I have a 90's fender strat serial # is P840693 . I'm trying to find out more about this guitar & want to buy another neck like this one to go on my 80's mexican strat .





any help is greatly appreciated .

hey, welcome.

do a search on FENDER HM STRAT.

heres a wiki link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_HM_Strat

hope this helps for starters.

I met a guy with a rare MIA seafoam green HM strat for sale, for £500 lastweek. A good price for a very good guitar, if you fancy a trip to Lincoln.

BTW that serial looks like it begins with a R rather than a P to me. If it is a P, its a japanese instrument.

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No no and no

Ooo - I'm seeing that as an E, no?

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen HM Strat necks being sold seperately on the net from one of the trustworthy sources? I absolutely don't know, but I'm wondering whether this might be a difficult neck to find a legit replica for?

On the other hand, new 24 fret C shape necks can be had perfectly easily from one of the licensed makers. Just be sure a 24 fret neck will fit on another Strat without crashing into the neck pickup...

Cheers - C

Looks like an R to me.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Under magnification is looks to me like an E but I can also make myself see your R Mike. It's heck getting old!!
My final answer is it's an E!

I can now see E,P,R and K in that first digit. Seems to be a bit of a perk from sniffing ajax.

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No no and no

I've never seen a E series decal on the neck heel but my memory is as bad as my eyes. Why is the decal not straight? The numbers are all up and down and not in a straight line.

At first I was seeing either an "R" or an "E" as well so I downloaded the pic. I cropped the serial number and enlarged it a bit, ran some noise reduction then over-sharpened it a little...definitely looks like an "E" to me. And fhopkins is right...the 406 in that number is definitely not lined up. Here's the pic...





No offense or copyright infringement was intended in regards to the use of this image here...just trying to help do a little detective work. If there's still any question in regards to the serial number, I would suggest the OP re-shoot the picture under different lighting...maybe outdoors or something and maybe from a couple of different angles.

The instrument itself is obviously an HM Strat and based on the info here on Fender's website as well as on Wikipedia, the serial number as well as the headstock logo and curved neck plate would seem to indicate this instrument was made in either '88 or '89. If so, it's possible that it was assembled here in the US possibly with parts of Japanese origin. On the other hand, I'm certainly no expert...this is all just based on a Google search.

As far as finding another neck just like this one...at the risk of being blunt, good luck. My advice would be to keep an eye on Ebay, check out local guitar shows and especially music shops that specialize in "vintage instruments" and maybe post a few "wanted" ads at places such as Craigslist and such. Be ready to pay through the nose though...anyone who has one of the necks who's willing to part with it is probably going to be asking a pretty penny based on the rarity of this model.

Also, -if- you should find one of these necks, since you said it was for an "80's Mexican Strat" (I didn't think there were any 80's MIM's...I thought they didn't start making Strats in Mexico until 1990), you may very well wish to check your existing HM neck on that Mexican body to make sure it fits correctly. I would especially be concerned about the neck pocket and the scale length...as I recall, the HM Strats were a 24 fret neck and may be a longer scale length than a "traditional" Strat...you could run in to problems with intonation. I would also be concerned with string spacing as well...most (if not all) Mexican made Strats use a metric string spacing...if the HM neck is of USA origin, you could run in to issues. If you're serious about putting an HM neck on a Mexican body and assuming that the Mexican body is of a traditional Strat design, again I would check the neck you have now on the body that you're considering before you buy another HM neck...make sure it's all going to fit right and that intonation won't be a problem.


Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Peace,
Jim

Thanks for clearing some things up Jim!

under out door lighting & a magnifying glass it is an " E " . I have decided to leave the Mexican strat alone & try to find another HM Strat . Thanks for all the responses & info .