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But as for a 74 serial number plate and a 73 neck date - Such matters are very common throughout the whole 50's, 60's and 70's - You have to remember Fender did not build guitars, they made parts and these parts were dated, accordingly as they went on - Parts were then placed in a bin (pots, serial number plates etc) or placed on shelves (bodies/necks) - Then at the end of the factory some one would take parts from storage and assemble the guitar - But parts were never placed in storage like supermarket vegetables, whereby you keep the oldest at the front - So common to find parts for a guitar that can read 2/3 different dates
In such an instance it is accepted + safe to assume that the youngest date, on any part, that you find on the guitar is the date - ie if you have a neck date 72, pick up dates 73, serial number 74 and pot dates 74, then the guitar can't possibly be 72 or 73 - Obviously assuming all parts are original for this example - We might wish each guitar to be older but the reality is that the youngest part(s) are in reality the date of the guitar - So based on your 74 serial number then safe bet to assume the Strat is a 74
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find a “74” serial number plate on a guitar with a 73 neck date, staggered-pole pickups and which did leave the factory in later 1973. If any of the pots are original it would help set a ‘not before’ date.
That said, I find the obsession with knowing the exact year date of musical equipment a bit ridiculous when it’s taken to extremes on things where it doesn’t really matter - in the shop, literally the first thing almost all buyers want to know about something, whether it’s a modern guitar or even an old cheap multi-FX pedal, is “what year is it?”.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
With the guitar not being all original, hard to say it it has had a neck change or not - As @ICBM indicates above I would not get worked up about it as not un-common for a Fender to have part dates that are 12-24 months apart - Late 60's even more so
No one thought anything of it at the time - But I know from my days in the 70's that you might have in stock 2 Strats - one with a maple board and a black finish and one r/wood board say natural finish - Customer would want to buy a black Strat with a rosewood board so you'd exchange necks - simple as - And I know it happened loads in many stores - Shops had far less stock then - If you had 10 Strats on the wall back in the 70's it was a good selection - As such you never had enough stock to cover all options regarding with/without trem, r/wood/maple and colours - And no one ever talked about that changing necks might cause issues on forums 40 years later, or indeed asking questions about it not being factory original
But IMO that now dates your neck as 75 and as such puts a date, based on other info, as 75 on your Strat
I would not encourage breaking it down into parts, as none of the parts are exactly premium sought-after
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Got around to sorting the strat out , tried to age the knobs and bridge pickup cover to match the rest of the guitar but not perfect especially the magnets in the bridge pickup which standout a bit.
Finally can get it up for sale so get some funds in .
Thanks for all the advice