Hi folks,
Im new in here, and just got around here trying to date one of my strats(for whatever reason makes that important to me...)

according to the serial on the back of the head; its made in mexico 96/97 MN6xxxxx, but after reading these pages i took off the neck, and the only number on it is stamped 60142, now what does that mean??

the guitar has a date stamp: xx 04 1987; does that make it a japanese body, since to my knowing all bodies were made in japan in 85-87... the body also has a serial: M 50669

well, hope someone can help me out.

Have a nice day

Hey no problem...I think many of us tend to like to know as much about our instruments as we can, including the date. Welcome to the forum!



Well...the serial number isn't always the most accurate way of determining the date. As I understand it, the serial number on a headstock is applied before the neck gets it's finish (poly, lacquer, whatever). As such, sometimes the neck can end up sitting in a warehouse for a while before it get's used on a guitar body to make "a guitar". In the case of my '96 MIM for example, the serial number dates the guitar as a '92 but the neck and body stamps both say Feb XX 1996. Further, my wife bought the guitar for me brand new in the summer of '96...so I know that it's a '96 even though the serial number says otherwise.

I can't really tell you what those number mean on your neck (hopefully someone else with more experience will roll along here) but I am surprised that it does have a date marked at the end of the heal. Even on my '96 MIM the date stamp is very easy to read on both the neck and the body. In fact, here's a pic of the heal of my MIM...




You can clearly see the 08 Feb 1996 stamped there. If yours doesn't have a stamp like this, I find that a bit curious. Would very much like to see some pictures there before I make any subjective comments...





As far as the body goes, there is a bit of gray area there in regards to where things were actually made. Most Fender and Squier Strats of that era were made over in Japan (and later Korea) but from what I understand, not all of them...I've read in a couple of places where they did make some American Strats...or at least parts. From my experience, one of the big problems with Fender of that era is that they didn't really seem to keep any good records on anything. As far as the Japan instruments go, while they were typically of VERY good quality as far as workmanship and parts went, it has often appeared to me (and others) that the factory in Japan had a tendency to just "slap parts together" from whatever as in the bin on a given day. My '85 Squier Strat for example...I'm about 90% certain the guitar was all original when I bought it but she had a '62 reissue neck according to the stamp. Now if anything, the body would appear to be a 50's reissue of some kind based on the 8 hole pickguard (and no, there's no extra holes under). Further while my neck is clearly stamped on that guitar, there's very little info on the neck pocket of the body...nothing to indicate what it is or was intended to be. So that said, it'd be really hard to say much about the body being made in Japan. Just my opinion of course but I would take a close look at how the body is routed...or more specifically how cleanly it's been routed. The MIJ's have a reputation for having excellent workmanship and any that I've ever looked at have had -VERY- clean routing/tooling...more so than my MIM at any rate. If the tooling looks exceptionally clean, there's a good chance it could in fact be an MIJ body.

I can't really comment on the number that you have listed as a serial for the body. I don't think I've ever seen any Strats with a serial number on the body...but I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination there. Again here, would love to see some nice, clean sharp pictures. Based on the info you've provided so far, it sounds like you could just have a "mutt" or the proverbial Partscaster on your hands...not that there's anything wrong with that at all.

Hopefully someone will come along who can better identify those numbers for you but either way, if you can post some pics, I think that would help folks identify it for you a bit easier.

Good Luck,
Jim

Its nice to know that.. i thinks date with your strats is good.

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Welcome aboard Kelpie.

I'm willing to bet (sight unseen) that your neck on that instrument is pretty nice. There are couple members here that are in the same boat guessing the history of said guitar with that 5 digit numerical stamp on the heel. Unless others come forward, the timeframe seems to be 95-98. At least these are the years I've seen where this occurs. I've asked a Fender rep in the past about these numbers and he indicated that it was just as much a mystery to him as well.

I have a pic that shows a pallet of bodies that are in the pre-stage of being cut into the final shape, and attached to them is a sheet that has information that says this: Parts # 40856 * 120 pieces (total bodies on pallet) * 7-14/06

Maybe that 5 digit number at some point was an identifier for those bodies for what they would become. Maybe those bodies that were created during July 7th -14th of 06 were designated for something? It's all a mystery, but those of us who own these instruments are quite pleased with the finished product. I own two of them, and words cannot describe how pleased I am with both. It still would be nice to know what that numerical code means.

Just my .02