[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":200},["ShallowReactive",2],{"guide:\u002Fguides\u002Fwhere-to-find-serial-numbers":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"description":187,"draft":188,"extension":189,"heading":190,"kicker":191,"lede":192,"meta":193,"navigation":194,"path":195,"seo":196,"stem":197,"updated":198,"__hash__":199},"guides\u002Fguides\u002Fwhere-to-find-serial-numbers.md","Where Is the Serial Number on a Guitar? Six Brands",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":179},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,33,73,90,104,108,111,115,120,123,127,130,147,156,164,171],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Serial numbers don't sit in one agreed place. A Martin carries one on the neck block, the same spot in every era we chart; a Fender has carried one on the neck plate, the bridge plate and both faces of the headstock, depending on the decade and the country. Copy a number off the wrong part and the answer you get is about the wrong part.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"four-places-to-look","Four places to look",[10,19,20],{},"Work through them in this order. The first two are both on the headstock, so start there and turn the instrument over as you go.",[10,22,23,27,28,32],{},[24,25,26],"strong",{},"On the front of the headstock."," A United States Fender from ",[29,30,31],"code",{},"1976"," on is stamped there, beneath the logo and above or beside the string trees. The same number moved to the back partway through the run, so check both faces before deciding it's missing.",[10,34,35,38,39,42,43,46,47,50,51,54,55,58,59,58,62,50,65,68,69,72],{},[24,36,37],{},"On the back of the headstock."," A Gibson from ",[29,40,41],{},"1977"," on is die-stamped into the back, with ",[29,44,45],{},"MADE IN USA"," stamped below it. On a Japanese-made Fender, read the words printed or stamped beside the number before you read the number itself: ",[29,48,49],{},"Made in Japan"," or ",[29,52,53],{},"Crafted in Japan"," decides which era it belongs to. An Ensenada-built Mexican Fender is here as well: Fender's Mexican dating article names no position at all, and Fender's general answer for its guitars and basses is the back of the headstock or the neck plate. Korean instruments sit there too, behind ",[29,56,57],{},"CN",", ",[29,60,61],{},"VN",[29,63,64],{},"KC",[29,66,67],{},"KV",", and Indonesian ones behind an ",[29,70,71],{},"I"," and one or two factory letters. So does a PRS set-neck electric, on a decal or stamped into the wood, and a PRS SE, printed.",[10,74,75,78,79,81,82,85,86,89],{},[24,76,77],{},"On a plate at the back of the body."," A Fender from before ",[29,80,31],{}," is on the neck plate, or, on an early Telecaster or Esquire, on the bridge plate. The Japanese-built Squiers of ",[29,83,84],{},"1982"," to ",[29,87,88],{},"1984"," are stamped into the neck plate as well, with the wording on the headstock decal telling them apart from the later letter-prefix runs. On a Taylor SolidBody, look at the bridge adjustment access panel on the back.",[10,91,92,95,96,99,100,103],{},[24,93,94],{},"Inside the body."," Sight down through a Martin's soundhole toward the neck joint: the number is stamped into the neck block, with the model designation alongside it. A Taylor acoustic from ",[29,97,98],{},"1999"," on is on the paper label inside; a Taylor from ",[29,101,102],{},"1998"," or earlier is stamped on the heel block, visible by looking deep into the soundhole toward the neck joint. A PRS acoustic is read through the soundhole, and a Taylor T5, T5z or T3 is usually visible through the bass-side f-hole.",[14,105,107],{"id":106},"brand-by-brand","Brand by brand",[109,110],"gs-serial-locations",{},[14,112,114],{"id":113},"try-the-number-you-found","Try the number you found",[116,117],"gs-guide-decoder",{"placeholder":118,"scope-note":119},"e.g. 8348 or MX21123456","Six brands · auto-detect",[10,121,122],{},"With no brand picked, the shape of the number is matched against all six brands. Where only one brand's formats can take it, that's where you land; where more than one can, the answer asks you which brand it is rather than choosing for you.",[14,124,126],{"id":125},"when-the-number-you-found-is-not-one-we-can-date","When the number you found is not one we can date",[10,128,129],{},"Some numbers are in the right place and still carry no year. Where that happens, position stops being evidence at all, because the same spot on the same brand carried dateable numbers in other eras.",[10,131,132,133,135,136,139,140,143,144,146],{},"A Fender from before ",[29,134,31],{}," is the clearest case: the earliest ",[29,137,138],{},"S"," and ",[29,141,142],{},"E"," headstock numbers sometimes sit on the neck plate as well, so a number on the plate doesn't by itself put the instrument before ",[29,145,31],{},". The markings that do date one are all out of sight, on the backs of the pots, on the butt end of the neck heel once the neck is off, and in the neck pocket underneath it. Our answer names the era and hands those checks back.",[10,148,149,150,155],{},"A Gibson serial of six digits raises the same problem from the other direction. It sits in exactly the place on the headstock where the modern coding sits, so position confirms nothing at all. ",[151,152,154],"a",{"href":153},"\u002Fguides\u002Fgibson-1961-1975","That era has a guide of its own",".",[10,157,158,159,163],{},"Two Fender categories carry numbers that were never dating tools. An acoustic's serial was never archived, so the instrument is placed from its model, its woods and its bracing; an amplifier is dated from the tube chart glued inside its cabinet, which carries a stamped date code of its own, not from the number on the chassis. Neither one reaches that answer through the box above, because auto-detect routes on the format tables and these two are carve-outs from a brand rather than formats inside one. Ask for Fender by name instead. The brand-scoped box on ",[151,160,162],{"href":161},"\u002Fguides\u002Ffender-serial-history","the Fender guide"," names which of the two you have and what to read on it.",[10,165,166,167,155],{},"Some of the most useful dating evidence on an instrument sits somewhere other than the serial. The stamp on the back of a potentiometer carries a date of its own, and it often settles what the serial cannot. ",[151,168,170],{"href":169},"\u002Fguides\u002Fpot-codes","How to read a pot code",[172,173,176],"gs-callout",{"title":174,"tone":175},"Where these locations come from","method",[10,177,178],{},"The brand-by-brand table is rendered straight from the location fields in our own brand tables, the same fields each brand's page renders, so those two surfaces can't drift apart. The four groupings above it are written from those same fields rather than rendered from them, and they group by place, so a brand can appear under one heading while its row covers more ground than the heading itself does. Where the two disagree about a face or a placement, the instrument in your hands settles it, so check both faces before you take either as final. Each brand table cites the manufacturer's published dating documentation where one exists, with independent specialist references alongside it; the date in the stamp at the top is when we last checked them.",{"title":180,"searchDepth":181,"depth":181,"links":182},"",2,[183,184,185,186],{"id":16,"depth":181,"text":17},{"id":106,"depth":181,"text":107},{"id":113,"depth":181,"text":114},{"id":125,"depth":181,"text":126},"Where the serial number sits on a Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor, PRS or Squier, and what to read instead when the one you find carries no year.",false,"md","Where to find the serial number on your instrument","All brands","The number is in one of four places, and which one depends on the brand and the era. Here is where to look on each of the six brands we cover, and what to read instead when the number you find carries no year.",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fwhere-to-find-serial-numbers",{"title":5,"description":187},"guides\u002Fwhere-to-find-serial-numbers","2026-08-16","KWdK2coolkFOHuCFw70u4w3-8FPZNml3Mygro9n9kBw",1788533579146]