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Post subject: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:15 pm
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I've been lucky enough to be able to buy a new American Standard Telecaster, in two tone sunburst with a maple fingerboard,
A truly beautiful guitar in every sense, sound feel, looks, it's got it by the truckload,
But apart from that, my question is, why is there no prefix in the serial number? which starts 10 :roll:


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:24 pm
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alun wrote:
I've been lucky enough to be able to buy a new American Standard Telecaster, in two tone sunburst with a maple fingerboard,
A truly beautiful guitar in every sense, sound feel, looks, it's got it by the truckload,
But apart from that, my question is, why is there no prefix in the serial number? which starts 10 :roll:


It is a 2010; Fender's "Product Dating" pages are way outdated - I don't think they have been updated since 2005. Yours is from the first half of 2010.

For 2010 Fender changed from their Letter/Number prefix system that had been used since the 1970s; from about January to about May Fender just used a "10" prefix; the "10" is pretty close to the same font as the other digits of the serial number.

Evidently Fender wasn't happy with that number system so about May they changed to a "US10" prefix; the "US10" is visibly bolder and a slightly different font than the remaining digits.


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:31 pm
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Thank you for that. :D


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:48 am
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Hi,

Same question about prefix for American Standard Telecaster.
The guitar has a number US102242 and an engraving Telecaster 60 years.
The seller told me that it's a model of 2011.
Is it real American Standard Telecaster of 2011?
Or may be real but just another year?

Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:49 am
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Sargent_D wrote:
Hi,

Same question about prefix for American Standard Telecaster.
The guitar has a number US102242 and an engraving Telecaster 60 years.
The seller told me that it's a model of 2011.
Is it real American Standard Telecaster of 2011?
Or may be real but just another year?

Thanks


No, it would be a legit 2011. Fender doesn't throw away the unused decals when they come back to work after New Year's day; they tend to use them up before changing over to the next series.

I think ones with "US11" serial numbers are just now hitting the stores. I just spotted an American Deluxe Strat on a dealer's website in their "new arrivals" section about 2 weeks ago with a "US11" serial number; that is the first (and to date the only) Fender I've seen with the new numbers. All of the 60th Anniversary Teles I've seen to date have had the "US10" serial numbers.


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 12:18 pm
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Well, it's clear now. Many thanks


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 1:53 am
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I have a empress telecaster # honey burst US12036233. I too wonder how I can validate it. I have the card that hanged with it on the rack, and the hard skb case casealong with strap and someother fender items. Ideas?

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Empress tele 2012..


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 7:24 am
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topsound-all u need ent wrote:
I have a empress telecaster # honey burst US12036233. I too wonder how I can validate it. I have the card that hanged with it on the rack, and the hard skb case casealong with strap and someother fender items. Ideas?


Sometimes someone from Fender (usually Rob Schwartz, head of Customer Service) will reply with info on the forum, but your best bet will be to email the serial number to Consumer Relations at consumerrelations@fender.com. They will be able to confirm the specs for you.

The Empress model was a limited run for the Tele's 60th Anniversary in 2012; they only made a few of them (it could have been 500 in each color, but it could have been 500 in total across the 2 colors).


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 12:43 pm
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John C wrote:
topsound-all u need ent wrote:
I have a empress telecaster # honey burst US12036233. I too wonder how I can validate it. I have the card that hanged with it on the rack, and the hard skb case casealong with strap and someother fender items. Ideas?


Sometimes someone from Fender (usually Rob Schwartz, head of Customer Service) will reply with info on the forum, but your best bet will be to email the serial number to Consumer Relations at consumerrelations@fender.com. They will be able to confirm the specs for you.

The Empress model was a limited run for the Tele's 60th Anniversary in 2012; they only made a few of them (it could have been 500 in each color, but it could have been 500 in total across the 2 colors).


The Empress Tele was part of the Telebration run of Telecasters. Twelve distinct, limited models released approx. every month and a half from 4th Qtr. 2010 thru the early 2nd Qtr. 2012.

The Empress Telecaster (Paulownia tomentosa ) was released in two colors of 300 each, Honeyburst and Vintage White.

I own a Vintage White model (on the left below):

Image

Great guitar, nice Tone and super-light !

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 2:38 pm
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John C wrote:
alun wrote:
I've been lucky enough to be able to buy a new American Standard Telecaster, in two tone sunburst with a maple fingerboard,
A truly beautiful guitar in every sense, sound feel, looks, it's got it by the truckload,
But apart from that, my question is, why is there no prefix in the serial number? which starts 10 :roll:


It is a 2010; Fender's "Product Dating" pages are way outdated - I don't think they have been updated since 2005. Yours is from the first half of 2010.

For 2010 Fender changed from their Letter/Number prefix system that had been used since the 1970s; from about January to about May Fender just used a "10" prefix; the "10" is pretty close to the same font as the other digits of the serial number.

Evidently Fender wasn't happy with that number system so about May they changed to a "US10" prefix; the "US10" is visibly bolder and a slightly different font than the remaining digits.

Were Strats numbered different from Teles? I have a 2010 Strat I bought in early April 2010 and it has the US10 prefix.


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Post subject: Re: Telecaster serial number prefix's
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 6:09 pm
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Minnesotastrats wrote:
John C wrote:
alun wrote:
I've been lucky enough to be able to buy a new American Standard Telecaster, in two tone sunburst with a maple fingerboard,
A truly beautiful guitar in every sense, sound feel, looks, it's got it by the truckload,
But apart from that, my question is, why is there no prefix in the serial number? which starts 10 :roll:


It is a 2010; Fender's "Product Dating" pages are way outdated - I don't think they have been updated since 2005. Yours is from the first half of 2010.

For 2010 Fender changed from their Letter/Number prefix system that had been used since the 1970s; from about January to about May Fender just used a "10" prefix; the "10" is pretty close to the same font as the other digits of the serial number.

Evidently Fender wasn't happy with that number system so about May they changed to a "US10" prefix; the "US10" is visibly bolder and a slightly different font than the remaining digits.

Were Strats numbered different from Teles? I have a 2010 Strat I bought in early April 2010 and it has the US10 prefix.


No, the serial number formats are the same. The first posts on this thread are from January 2011; at that time I was guessing based on when I saw my first "US10xxxxxx" serial number Fender in person. A few months later in 2011 we did track down that the change from the "10xxxxxx" format to the "US10xxxxxx" format happened in March of 2010.


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