How do you date a Telecaster neck?

Checking the date range can be done by removing the neck of the guitar and checking the butt end of the neck heel for a stamped or written date (See picture for an example). Also, another good way to properly date Fender guitars is to check the components (pots, pickups, body dates).

When did Fender start stamping necks?

Starting about April 1962, Fender went from a hand written neck butt date to stamped date. Usually the date had a code (often mistaked as a day of the month/year) preceeding the date, to signify what model the neck belongs.

How do you date a Fender Telecaster?

The only way to try to find the date is to remove the neck from the body. If the year is unreadable, it can also be written on the body under the pickguard or in the cavity in which the pickups are. With Fenders from before 1955 you cannot use the serial numbers to determine the exact year of construction.

How do I know what model Telecaster I have?

Locations include:

1. At the top of the neck plate.
2. On the front or at the back of the headstock.
3. On the cover plate of the vibrato (on Stratocasters)
4. On the back of the vibrato cover plate (on early ’50s Stratocasters)
5. At the end of the heel of the neck.
6. Between the pick-up and the saddles (some Telecasters)

How old is my Fender Telecaster?

The only way to definitively date U.S. instruments with “V”-prefix serial numbers is to remove the neck and check the butt end of the neck heel for a production date, which may be stamped or written there. CBS sold Fender in March 1985.

How do I know which Telecaster I have?

What wood did Fender use in the 50s?

Fender used ash for electric guitar and bass bodies more or less exclusively from 1950 to mid-1956, and to the present continues to use ash on a relatively small number of instruments. Guitars and basses with blonde finishes typically have ash bodies because the wood “takes” that particular finish especially well.

What was the first Telecaster color?

The initial single-pickup production model appeared in 1950, and was called the Fender Esquire. Ash and maple were used to construct the body and neck respectively and the guitar came in one color – blond.

What year was Muddy Waters Telecaster?

1958
In 1957, Waters bought a brand new, 1958 Fender Telecaster. Originally white, with a maple neck, he replaced the neck with rosewood in 1961, had the guitar painted candy apple red, and replaced the knobs with those from a Fender amplifier.

What was the Telecaster originally called?

Fender responded by clipping the Broadcaster name off its headstock decals, so that they read only “Fender.” These “no-name” models came to be known as Nocasters, before being rebranded with the name Telecaster.