So far I have a date hand written on the neck butt: 10/27/87 (MMDDYY). I dont think the neck is original; its a little too narrow for the bridge. Someone once told me that neck widths changed after a certain date. Did anyone else hear this too?

The code on the pots is: R1378711 (R137YYWW) {W = week}

The neck plate serial number is: V030270 (I think the 'V' means vintage series?)

I think it is a U.S. vintage series 1962 reissue from 1987.

How can I tell if it was built in America or in Japan?

Anyone know wnything else from this code and date?

The pots are CTS, made in the 11th week of 1987.

AFAIK all the MIJ/CIJ instruments use electronics manufactured by Hitachi or Matsushita.

A safe bet that the guitar was prolly US-made.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Hi - lots of answers on your post over on The Gear Page; the consensus over there is it is a USA '62 Reissue from 1987. I put a post over there but forgot to answer the neck width question - the necks did get a little bit wider sometime between 1998-2000 - they went from being 1 5/8" wide (or 1.625" wide) at the nut to being 1.650" wide at the nut. That was kind of a "global change" for Fender; only their MIM 50s Tele and 50s Esquire models still use the 1.625" nut width. However, that change does not impact the width of the neck at the heel, just at the nut. The vintage Fenders (and the reissues) have a mix of a narrow neck width and fairly wide string spacing.

Cosmetically the 12th fret dot markers were moved to the vintage-correct position under the 2nd and 5th strings; the earlier models had a slightly narrower spacing on these dots.

Good point John C. I believe that the Japanese reissues had the correct spacing from the start ('82?), and the original US reissues had the narrow spacing, which was corrected in...I think '98?. So, if the dot spacing is vintage correct on an '87, that would indicate a Japanese, and if it has the narrow spacing it would be US.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

If you still have questions about your guitar you can call 480-596-9690.(Fender Consumer Relations) Just tell them you want to check a serial number. He will tell you everything about the guitar. Very helpful place to call. He can pull up the spec sheet on the guitar.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Their reply was;

"Sadly we do not have dating info that goes back that far, and cannot
look up an instrument by the SN# from that far back."

lol

I read somewhere that the records from the time FMIC took over the company (say February 1985) through 1993 or so were on paper and were destroyed in a fire before they could be loaded into Fender's computer system. They can only go back to sometime in 1993 once the records were put in the computer database. Of course FMIC did not get the individual sales records from CBS for earlier years when they bought the company.