Hi Gang...

Hi... I bought my older strat back in '71 and Fender had just been sold to CBS. From what I read at the time, they had not made any changes to manufacturing yet.

I was lead to believe that my strat was built while Fender was still owner/controller but I want to know for certain.

Is there a listing somewhere that I could use to verify this from the seriel number?

I appreciate any leads if someone can tell me.

Love Ya'
Keni (In Exile)

I googled mine and it led me to a site that had all of the numbers listed and what year they corresponded to. Try that.

I was trying to find out if my '78 Strat was MIM or MIA, and read the short history of Fender here. Fender was sold to CBS in '65, so I think the chances of a '71 being manufactured before the sale, is rather slim. However, is IS possible that CBS Fenders from that period were still being manufactured to pre-CBS specs.

Here's a good website to learn about the changes to the Stratocaster in its first few decades:

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Thanks for the excellent leads and info everyone... I'm check into them further.

I already believed that CBS owned Fender when I bought the guitar, but I was told that no changes in manufacturing had occurred yet....

Maybe the website with the manufacturing info will tell me more....

Love Ya'
Keni

It is possible that the guitar you bought new in 1971 was made in 1965.

It just sat in the music shop for a few years.

Have you checked the thing for dates?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I guess it's possible that it's older than it's purchase date... But the store I bought it from was a very busy/popular store tho very small so I doubt they kept much stock for very long...

I'm looking into the dates and serial numbers asap....

Thanks...
Keni

Main differences are poly finishes on neck and body and pickups 100% machine wound and the big headstock if comparing a '71 Strat to a '65 one. I also recommend the "Provide" website, that's the online Bible IMO, great read.