Tele dating

[Ian Price]

Just lookin around on the net as I'm trying to get a rough date that my tele was made. The two things that are currently confusing me are the neck plate and neck. The neck plate has a serial number of 615232 and the neck has a stamp of 13014214.






Using http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html#serial I am getting a serial number date of around 1975 but a neck date of 1971. Do others on here think this is accurate?

Would be grateful if anyone on here can give me a hand!

Cheers,

Ian.

[MrBump]

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Black nail polish is becoming fashionable 'round these here parts...

[Ian Price]

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Black nail polish is becoming fashionable 'round these here parts...

 :lol:

Just to clarify - the black nail varnish isn't mine! Ben at Feline Guitars took the photo when the neck was having new frets put on.

[Tellboy]

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Black nail polish is becoming fashionable 'round these here parts...

Yep...but it appears to be only Tele players.......dam it has Roo been right all this time ??? :lol:

[Twinfan]

70s Fender and Gibsons are notoriously difficult to date.  "Early 70s" may be the best guess...

[AndyR]

:lol:
Hell... playing right into Roo's hands (now where's that bottle of acetone?)

I get the impression from the TDPRI forums, if the dates are accurate, that this is quite common, and doesn't necessarily mean the neck and body were originally different guitars. Necks are quite often older than the finished guitar.

There seems to be some debate over how accurate these dating sites can be as well - due to the facts obtainable (ie serial number info) being somewhat variable. But this seems to particularly apply to Fender Japan - I had the impression that the Fender US stuff was reasonably accurate.

If you really want to know, I'd suggest asking around TDPRI - loads of people willing to "stick their or in" on subject like this. They're a little less relaxed and friendly than on here (especially to newbies who don't show the "proper" respect! :lol:) but they're still a very friendly site in the general scheme of things...

I suspect the sum of the answers will be  - "it's probably YYYY, you'll never really know for certain but it looks/feels authentic, enjoy..."

EDIT: Sounds like Twinfan's been over there as well! :lol:

[Johnny Mac]

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Black nail polish is becoming fashionable 'round these here parts...

 :lol:

Just to clarify - the black nail varnish isn't mine! Ben at Feline Guitars took the photo when the neck was having new frets put on.

:lol: I went urgh when I saw that! Very funny!!

[Ian Price]

If you really want to know, I'd suggest asking around TDPRI - loads of people willing to "stick their or in" on subject like this. They're a little less relaxed and friendly than on here (especially to newbies who don't show the "proper" respect! :lol:) but they're still a very friendly site in the general scheme of things...

Been on the TDPRI - they were pretty helpful actually. Date estimates have been from 72 (due to the second string tree) to 75 (due to the serial number).

I may well post more on TDPRI in the future. It seems to be a very good source of reference info on all things tele. The BKP forum will always be my home though!

[MrBump]

Yeah, I like TDPRI - it's another "nice" forum, not too much bitching and back biting.

Mark.

[Philly Q]

If you really want to know, I'd suggest asking around TDPRI - loads of people willing to "stick their or in" on subject like this. They're a little less relaxed and friendly than on here (especially to newbies who don't show the "proper" respect! :lol:) but they're still a very friendly site in the general scheme of things...

Been on the TDPRI - they were pretty helpful actually. Date estimates have been from 72 (due to the second string tree) to 75 (due to the serial number).

I may well post more on TDPRI in the future. It seems to be a very good source of reference info on all things tele. The BKP forum will always be my home though!

TDPRI is a great site for information - I've never felt any particular need to sign up though, they tend to be a bit serious and stay "on topic" all the time (Philistines!).

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Yeah, in two days we've had "Tele Love" and now "Tele Dating"...

... it has to be "Tele Weddings" next.  :?

[MrBump]

If you really want to know, I'd suggest asking around TDPRI - loads of people willing to "stick their or in" on subject like this. They're a little less relaxed and friendly than on here (especially to newbies who don't show the "proper" respect! :lol:) but they're still a very friendly site in the general scheme of things...

Been on the TDPRI - they were pretty helpful actually. Date estimates have been from 72 (due to the second string tree) to 75 (due to the serial number).

I may well post more on TDPRI in the future. It seems to be a very good source of reference info on all things tele. The BKP forum will always be my home though!

TDPRI is a great site for information - I've never felt any particular need to sign up though, they tend to be a bit serious and stay "on topic" all the time (Philistines!).

Saw the topic title, and thought to myself - "that's taking Tele appreciation too far...  unless the Tele was buying dinner..."

Yeah, in two days we've had "Tele Love" and now "Tele Dating"...

... it has to be "Tele Weddings" next.  :?

No, I suspect in this day and age it would be Tele Underage Teen Pregnancy before the Tele Shotgun Wedding...

Has this post somewhat lost the plot..?

[Roobubba]

It has now!

:D

[PhilKing]

It is always hard to get an exact match between the neck plate and the neck for dates on Fenders, I have them with a couple of years difference over what the books say, though they usually have a variation if you look at the serial number lists.  Basically all the neck plates were in a bin and it got topped up so that some plates near the bottom didn't get used for a while.

I would have guessed mid-70's becasue of a couple of things, one is the style of the neck stamp which came in around 1974 and the other is the 600000 series serial number.  The Duchossoir Tele book puts them as 74 through early 76 (in 76 the serial numbers moved to the headstock).

[Ian Price]

Cheers Phil - most useful.