Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Serial Number
Chris Troupe
Fender Tube amp codes:
1953-1970 - (look for a 2 letter code stamped on the tube chart inside the back of the amp)- the first letter is the year, and the second letter is the month. An amp stamped NA would have been made in Jan. of 1964. Here is a list of the first letter showing the year of manufacture.
These codes have nothing to do with the serial number that is stamped on the right rear of the chassis - Those numbers are posted below.
EIA numbers taken from the transformers may help you to determine the date of production on amps that fall between the different dating schemes. These numbers always begin with "606", and are followed by three or four digits in various combinations. If three digits are present, the first digit would refer to the year i.e. ("7" would mean 1967). If four digits are present, the first two digits refer to the year i.e. ("66" would mean 1966). The last two digits would refer to the week of the year i.e. ("26" would mean the 26th week or approximately June). An example would be: EIA 606-4-21 would mean the 21st week of 1964.
It's important to know how to date a Fender amp to begin to find its value. Fender Deluxe values depend on the model, year of manufacture, condition, and originality. Here's a great resource for Fender amp dating: How to date a Fender Amp. It's tempting to go straight to the serial number, but Fender amp serial numbers are model specific and we don't have the records from Fender to compare them to. That's why Fender amp serial numbers from the 1950s and 1960s aren't very helpful for dating a Fender Deluxe amp.
Amazingly clean 1966 Fender Deluxe Amplifier! This amp is all original, with the exception of a 3 prong power cord and new filter caps. The speaker dates to the 37th week of 1966, transformers and choke all date to 1966, serial number is A06252. No notable rips, tears or scuffs on the tolex or grill to mention. Recently serviced and sounds perfect without issue. This is a best case scenario example! Comes complete with non-original foot switch.
A limited number of these "H", "I" and "K" series guitars were made in '89 and '90. They were made for the export market and have Made in USA stamped on the heel of the neck. Serial numbers are on the front of the headstock.
Above is a 1989 Fender advertisement showing the new Deluxe Strat Plus model. Notice the Plus DX in the picture how it the Silver-Silver-Blue Lace Sensors! OK, keep that in mind. Then if you can read the print on this add, you will see on the left side where it mentions Picking up where pickups left off. In that section it mentions the Deluxe American Standard Stratocaster, and how they came with Blue, Silver and red Lace Sensors. I talk in detail about this guitar, as it is NOT a Strat Plus. Click here to learn more: It Looks Like a Plus, But it's NOT! This is simply a short lived American Standard Strat that they popped some Lace Sensors in, and the truth is, almost none came with those pickups, but instead used 3 Gold Lace Sensors. Some people think there was less than 400 of these made, but I think there were a number more than that. I will explain more about the new Version 1 Strat Plus' as we go on.
By early 1988 Fender had settled on the design of the Standard Strat Plus guitar using the full Wilkinson roller nut and brushed chrome Schaller locking tuners . They also had serial numbers, by mid-1988, that actually matched the year of production! Early on they used E4xxxx for their 1987 and early-1988 Plus guitars. (Some say they were using up their old Fullerton water-slides while they were waiting for new ones to be made). This means E8xxxxx was built 1988 and E9xxxx in 1989. But here is the odd things. While the Strat Plus was settled in to a design and serial number dating, along came the Strat Plus DX!
This is it, the very beginning of the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster line. In this article we examine the 1998-2003 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. Firstly, I think we need to discuss why the Fender American Deluxe Strat was created. Fender corporation had seen for years how players would buy Stratocasters and modify them. They would hot rod their guitars by changing pickups, rewiring electronics, changing necks and replacing tuners in addition to any number of other modifications to the Stratocaster.
The guitar featured Fender Schaller deluxe staggered cast and sealed locking tuning machines. The staggered heads eliminated the need for two string trees. The string tree is notorious for introducing friction and drag to the strings. Friction drag causes tuning issues when using the tremolo. The single string tree used on the American Deluxe Stratocaster was a round string tree which caused much less friction than the flat string tree found on older Strats. A little lubricant on this chrome string tree makes it pretty much frictionless. As a result, the locking tuners combined with the new string tree and 2-point synchronized tremolo help the American Deluxe Stratocaster to stay in tune incredibly well.
The most important thing to keep in mind when dating a Fender is the highly modular nature of the designs. Like Henry Ford, part of Leo Fender's genius was in optimizing the company's production efficiency. His guitars were built en masse by an entire factory, not a single luthier toiling over one instrument at a time. Features like bolt-on necks and pickups wired into the pickguard all helped the Fender factory churn out guitar after guitar, day after day. This also means that various parts used on a particular guitar may have come from different points in time, so no single number can absolutely define when the instrument was built.
Instead, the best approach to dating a Fender is to combine indicators from the design of the instrument, the dates found on the neck and body, along with the serial number. Once you have the information you need, if you're interested in selling your Fender, you can use Reverb to get it in front of the largest audience of musicians in the world by clicking on this link.
I will also mention briefly pot-codes as a resource (numbers on the internal potentiometers of the guitar). These can definitely be useful in cases where no other numbers exist, but just tell when the pot itself was made. Who knows how long it was waiting in the Fender factory before finding its way into a Tele?
Like the body and neck dates, using serial numbers to date a Fender is not a sure bet. At many points in Fender's history, serial number usage overlapped again owing to the modular manner of production. Below we'll go into detail about the various serial number schemes employed by Fender as far back as 1950. There are certainly plenty of exceptions, so again, using serial numbers in conjunction with other dating methods is always the best bet.
In the early years, Fender serial numbers schemes were specific to the model. Esquires, Broadcasters and Telecasters shared a serial number sequence, while the landmark Precision Bass had its own system. In this early period, the serial number can be found on the bridge of the instrument (see image).
By mid-1954, Fender began using a universal serial number sequence for all its instruments. At this time, the location of the serial number also shifted from the bridge to the neckplate (the metal plate located on back of where the neck meets the body).
At the very end of 1962 and into 1963, Fender changed to a system where serial numbers began with an "L." According to some accounts, the L was supposed to just be a 1 to mark the cross over into the 100,000 range from the previous scheme, but an L was used by mistake.
After the CBS purchase of Fender in 1965, the factory switched to a new serial sequence with numbers that continued the same general format used prior to the takeover. These are generally referred to as F series due the large Fender branded F on the neckplates of the era. This period also saw a switch from the orginal four-bolt neckplate of the '60s to a three-bolt neckplate in just one example of cost-saving costs introduced under CBS.
Starting in 1976, Fender transitioned to a new serial number scheme and moved the placement of most serial numbers to the headstock of the instrument. Depending on the era and model, the number can be found on either the front or back of the headstock.
After a short period of overlap with the old system, the post-76 numbers will start with a letter that indicates the decade, followed by a number that indicates the year of that decade. The decade letter codes break down like this: S = 1970s, E = 1980s, N = 1990s, Z = 2000s. In the 2000s, you'll also see serials starting with a DZ which indicates the Deluxe series, but the format is otherwise the same.
This scheme is not 100% consistent due to a number of production factors, such as Fender producing more serialized decals than needed in a given year. This is particularly pronounced in the transitional period of the mid-'80s, though the system has been pretty much on point since about 1990.
The major exception to all of this is the American Vintage Reissue (AVRI) series. These have serial numbers starting with V and do not strictly correlate to years. The neck dates on these guitars, however, are usually reliable.
Fender Japan serial numbers can usually be found on the back of the neck near the neck joint. Though examples also exist with the number on the headstock or the neck-plate in the case of certain early reissue models. Up until 1997, the serial was paired with the words "Made in Japan."
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