How do you know the Fender guitar you bought is the original?

[Tal_175]

Fender American Vintage 52 Hot Rod Telecaster Neck 52 RI | | Reverb
Sure?

I still don't see a serial number.

[waltf]

I still don't see a serial number.

barcode with number, stamped hotrod?
52 Hot Rod Owners Club | Page 26 | Telecaster Guitar Forum

[Tal_175]

barcode with number, stamped hotrod?

That's a part number. Moreover it's just a sticker. The thing with stickers is that you can remove them and stick them back on the fake neck.
Fender is also very inconsistent with stickers and stamps. Some people online said their hot-rods didn't have the stamp (I was doing this research to verify the authenticity of mine that I got used).

[waltf]

yeah ok, and a gibson logo is also sometimes just a silkscreen.
Anything can be faked.. i guess you'll never know if you're hotrod is a real one but maybe you can try to find the best in people and take a leap of faith.
If someone faked the neck on any of my guitars including the stamps / barcodes, kudos to them. He/she made a great neck!
Maybe he/she should start working as a luthier, i'm sure they'll just make more money that way.

[Tal_175]

yeah ok, and a gibson logo is also sometimes just a silkscreen.
Anything can be faked.. i guess you'll never know if you're hotrod is a real one but maybe you can try to find the best in people and take a leap of faith.
If someone faked the neck on any of my guitars including the stamps / barcodes, kudos to them. He/she made a great neck!
Maybe he/she should start working as a luthier, i'm sure they'll just make more money that way.

Stamps and barcodes need not be faked. They are all over the place with Fender. An important reason why I want to make sure it's authentic is because if i ever want to sell it in the future, i want to be able to sell it as a stock Fender Hot Rod Tele it which is what I paid for (in used price). I don't want to be in a situation where the buyer checks the guitar and accuses me of selling them a fake partcaster.

Due to the uncommon features of this guitar (pickup mount, lacquer finish on the neck and body) with some research I was able to verify the authenticity with a high degree of confidence and I doubt I'll ever sell it but who knows.

[waltf]

But hot rod necks are stamped hot rod.. yours doesnt have that stamp?

[Tal_175]

But hot rod necks are stamped hot rod.. yours doesnt have that stamp?

Luckily mine has. But even if it didn't apparently it wouldn't mean anything. Some of them don't have the stamp. Fender isn't too fussy about it. (scroll down to see the pictures):
NGD - Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '52 Telecaster | Page 2 | The Gear Page

[waltf]

But even that one has the 73131 970 barcode
Good luck getting that barcode off and glueing it on another neck.
If someone has the patience to do that on a neck that also has a nitro satin finish with a fender logo..

Edit: i think i can even see the hot rod stamp under the big sticker..
Looks like the hot rod is a great example of what i've been saying.. the necks have a 73131 partsnumber sticker or stamp. Sometimes both. Same for the body.

[Tal_175]

Edit: i think i can even see the hot rod stamp under the big sticker..
Looks like the hot rod is a great example of what i've been saying.. the necks have a 73131 partsnumber sticker or stamp. Sometimes both. Same for the body.

I thought you were originally saying they had serial numbers. The whole point is that they don't. Stickers for part numbers are extremely easy to remove. In fact you can see in that picture that sticker is not even in a great condition. So even if it's damaged a bit it wouldn't matter.

Anyway this is not a how to identify a hot rod thread. I already said that due to it's unique features I was already able to identify it as the original whether it says hot rod on it not. Faking a stamp wouldn't be an issue anyway (you saw in the reverb link how much they charge for one of these necks).

I've never seen bodies or pickups with serial numbers on Fenders. Even some necks don't seem to have one. You're saying that Custom shops have serial numbers on the neck and the body and also some parts? Gee, I wonder why is that. Maybe because people who pay a fortune for a solid body guitar don't want to have to play the detective game to confirm authenticity?

[waltf]

Man i recently get into threads where people will start arguing or disagreeing about anything.. must be me. My apologies.
Yes most fender guitars have a serial number, but no that's not linked to every part because that wouldn't make sense.
The necks on these guitars are not specifically build for a certain body or vice versa. They are just grabbed from a shelf.

However there are methods to see if a certain body or neck is right for the model you bought.
You just showed them to us. The neck you pointed out that 'didnt have a stamp' has one, it's just hard to see.

I'm not an expert about fender custom shops but i know the cunetto ones have a specific identication for the body and bridge because a certain neck was matched to a certain body (same level of aging) and they needed to be kept together.
So that's the reason.

You can play this game for anything you buy.. are the tires on your car the original ones from the factory?
Are the bridge and tuners on your es-175 the originals from the factory?
Have fun!

[Tal_175]

Man i recently get into threads where people will start arguing or disagreeing about anything..

I'm sure that's got nothing to do with you putting a ton of posts in a single thread while arguing by constantly changing the goal posts

[waltf]

Serial number or part number. What is the difference to you? If there were serial numbers there you would say those were easily faked as well.

So what would you propose to fender as a solution to this worldwide scam?

[Tal_175]

I'm not an expert about fender custom shops but i know the cunetto ones have a specific identication for the body and bridge because a certain neck was matched to a certain body (same level of aging) and they needed to be kept together.
So that's the reason.

I don't know what makes you sound so definitive. If that was the logical conclusion, custom shop guitars that aren't aged would not have serial numbers on the body. Or aged Standard Fenders also have serial numbers on the body. Is that so?

My guess is that, when you pay 5-6 grand on a custom shop Fender, there is an expectation to take the authenticity more seriously.

[Tal_175]

Serial number or part number. What is the difference to you? If there were serial numbers there you would say those were easily faked as well.

So what would you propose to fender as a solution to this worldwide scam?

So you are really gonna just keep arguing on my thread, aren't you. Lol. Part numbers were just stickers. The are just bar codes.
Anyway I'm done. I'm not gonna try to explain why serial numbers exist. I already explained some of the points in the post #17.

[PatrickB]

In the aerospace world I used to inhabit, Part Numbers are universal for parts replacement purposes. Serial Numbers are assigned to high value/critical parts for traceability to the factory. The aggregate of these parts represent the SN of the unit (i.e. the final configured product).

I guess guitar necks, bodies, and pickups would have both IF they are of high value, assuming the manufacturer deems it. HOW the numbers are applied will vary wildly. The factory "should" document every part guitar, esp. the SN of any parts above. The factory build records would reflect any changes to the model specs. I assume that big companies like Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, etc. can afford to do this.

Fakes, scams, and hidden swaps only reflect the how ease of interchangeability can mislead once it leaves the factory. Caveat emptor.

[Litterick]

Someday soon, somebody will say the solution is Blockchain.

[Hammertone]

So you are really gonna just keep arguing on my thread, aren't you. ....

Great thread! Perhaps he didn't come for an argument?