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P bass neck plate
- Thread starter Wizkid
- Start date
Welcome to the forum!
What makes you believe that the bass is a '74 ? Some pictures would definitely help.
Also, you state "neck plate" but it seems to me that "neck heel" is what you're really referring to. Am I correct ?
The actual "neck plate" would have the F sign along with a 6-digit number on a '74 Fender instrument.
What makes you believe that the bass is a '74 ? Some pictures would definitely help.
Also, you state "neck plate" but it seems to me that "neck heel" is what you're really referring to. Am I correct ?
The actual "neck plate" would have the F sign along with a 6-digit number on a '74 Fender instrument.
You can get a somewhat clearer idea of the earliest age your bass might be by looking at the pot codes. On a ‘74 with original pots you’ll see a number much like this…. 1377412. The code breaks down as such:
137 = CTS (company that made the pot)
74 = The year that the pot was made
12 = The week of the year when the pot was made
When building instruments the Fender factory (and other guitar/bass manufacturers) would simply grab the various components out of a nearby bin. They didn’t try to ensure the date codes matched one another. So it’s fairly common to see something like a 1970 guitar with pots showing an earlier date code from 1968.
You can often find an additional clue for your build date by looking at the heal of your neck. Fender would pencil in the date or they might add a stamp on the heal, which can also be decoded.
As for the stamp on your neck plate, you should have six digits for a 1974 bass (not five digits). According to most sources 1974 serial numbers ranged between 500000 and 580000. If your neck plate is, indeed, stamped with the number “62938” that would suggest the neck plate was made in 1961.
If you are hoping for a more definitive dating of your bass we will need photos of the bass itself, the pots, the neck heal, the tuners, headstock, and the neck plate. The experts on this site can often provide a fairly close build date by referencing all of those items.
137 = CTS (company that made the pot)
74 = The year that the pot was made
12 = The week of the year when the pot was made
When building instruments the Fender factory (and other guitar/bass manufacturers) would simply grab the various components out of a nearby bin. They didn’t try to ensure the date codes matched one another. So it’s fairly common to see something like a 1970 guitar with pots showing an earlier date code from 1968.
You can often find an additional clue for your build date by looking at the heal of your neck. Fender would pencil in the date or they might add a stamp on the heal, which can also be decoded.
As for the stamp on your neck plate, you should have six digits for a 1974 bass (not five digits). According to most sources 1974 serial numbers ranged between 500000 and 580000. If your neck plate is, indeed, stamped with the number “62938” that would suggest the neck plate was made in 1961.
If you are hoping for a more definitive dating of your bass we will need photos of the bass itself, the pots, the neck heal, the tuners, headstock, and the neck plate. The experts on this site can often provide a fairly close build date by referencing all of those items.
No, these numbers are on the actual neck plate along with the F. I don't know if this is the original plate or not. I have a couple of 71 P basses that have the serial number on the plate as well as the date on the heel. The 74 (?) Has a stamp and a name on the neck. I can't find the pictures right now. I will pull the neck and post pictures when I get a chance.
Hmm...that figure would put in somewhere around '66 I guess...so yeah, let's wait for the pictures.
Attachments
There is a very lightly stamped number after the 2, and it appears to be an 8, which makes the serial number 628838. Am I the only one that can see this? Click on the pic to enlarge it.
