Guitarguy2039 Posted January 26 Posted January 26 My dad gave me his Strat, it’s a 2001 highway 1 in coca with a maple neck, he’s modded it with fender locking tuners and fender noiseless pickups. From my research/understanding only 30ish were made in this colour? I’ve tried searching the serial number but nothing came up? Quote
Crusoe Posted January 27 Posted January 27 There's something odd looking about the serial number. the Z2 looks to be in a different typeface to the rest of it. 1 Quote
EdwardMarlowe Posted January 31 Posted January 31 On 27/01/2025 at 11:05, Crusoe said: There's something odd looking about the serial number. the Z2 looks to be in a different typeface to the rest of it. It does look odd, though googling for photos of Fender serial numbers turns up these images: My best guess is what we're seeing is the difference between the template that appears on every guitar and that individual guitar's number added in. Not sure whether Fender maybe do that by design - is a fake likely to look all the same font all matching? A sort of double bluff to throw off the counterfeiters... 1 Quote
Crusoe Posted February 3 Posted February 3 On 31/01/2025 at 18:16, EdwardMarlowe said: It does look odd, though googling for photos of Fender serial numbers turns up these images: My best guess is what we're seeing is the difference between the template that appears on every guitar and that individual guitar's number added in. Not sure whether Fender maybe do that by design - is a fake likely to look all the same font all matching? A sort of double bluff to throw off the counterfeiters... Yeah, I think you might be right. MX for Mexico, JD for Japan, Z for... Zimbabwe? That powerhouse of African musical instrument manufacture 1 Quote
EdwardMarlowe Posted February 3 Posted February 3 4 hours ago, Crusoe said: Yeah, I think you might be right. MX for Mexico, JD for Japan, Z for... Zimbabwe? That powerhouse of African musical instrument manufacture If this is right, https://www.mooreguitars.com/dating-fender-american-models , they had a Z on the start of US serial numbers from 2000-2009. I suppose they started with just numbers, then an A, then... and so on. No idea what they do post 2009, it's been a very long time since I could think of even looking at the US guitars financially. 1 Quote
Crusoe Posted February 4 Posted February 4 18 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said: If this is right, https://www.mooreguitars.com/dating-fender-american-models , they had a Z on the start of US serial numbers from 2000-2009. I suppose they started with just numbers, then an A, then... and so on. No idea what they do post 2009, it's been a very long time since I could think of even looking at the US guitars financially. And they way things are going, it'll probably be a while longer. 1 Quote
EdwardMarlowe Posted February 14 Posted February 14 On 04/02/2025 at 09:43, Crusoe said: And they way things are going, it'll probably be a while longer. Ain't that the truth! I don't think the pound has topped USD1.31 in nearly a decade now. Long gone are the glory days of US2.20 to the pound. Back in 2008, I was buying things online from the US I could have bought in a shop here, but getting them for half the London price, even after including shipping and import. Not a chance of that now. 1 Quote
