Post by heem6 on Aug 18, 2014 18:46:02 GMT -5
History of Fender in the 80s
The 80s were a confusing time for Fender; CBS sold the intellectual property to FMIC in early 1985 but they didn't sell the factory. The assumption is that no wooden parts changed hands (bodies or necks) but some electronic parts (TBX tone controls, Schaller tuners, etc.) did - or at least if any bodies/necks went to FMIC they assembled them quickly and shipped them out. FMIC was originally just going to import guitars from Japan made by Fuji-Gen-Gakki (also often abbreviated FujiGen).
At the end of the CBS days (1983 until say February 1985) on the "modern" Fenders (Standard series and Elite series) CBS/Fender was using serial number decals that began with "E3" followed by a 5-digit number - and "E3" would translate to 1983. Evidently CBS/Fender didn't use up all the E3 serial numbers in 1983 and continued to use them in 1984 (although they did use a few of the "E4" (1984) decals on these models). FMIC obtained the stacks of headstock decals with "E4" serial numbers from CBS in the intellectual property sale and just stored them.
As fate would have it the FujiGen guitars that FMIC began importing in 1985 often had serial numbers that started with an "E" - particularly the Contemporary series Strats, Teles, and Basses. And as fate would further have it a lot of these had a random first digit of "5", "6", "7", or "8". However, neither the "E" nor the first digit had any siginificance regarding the date of manufacture - unlike the USA-made models. You could have a 1985 Contemporary Strat with an "E7XXXXXX" serial number, or the 1985 could have by blind luck had an "E5XXXXXX" serial number. That's why the dater returns all these years for the MIJ models. There were no USA made Fenders with "E5", "E6" or "E7" serial numbers.
FMIC had a change of heart about only importing guitars and built their own factory; it was up and running by mid-1986. Fender started producing the vintage reissues (then called "U.S. Vintage Reissues" as a series) and by the fall of 1986 they started producing their new "modern" models they named American Standards (to differentiate them from the Japanese-made models). Fender actually used those headstock decals they got from CBS with the "E4" serial numbers on these guitars made from late 1986 until early 1988; when they ran out of the "E4" decals they moved to "E8" decals - getting the "numbering system" back on track.
Now lets talk about the HM Strats - these are perhaps the most confusing models to come out of this entire mid-80s period. These have a neck plate that says "USA" but they have all the markings of a 1988 or later FujiGen guitar - except for the "Made in Japan" part of the sticker. A lot of folks (and count me with them) believe these were never 100% made in the USA; they were assembled in the USA using bodies and necks made by FujiGen in Japan. There was never any evidence that Fender tooled up to cut the bodies and necks in Corona, but these do use a lot of USA-made hardware and were likely finished up here.
Thanks to John C. from the Fender Forums for this information.
The 80s were a confusing time for Fender; CBS sold the intellectual property to FMIC in early 1985 but they didn't sell the factory. The assumption is that no wooden parts changed hands (bodies or necks) but some electronic parts (TBX tone controls, Schaller tuners, etc.) did - or at least if any bodies/necks went to FMIC they assembled them quickly and shipped them out. FMIC was originally just going to import guitars from Japan made by Fuji-Gen-Gakki (also often abbreviated FujiGen).
At the end of the CBS days (1983 until say February 1985) on the "modern" Fenders (Standard series and Elite series) CBS/Fender was using serial number decals that began with "E3" followed by a 5-digit number - and "E3" would translate to 1983. Evidently CBS/Fender didn't use up all the E3 serial numbers in 1983 and continued to use them in 1984 (although they did use a few of the "E4" (1984) decals on these models). FMIC obtained the stacks of headstock decals with "E4" serial numbers from CBS in the intellectual property sale and just stored them.
As fate would have it the FujiGen guitars that FMIC began importing in 1985 often had serial numbers that started with an "E" - particularly the Contemporary series Strats, Teles, and Basses. And as fate would further have it a lot of these had a random first digit of "5", "6", "7", or "8". However, neither the "E" nor the first digit had any siginificance regarding the date of manufacture - unlike the USA-made models. You could have a 1985 Contemporary Strat with an "E7XXXXXX" serial number, or the 1985 could have by blind luck had an "E5XXXXXX" serial number. That's why the dater returns all these years for the MIJ models. There were no USA made Fenders with "E5", "E6" or "E7" serial numbers.
FMIC had a change of heart about only importing guitars and built their own factory; it was up and running by mid-1986. Fender started producing the vintage reissues (then called "U.S. Vintage Reissues" as a series) and by the fall of 1986 they started producing their new "modern" models they named American Standards (to differentiate them from the Japanese-made models). Fender actually used those headstock decals they got from CBS with the "E4" serial numbers on these guitars made from late 1986 until early 1988; when they ran out of the "E4" decals they moved to "E8" decals - getting the "numbering system" back on track.
Now lets talk about the HM Strats - these are perhaps the most confusing models to come out of this entire mid-80s period. These have a neck plate that says "USA" but they have all the markings of a 1988 or later FujiGen guitar - except for the "Made in Japan" part of the sticker. A lot of folks (and count me with them) believe these were never 100% made in the USA; they were assembled in the USA using bodies and necks made by FujiGen in Japan. There was never any evidence that Fender tooled up to cut the bodies and necks in Corona, but these do use a lot of USA-made hardware and were likely finished up here.
Thanks to John C. from the Fender Forums for this information.
