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Date stamp on old 1969-71 P Bass ??

mike buzzetti

mike buzzetti

Apr 10, 2019
1,457
1,790
Paso Robles Ca.
#1
I used this guide Vintage Guitars Info - Fender, collecting vintage guitars fender stratocaster, strat, telecaster, tele
to date it but one # does not make sense the ( 6 ) the owner says hes pretty sure its a 1969 but the YEAR # is a 6 ! this makes no sense the 6 should be a 9 IF the dating code is correct. ??? any ideas here ?
The S/N is correct for a 1969 279xxx
250000 to 280000 = 1969

ejt7jxb1ys9eux1mc9ko.jpg
 
#3
GretschWretch said:
Dating usually is done based on the serial #, which on '69 -'71 (at least) was on the chrome plate for the neck screws. On the heel, mine have the month spelled out and abbreviated. I'm not sure how to interpret what is on the heel of this bass.
Click to expand...
The S/N is correct for a 1969 279xxx
250000 to 280000 = 1969

S/N is correct for 1969 this is the back side of the neck , has an F71 on it ??
vvtkkda7ki3uqz4wazv2.jpg
 
#5
GretschWretch said:
It might help if we could get a pic of the pocket, which usually is all marked up with stamps and initials. There are plenty of Fender whisperers on TalkBass. I am not one of them.
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The story is that it was originally Olympic white that was repainted then stripped back to white ? hence the black and red in the pocket . also no real color on the sides meaning it was done at the factory .
pocket.jpg
 
#7
This is a weird time frame overlap of stamp techniques. Generally I would read that as an extremely early 71 neck.

But I would use the pots and pickup stamp dates along with the neck to determine what it is.

In 69 fender used up a massive stockpile of 66 dated pots, so it should have these.
A 71 will have appropriate period made pots.
Of course the pickup will have 4-digit date stamps on each coil (center two digits are the week). The last digit indicates the year...and *to me* the pickup date is generally the closest date to the instruments' actual completion.

Jazz basses used different capacitors in 69 vs 71, I know all about the Jazz detail, but I cant remember if the P used different capacitors at this same time or not. But wouldn't take you much to study a few listings to figure that out.
 
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#8
mikeswals said:
This is a weird time frame overlap of stamp techniques. Generally I would read that as an extremely early 71 neck.

But I would use the pots and pickup stamp dates along with the neck to determine what it is.

In 69 fender used up a massive stockpile of 66 dates pots, so it should have these.
A 71 will have appropriate period made pots.
Of course the pickup will have 4-digit date stamps on each coil (center two digits are the week). The last digit indicates the year...and *to me* the pickup date is generally the closest date to the instruments' actual completion.
Click to expand...
Thats what I was looking for !!! thanks man , seller says the pots date to 1966 neck plate dates to 1969 , neck date is the issue .
 
#10
The 1969 to 1971 Neck Stamps Explained.
This information was provided by Greg Gagliano. The neck stamp used from 1969 to 1971 can be extracted by working from the outside inward. For example, let�s take Telecaster Thinline (s/n 272207) with the code: 3320119B. Starting a the right we have the letter B. This appears to be the same neck width code that Fender had been using since 1962. The next digit denotes the year, in this case 9 = 1969. The next one or two digits denote the month, in this case 11 = November. The first one or two digits of the code, in this case 3, denotes the model. For Telecasters, Telecaster Thinlines, and Esquires that code is 3. For Stratocasters it is 22 and for Precision Basses it is 5. The other three digits (320) are perhaps some kind of batch or lot number. It could also be the number of instruments of this type produced for that month, but I would suspect Fender could make more than 999 of any one instrument type in a month. Hence it is probably a batch or lot number.

Here�s our P-Bass again (s/n 277983) with the code 529129B. Breaking up the code we get:

  • 5 = code for Precision Bass
  • 291 = batch or lot code
  • 2 = February
  • 9 = 1969
  • B = 1 5/8 inch neck width (correct for a 1969 P-Bass).
So 5 22 016 B would be a 1966 but this date coding was only used from 69 to 71 ?? WTH
 
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#15
I can't comment on the stamps and meanings, but this asymmetry looks unusual to me. Other online examples show the bass and treble side of the neck to be identical in their carve up to the pocket. That said, I'm no fender expert so this could be a meaningless observation.
vvtkkda7ki3uqz4wazv2.jpg
 
#20
devnulljp said:
So, whoever stamped the neck put the 9 in upside down is all.
Click to expand...

mike buzzetti said:
So

Thats what I think, maybe dyslexic ?
I have a request in with Fender to get their opinion.
Click to expand...

not exactly. If you’ve ever seen a rubber dating stamps , or maybe any stamping equipment, you’d know that people don’t have individual number stamps. It’s a big rubber stamp that you rotate the month , days a, years , etc.
 

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