Fender date stamps - Advice needed.

designerseye88

Im currently interested in a pre CBS fender student model guitar. Looks like it could be a fun project. The guitar itself is in pretty poor condition but looks mostly original. However their is no date stamped or written on the neck. Is it normal to find an old fender neck without this? 

gringopig

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designerseye88

gringopig said:

Fender necks always had stamps I'm sure. From the Broadcaster and on. Here's mine on a '64 Duo-sonic:

It's actually a Duo-sonic that I'm looking at but has not stamp or anything on it

designerseye88

The neck is also a slab board 

poopot

Pre 62 (I think and stand to be corrected) the dates were written in pencil.

p90fool

They often disappear in a neck re-fin, especially the pencil ones. 

meltedbuzzbox

designerseye88 said:

The neck is also a slab board 

Do you know what year it's meant to be?
What kind of fender is it? You can usually marry the year to a slab as each model had a limited lifespan with slab boards

andrewaward

Some old Fenders had no neck dates, lots of 59s had no dates...…...so if its a 59 duo sonic say its possible it never had a date.

If the decal and neck finish is original, and its a 59, its possible it never had a pencil date

ICBM

If it’s a short-scale (22.5”/21-fret) neck it’s genuine - no-one would go to the trouble of faking one, even a complete 50s Duo-Sonic in good condition is only worth around a grand and a half.

(Edit - unless it’s a modern reissue which has been ‘aged’ - but these are easy to identify because they only have *20* frets not 21.)

If it’s a 24” scale (Duo-Sonic II, 1964 onwards) with a slab board it would have to be later, they reverted to slab boards briefly in 1966 on some short-scale necks. Duo-Sonic IIs with the 22.5” neck do exist, but it would be a round-lam board if it’s pre-CBS.