Knowing your Fender Japan guitars a little more

[relinquish69]

Don't know what model your Fender Japan guitar is? Having trouble finding out what guitar you have based on the parts?

How can you confirm that you have a 100% original Fender Japan guitar and not some part-o-caster?

If you are having trouble like this guy here:
http://www.soft.com.sg/forum/showth...aster-550-(Final-Offer)&p=1250857#post1250857

A few easy steps to help you.

1) Unscrew the 4 bolts to remove the neck from the body (this is not rocket science and would not cause set up or intonation problems).

2) See whether the neck stamp matches the body stamp. In most cases they should match.

Body pocket shot (you can see the model number stamped there):

Neck butt shot:

3) Trace the date with the serial number (In my case, it's E serial which is made between 1984-1987 right after the JV Era)

4) Search for your guitar on the right catalogue to find out more

Presto! you've got your specs. Hope this helps.

Keep your comments coming if you have more questions.

 

[mightyboy88]

thanks for the informative thread bro

http://www.guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx
can check serial number with year of production here

 

[relinquish69]

For Japanese serial numbers, refer to this picture:
http://www.google.com.sg/imgres?um=...220&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:0,i:135

They are reusing the "Made in Japan" serial numbers. The difference is that the newer fonts are thicker.

Serial number is not the best way to determine whether you have a real Fender or not. The best is to be familiar with the parts especially the body and neck.