Hey folks,

I have checked and played a 74 Strat. WOW that guitar blew me away, but when we checked the pick ups, they had no grey bottom, they were black. Further to that the neck stamp was hardly readable, so I couldn't really read the number that indicates the year. It is really frustrating! My plan was to sell this guitar in 15-20 years....so from a strategic point of view I need a guitar where all stamps are unambiguous - at least this is what I think...

Is any of you guys familiar with dealing with vintage guitars and can give me new hope for this beautiful guitar? I have enough great players and wanted a great player plus a good investment in one guitar...

Here's the pictures the seller took the day that I was at his home. He was surprised, too. This guy is a very serious seller, well known here in Germany! No foul play at all here.

Pls click on the pix so they appearin a larger version.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7225/1974details.jpg

Thank you very much for your input in this case.

The neck appears to date from '71, the pot codes are for late '73. Not sure about the pickups - maybe somebody put in a set of older ones? More info here: http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

I don't think the neck is from 1971. They were Month/Year stamping them still at that time. Unfortunately, those mid '70s codes are inconsitent in terms of which digits stood for what. See http://www.ggjaguar.com/neckcode2.htm

I think the 4 21 means 1974, 21st week. That's my bet.

The pickguard is not original (see the extra hole). The pickups are not original and they are not vintage. I don't know what to make of the black paint remnants in the cavities.

If it's a good player, buy it. But don't buy it as an investment piece.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

According to the reference you posted they only transposed the last two digits, the first two were always the week code which would be 42 (early September). The question is the last digit which sort of looks like a 7 to me. That would make it either Sunday in 71 (unlikely? did they work Sundays?) or Monday in 77 if you assume the day/year digits are transposed and the last digit is a 7.

Either way it's a CBS guitar so the mods don't make as much difference to the value as they would on a non CBS and if it's a good player I'd say get it.

My reading of this site http://www.ggjaguar.com/neckcode2.htm indicates that the year could have been first. My experience with these type of neck codes is that 1974 is the most confused year. After that, the week/year/day pattern seems very consistent.

In fact, I have a 1974 (in the same color, walnut, as the guitar in question) and its date code is 4162. The the only interpretation I can come to is the 16th week of 1974. No way it could be the 41st week of 1976 (the serial number is not on the headstock), just like that guitar is not a 1971.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.