Salut pourrais t'on m'eclairer sur ce serial: SE-921425,
Moi je trouve quelle est de 89 mais ca parait bizarre
et jai aussi trouve ca
The Serial Number Problem
The difficulty in determing where your SRV Strat fits into the production line lies in the fact that Fender serial numbering, apparently, has only to do with internal stock control and not particular dates of manufacture. The SE9xxxx decals were probably purchased for use in 1989, but weren't used on SRV's until 1992. Further complicating matters, the SRV did not have its own block of numbers. In other words, SE905653 is an SRV, but SE905654 may be a Jeff Beck Strat or something else.
You would think that the lowest serial numbers would be the oldest and be the ones with Brazilian rosewood, but one fan says he has seen an SE9046xx with pau ferro, and SE905xxx's and SE906xxx's with Brazilian. It appears that all the SE91xxxx's and later numbers are the pau ferro, however.
Some say that Stevie had already approved use of the pau ferro as a substitute for Brazilian rosewood because it was more readily available, would cause the guitar to be less expensive, and would stand up to more use and refret jobs. If so, you might ask why there would be any Brazilian rosewood fingerboards on SRV's, and why all the original promotional material refers to Brazilian rosewood. Perhaps the planned but never built Custom Shop SRV's with Brazilian rosewood were the source of the Brazilian stock on early SRV's. Well, if the stock meant for the Custom Shop SRV's was used on the standard SRV's, maybe it means there are as many as 500 SRV's with Brazilian rosewood. Or, maybe the statements attributed to Fender employees are correct - only 50 to 100 SRV's have Brazilian, and the rest of the stock was used on other guitars.
So What Do We Rely On?
One fan says the markings on the pickups and the codes in the tremolo cavity are not date codes, though the round brown sticker in one of mine says "2-23" which would jive with other dates on the guitar. If you take the neck off, there are dates on the neck heel and sometimes in the neck slot on the body, but unfortunately they are often illegible. Finding a legible date seems to be the only reliable way to find your SRV's place in the production line.
Conclusion
Based on the chart below, the easiest way to reconcile all this information is that the SE90xxxx serial numbers were not used in order from lowest to highest. In other words, the pau ferros with lower serial number are newer than the Brazilians with higher serial numbers. This could easily be the case if the numbers were just for internal stock control - what difference would it make which serial number decal they stuck on the guitar? Maybe they just handed a stack of decals to each of the people working on the SRV's without any care who was using which decal or when. If this is what happened, the only way to determine which SRV's are oldest is to take the neck off and hope the date stamps on the neck and neck pocket on the body are legible.
This theory also seems to be supported by the fact that there are two guitars with consecutive serial numbers in the chart below, but the necks were made seven weeks apart. Also notice SE907662 wasn't made until September, while others with close serial numbers were made in March, six months earlier.
Here's another guess from someone who has a dozen or more early SRV's and over 200 guitars. He speculates that the necks with Brazilian fingerboards are leftover stock from 1983-vintage '62 Reissue Strats. He bases this on his assessment that the markings and personnel initials in the Brazilians match those of some of his other 1983 Fenders. Also, he thinks the neck profiles of the early Brazilians are different than the SRV pau ferros, resembling the 1983-era '62 Reissues. Another owner agrees with this and says that the neck on his is actually dated 1982.
Quelqu'un pour eclairer ma lanterne?
Merci
Moi je trouve quelle est de 89 mais ca parait bizarre
et jai aussi trouve ca
The Serial Number Problem
The difficulty in determing where your SRV Strat fits into the production line lies in the fact that Fender serial numbering, apparently, has only to do with internal stock control and not particular dates of manufacture. The SE9xxxx decals were probably purchased for use in 1989, but weren't used on SRV's until 1992. Further complicating matters, the SRV did not have its own block of numbers. In other words, SE905653 is an SRV, but SE905654 may be a Jeff Beck Strat or something else.
You would think that the lowest serial numbers would be the oldest and be the ones with Brazilian rosewood, but one fan says he has seen an SE9046xx with pau ferro, and SE905xxx's and SE906xxx's with Brazilian. It appears that all the SE91xxxx's and later numbers are the pau ferro, however.
Some say that Stevie had already approved use of the pau ferro as a substitute for Brazilian rosewood because it was more readily available, would cause the guitar to be less expensive, and would stand up to more use and refret jobs. If so, you might ask why there would be any Brazilian rosewood fingerboards on SRV's, and why all the original promotional material refers to Brazilian rosewood. Perhaps the planned but never built Custom Shop SRV's with Brazilian rosewood were the source of the Brazilian stock on early SRV's. Well, if the stock meant for the Custom Shop SRV's was used on the standard SRV's, maybe it means there are as many as 500 SRV's with Brazilian rosewood. Or, maybe the statements attributed to Fender employees are correct - only 50 to 100 SRV's have Brazilian, and the rest of the stock was used on other guitars.
So What Do We Rely On?
One fan says the markings on the pickups and the codes in the tremolo cavity are not date codes, though the round brown sticker in one of mine says "2-23" which would jive with other dates on the guitar. If you take the neck off, there are dates on the neck heel and sometimes in the neck slot on the body, but unfortunately they are often illegible. Finding a legible date seems to be the only reliable way to find your SRV's place in the production line.
Conclusion
Based on the chart below, the easiest way to reconcile all this information is that the SE90xxxx serial numbers were not used in order from lowest to highest. In other words, the pau ferros with lower serial number are newer than the Brazilians with higher serial numbers. This could easily be the case if the numbers were just for internal stock control - what difference would it make which serial number decal they stuck on the guitar? Maybe they just handed a stack of decals to each of the people working on the SRV's without any care who was using which decal or when. If this is what happened, the only way to determine which SRV's are oldest is to take the neck off and hope the date stamps on the neck and neck pocket on the body are legible.
This theory also seems to be supported by the fact that there are two guitars with consecutive serial numbers in the chart below, but the necks were made seven weeks apart. Also notice SE907662 wasn't made until September, while others with close serial numbers were made in March, six months earlier.
Here's another guess from someone who has a dozen or more early SRV's and over 200 guitars. He speculates that the necks with Brazilian fingerboards are leftover stock from 1983-vintage '62 Reissue Strats. He bases this on his assessment that the markings and personnel initials in the Brazilians match those of some of his other 1983 Fenders. Also, he thinks the neck profiles of the early Brazilians are different than the SRV pau ferros, resembling the 1983-era '62 Reissues. Another owner agrees with this and says that the neck on his is actually dated 1982.
Quelqu'un pour eclairer ma lanterne?
Merci
