[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":295},["ShallowReactive",2],{"guide:\u002Fguides\u002Fmij-vs-cij":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":282,"draft":283,"extension":284,"heading":285,"kicker":286,"lede":287,"meta":288,"navigation":289,"path":290,"seo":291,"stem":292,"updated":293,"__hash__":294},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fmij-vs-cij.md","MIJ or CIJ: Which Span a Fender Japan Serial Belongs To",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":271},"minimark",[9,13,18,30,36,40,43,56,69,77,108,132,141,145,177,192,198,202,241,245,248,251],[10,11,12],"p",{},"One of two phrases is printed beside the serial on a Japanese-made Fender headstock, and which one it is decides which span the number belongs to. Nothing in the digits says which. If you arrived here from a question the decoder asked, that is the question.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"where-the-wording-is","Where the wording is",[10,19,20,21,25,26,29],{},"Turn the instrument over. On a Japanese-made Fender the number is on the back of the headstock, and one of two phrases is printed or stamped alongside it, above the serial or beside it: ",[22,23,24],"code",{},"Made in Japan",", or ",[22,27,28],{},"Crafted in Japan",". Read it under a light before you answer, because the digits by themselves can't tell you which phrase was on the headstock.",[31,32],"gs-guide-decoder",{"brands":33,"placeholder":34,"scope-note":35},"fender","e.g. A123456","Fender · Japan from 1982",[14,37,39],{"id":38},"what-each-answer-changes","What each answer changes",[10,41,42],{},"There are three answers, and each does something different to the reading.",[10,44,45,48,49,51,52,55],{},[46,47,24],"strong",{}," or ",[46,50,28],{}," keeps the spans carrying that wording and rules the rest out. On five of the six letters that leaves exactly one, and the reading stops being a candidate set: the answer names the span, shows its opening year, and states probable confidence. The note beside the confidence level spells the span out, because the digits still don't pick a year inside it. On ",[22,53,54],{},"T"," the same answer can leave two, which is what the section below is about.",[10,57,58,61,62,65,66,68],{},[46,59,60],{},"Neither, or no wording at all"," withdraws the reading entirely. The serial goes back through the rest of our Fender records, and for five of the six letters there is nothing else there to match, so the answer is that nothing in our data matches the number. The sixth is ",[22,63,64],{},"A",": an ",[22,67,64],{}," and six digits is also the shape Fender used on amplifier serials, so that one comes back as an amplifier instead, and the tube chart is what dates it.",[14,70,72,73,76],{"id":71},"the-1997-wording-change","The ",[22,74,75],{},"1997"," wording change",[10,78,79,81,82,84,85,87,88,90,91,90,94,90,97,100,101,104,105,107],{},[22,80,28],{}," replaced ",[22,83,24],{}," on the decal in ",[22,86,75],{},", and the serial letters did not restart when it did. That is the whole of the problem. ",[22,89,64],{},", ",[22,92,93],{},"O",[22,95,96],{},"P",[22,98,99],{},"Q"," and ",[22,102,103],{},"S"," were each in use before the change and again after it, and ",[22,106,54],{}," sits across the point where the wording went back the other way, and takes a third span besides. Six letters, thirteen spans, one number shape.",[10,109,110,111,114,115,118,119,122,123,114,126,118,129,131],{},"Two letters escape it. ",[22,112,113],{},"JV"," (",[22,116,117],{},"1982"," to ",[22,120,121],{},"1984",") and ",[22,124,125],{},"SQ",[22,127,128],{},"1983",[22,130,121],{},") belong to the opening years of Japanese production and were never reused, so the decoder doesn't ask the wording question for either of them.",[10,133,134,135,140],{},"All of them are charted one by one on the ",[136,137,139],"a",{"href":138},"\u002Ffender-serial-numbers\u002Ffender-japan","Japan era page",", which is where to go for the years themselves.",[14,142,144],{"id":143},"the-letter-the-question-cant-finish","The letter the question can't finish",[10,146,147,149,150,152,153,118,156,90,159,152,161,118,164,167,168,170,171,118,173,176],{},[22,148,54],{}," needs a second look, because it is the one letter where answering the question doesn't leave you with a single span. Fender charts three runs against it: ",[22,151,24],{}," from ",[22,154,155],{},"1994",[22,157,158],{},"1995",[22,160,28],{},[22,162,163],{},"2007",[22,165,166],{},"2008",", and ",[22,169,24],{}," again from ",[22,172,163],{},[22,174,175],{},"2010",".",[10,178,179,180,182,183,185,186,188,189,191],{},"So ",[22,181,28],{}," is decisive here and ",[22,184,24],{}," is not. Answer ",[22,187,28],{}," and one span is left. Answer ",[22,190,24],{}," and the decoder shows both, more than a decade apart. What separates a mid-nineties instrument from a late-two-thousands one is its hardware, its finish and the date on the neck heel, and none of that is in the number.",[10,193,194,195,197],{},"On the other five letters the ",[22,196,24],{}," reading is the earlier of the two, and the question settles the reading outright.",[14,199,201],{"id":200},"when-the-question-is-not-about-japan","When the question is not about Japan",[10,203,204,205,207,208,90,211,90,214,48,217,220,221,100,224,227,228,231,232,234,235,237,238,240],{},"One letter raises a different question. An ",[22,206,103],{}," followed by six digits, where the first of those six is ",[22,209,210],{},"6",[22,212,213],{},"7",[22,215,216],{},"8",[22,218,219],{},"9",", is also the shape of a United States Fender made between ",[22,222,223],{},"1976",[22,225,226],{},"1981",". There the wording question is whether the headstock carries any country marking at all, because a US instrument of that run usually carries none. Answer that it carries no marking, or ",[22,229,230],{},"Made in U.S.A.",", and the reading is the American one; answer ",[22,233,24],{}," and it's the Japanese one. Say ",[22,236,28],{}," and the serial goes to the separate Japanese ",[22,239,103],{}," reading, which has two spans of its own to pick between.",[14,242,244],{"id":243},"what-the-wording-doesnt-settle","What the wording doesn't settle",[10,246,247],{},"It gives you a span. Fender says plainly that its own early Japanese records are incomplete, and every one of these thirteen readings carries its span: where the wording narrows to a single one, the answer states probable confidence rather than certainty.",[10,249,250],{},"The country is the only fact every Japanese format in our Fender table carries beyond the year. No plant, no factory town, no supplier. Anything more specific than the country is coming from somewhere other than the serial number.",[252,253,256],"gs-callout",{"title":254,"tone":255},"Where the spans come from","method",[10,257,258,259,118,261,263,264,266,267,270],{},"The letter-by-letter spans on this page are Fender's own published Japanese dating documentation, which is the source our Fender table cites for every one of them, and the wording change is corroborated by two independent specialist references alongside it. One of those two is also the second source for the ",[22,260,155],{},[22,262,158],{}," ",[22,265,54],{}," run added to our table in August ",[22,268,269],{},"2026",". What each answer does to a reading is set by our own decode rules, checked line by line against the table.",{"title":272,"searchDepth":273,"depth":273,"links":274},"",2,[275,276,277,279,280,281],{"id":16,"depth":273,"text":17},{"id":38,"depth":273,"text":39},{"id":71,"depth":273,"text":278},"The 1997 wording change",{"id":143,"depth":273,"text":144},{"id":200,"depth":273,"text":201},{"id":243,"depth":273,"text":244},"One Fender Japan serial letter can cover more than one span of years. The words printed beside the number are what separate them. Here is where to read them.",false,"md","Made in Japan or Crafted in Japan: the wording is the answer","Fender","Six of the letters Fender used on Japanese-made serial numbers name more than one span each, and nothing inside the number separates them. The words printed beside the serial do. Here is where to find them, and what each answer changes.",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fmij-vs-cij",{"title":5,"description":282},"guides\u002Fmij-vs-cij","2026-08-16","X25_Bjx7Ei4ID29jcZThyo68AjJtx8PpUPiRp-U8_Ng",1788533579114]