Found a lefty Mustang at a pawn shop near me. Been offered a great price on it (WAY less than what the sticker in the picture says. It's been sitting there for a while), but I'm a little leery of it. I looked up the serial number and it comes back to a 2011 Marcus Miller Jazz Bass... It looks pretty legit, but without maybe taking the neck off and possibly getting a look under the pickguard, I can't exactly tell.
In my cautious optimism I'm thinking maybe the serial could be off because it's a 90s Japanese model, but I dunno. It could just be one of those Chinese knockoffs with a BS serial. I tried to take some pictures on the sly at the shop so this is the best I could do in about 15 seconds while not being watched. Can anyone see anything I might be missing that could be an obvious indicator of it being a fake?
The strap buttons have been changed to Schaller (i believe) strap lock buttons, and a black neck plate pad was added. Otherwise, it looks stock.
Looks perfectly legit to me - the tort, serial number, logos, tuners etc all check out.
T serial numbers are a mess even with Fender Japan, they used them in the 90s (a la this one) and again around 2009 (different typeface, MADE IN JAPAN rather than Crafted). Buy with confidence.
How can I find out when my Japanese-made instrument was manufactured?
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DATING JAPANESE-MADE FENDER INSTRUMENTS
Records on early Japanese-made Fender instruments are not complete and are therefore not completely definitive for dating purposes. As always, serial numbers should only be used as a guide for dating and should be used in combination with known age-related specifications to help identify the production year of an instrument.
SERIAL NUMBERS CIRCA
JV + 5 digits 1982-1984
SQ + 5 digits 1983-1984
E + 6 digits 1984-1987
A + 6 digits 1985-1986
B + 6 digits 1985-1986
C + 6 digits 1985-1986
F + 6 digits 1986-1987
G + 6 digits 1987-1988
H + 6 digits 1988-1989
I + 6 digits 1989-1990
J + 6 digits 1989-1990
K + 6 digits 1990-1991
L + 6 digits 1991-1992
M + 6 digits 1992-1993
N + 6 digits 1993-1994
O + 6 digits 1993-1994
P + 6 digits 1993-1994
Q + 6 digits 1993-1994
S + 6 digits 1994-1995
T + 6 digits 1994-1995
U + 6 digits 1995-1996
N + 5 digits 1995-1996
V + 6 digits 1996-1997
In 1997, Fender transitioned to a serial number decal that included the words “Crafted in Japan” above the serial number.
Crafted in Japan A + 6 digits 1997-1998
Crafted in Japan O + 6 digits 1997-2000
Crafted in Japan P + 6 digits 1999-2002
Crafted in Japan Q + 6 digits 2002-2004
Crafted in Japan R + 6 digits 2004-2005
Crafted in Japan S + 6 digits 2006-2008
Crafted in Japan T + 6 digits 2007-2008
2007 was another transitional year for Japanese-made Fender instruments, with the return to the “Made in Japan” country-of-origin identifier on the serial number decal. This was a running change, and both “Made in Japan” and “Crafted in Japan” decals appear on instruments from 2007 and 2008.
Made in Japan T + 6 digits 2007-2010
Made in Japan U + 6 digits 2010-2011
Picked it up (well... layaway. Haha Still) for $600. Came with a TKL hard case. Not a bad deal, i don't think. Needs a little cleaning up, but i think it'll be a total banger.
They knew what they had. I know these guys and have a long working relationship with them. They got bought out by some corporate overlords last year and aren't allowed to sell anywhere but in-store. Drives them nuts cuz they know they could use Reverb to sell some of the stuff they've had in the past for way more than they end up getting, but corporate won't allow it. I got my near-mint condition PRS CE24 from them for like $1200 with one of those $500 paisley hard cases. Turned around and sold the case for $375 (because they're ridiculously unnecessary) and made a ton of my money back. At least they're cool about it and know corporate are getting idiots, so they don't care much anymore. Haha
I used to have an almost identical Mustang (lefty too), but swapped out the tort pick guard for pearl and the pups for JB Jrs. I think it was a CIJ R serial, probably should never have traded it. Great guitars.
