Don't know why I have the need to know this....but I picked up an "A" series strat MIJ in rough shape. Just finished the new frets....fun! NOT! When I took her apart...could tell never been apart.
Anyway, nice and clean inside. I'm guessing ceramic pups with exposed but not traditionally staggered Pole pieces...pickup covers...more that Ivory...roller nut, system one trem...anyway, the best guesses i got on the guitar are a 1985 or 86 contemporary stratocaster. The numbers stamped on the neck are on the broad side and not the end of the neck while the other is in the pocket. Neck, DST-562 followed by a red dot. there's also a "K" stamp. The body is stamped D557. Does anyone know how to date in more specifically by these numbers? Thank you for any thoughts!

ok.. I am not 100% but here it goes..
I have a 85 MIJ neck on my 07 MIM
here is a pic of the heal on my neck.
from what i understand on the code..
562 means... 5 for 85.? 62 for the reissue style of the 62 neck.?
ST..strat or standard, maybe the D on yours means deluxe.?
i just know it's thin, and i love it. also mine has a 1 with a circle around it.

are there charts for fender neck stamps.?

_________________
1986 Kramer Baretta
1989 Samick "The Samick" Les Paul
2007 Fender Strat MIM Deluxe / 1985 MIJ neck
1990 Epiphone Strat
Marshall JCM 2000 DLS 50 watt / Marshall 1960a 4x12

https://soundcloud.com/jim-slimjim-cassi

There's no way to date a Japanese Fender from these neck markings.
Mine's an '88 and has the same numbers.



It's not a 85 model or a 62 Re-issue. It's not that simple unfortunately.
They're just code numbers. The red letters seem to be individual inspectors.

Goodonya ...Mark.

see you learn something new every day...

_________________
1986 Kramer Baretta
1989 Samick "The Samick" Les Paul
2007 Fender Strat MIM Deluxe / 1985 MIJ neck
1990 Epiphone Strat
Marshall JCM 2000 DLS 50 watt / Marshall 1960a 4x12

https://soundcloud.com/jim-slimjim-cassi

ST-562 is the actual factory model number. Means it's a variant of the '62.

If you want to date a Japanese Fender, you date it off the serial number.

Thanks soooo much everybody! Unfortunately I can only trace it back to 85-86 because I guess the serial #'s kind of work like a crap shoot! Thankfully she feels great and when I get her back...will sound awesome! It sounded thin while I played it for a bit. Turned out there were broken string ends in the block preventing strings from being put on correctly....and the guy who owned it actually is a Very good guitar player and worked in a local shop for years.....well he was just feeding the strings thru the bridge of the system 1. No wonder it sounded sooo thin! Can't wait til she's back home!
Thanks again!