Hey Ya'll,
Got a small conundrum and I need some insight. As I was trolling around on the net today looking for some info on a Squier Strat I'm considering, I ran across a website with some serial number info....here's the URL;

http://www.nzguitars.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9181


Just for sh*ts and giggles, I decided to take a look at the serial number on my '96 MIM and something seems to be amiss; according to the info on that website, the first number after the "MN" on a Mexican Strat is supposed to indicate the year. I.e., an MN4XXXXXX would indicate it's a Mexican made instrument made in 1994. The serial number on my Mexican Standard is MN4141322. The problem is that the body stamps indicate this instrument was made in 1996 and not 1996...the neck is clearly stamped "8 Feb 1996" and the body is stamped "Feb 14 1996" (I can provide pics if needed)....WTF? More over, I do seem to remember my wife buying me this guitar brand new in 1996.

soooo....is the info on that website just wrong or is there something unusual going on here? Doesn't really change anything about the guitar...she's still my favorite and all, but to me when the universe puts a mystery in front of you, you have an obligation to try and solve it .

BTW...if the info on that website is correct, the Squire Strat I'm looking at is a 1992 Korean made. I'm trying to do some horse trading for a couple of vintage pedals I own but don't use any more. The pedals are certainly worth more but I'd get more use out of another Strat and this Korean Squier actually looks pretty decent (although she certainly needs some clean up).

Thoughts on the serial number thing?

Thanks!
Jim

Jim pedals are always of interest to me, and I dont mean the new pooteek rip offs or tubescreamers and their endless copies. I want old gnarly unfriendly pedals that make individual noises. Please out of respect to the site email WHY to nikininja@ntlworld.com We'll take it from there eh?

Onto your serial no' question. Its entirely possible that the neck was made and logo'd in 94, but not tunered/nutted and put to a body till 96.

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No no and no

Just sent ya an email on that.



Ok...I sort of get what your saying here in that they put the serial on the headstock when the neck is made (right?) but the date stamp on the neck...shouldn't that indicate when the neck was made also? More over, if the neck was stamped when it went on the body, in this case that wouldn't be possible since in this case, the body is stamped about a week after the date on the neck. So....huh?

Also...and call me naive here but to me logic would seem to indicate the the serial number would go on when the instrument was assembled to reflect the entire instrument and not just the neck....? Obviously I must be getting something wrong here but the date stamp at the heal of the neck would seem to indicate to me when the neck was actually made and the serial number would reflect the other info...hence my confusion.

There's something I'm missing here....

nah the serial goes on before the neck gets lacquered. My suspicion is that they are put into some warehouse/drying area then and not touched till their going to be used. I reckon its the same for bodies too. No conclusive proof just my mental wanderings.

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No no and no

Hhmmmm...yea...I guess that does make sense that they'd put the serial on before the finish. Hadn't thought about that.

Hey...another dumb question for you...or anyone really. Any idea what kind of wood the body on that '92 Korean Strat is made of...alder? basswood? poplar? Any idea how I'd find out?

Thanks,
Jim