it was manufactured 26 Jan,2007 with either a rosewood or a maple fretboard, (they couldn't specify). It has rosewood. By this thread's criteria, the fourth # (1) is second from the top in tonal quality.

Yes it's a beautiful sounding and playing instrument, but that's just my opinion. If I compared it to a "0", would I think the "0" tone was better?

How could they objectively come up with these values?

This is a very interesting thread, that' sor sure! Glad I don't have one of those loser 4 MIMs.

Gridlok


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Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:00 pm
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Here's another thing that leads me to believe this is bogus. Yesterday, cvilleira posted a link to a site that documents the entire process at the Fender Mexico plant. If you didn't see it, check it out at http://reviews.photoweborama.com/allthingsguitar1/fendertour/index.html.

Nowhere is this "grading" process mentioned.

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:33 pm
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paisley strat wrote:
I am curious to know how a person who is not a Fender employee would know that kind of info., and where did he get it from. If it were common knowledge, so many guitars for sale would sit on store shelves not sold due to a low grading of body and neck. It sounds kinda weird to me.


Dude's it's what he (the luthier) tells people so that they feel good about their guitar.

If I'm not mistaken, the wood parts for the MIM guitars are actually manufactured in the Corona facility and then shipped "down south" for final finishing and assembly. The serial numbers are assigned early in the build process so how is anyone going to know what a guitars "tonal quality" is before it's assembled.

No offense GT, I think you're a righteous dude, but he may have been "leading you down the garden path" with his magic serial decoder ring story.

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:55 pm
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russianracehorse wrote:
Sounds legit to me. But then, I think green M&Ms make you horny... :roll:


Now that is not an uban legend. It's fact!

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:57 pm
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Somehow.....with no facts, or evidence (on my part)....this story just doesn't sound right. Anway....I love the guitars that I have, and I haven't even gone to look to the serial numbers, since I've read this post.

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:12 pm
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dgonz wrote:
So the grade is then...

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, Squier?


Nope its:

Custom Shop, MIA, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, Squier

:D

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:03 pm
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How about this? Do you want me to go back and find out how he knows this? Maybe I can ask him if he can decode any other digits or guitars?

To me it sounds perfectly plausible and reasonable, but my belief is based more on the reputability of the source.

Or is this all just too stressful on every one here ... :roll:

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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:28 pm
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I would love to know how he found this out.

If it is true(sorry highly doubt this) my 50's Classic(0) should have better tone unplugged than my Standard(3). To my ear, the Standard has better resonance unplugged than the 50's. Opposite of what should be if the numbers have any bearing on tone.


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Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:31 pm
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01GT eibach wrote:
How about this? Do you want me to go back and find out how he knows this? Maybe I can ask him if he can decode any other digits or guitars?

To me it sounds perfectly plausible and reasonable, but my belief is based more on the reputability of the source.

Or is this all just too stressful on every one here ... :roll:

Yeah go back and interrogate him a little more ... and also try to get more information about anything he knows that can be useful to us hehe... :lol:


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