reissue P-bass.....MIA or MIJ????

my bass player brought a different bass for practice last night, and I set it up for him....anyways he tells me it's a '62 reissue custom..made in the usa. But there are NO decals on the bass that say made in U.S.A. Nor on the plate that connects the body to the neck...it doens't have the fender logo, it just has the serial number on the plate. He bought it years ago at some guitar show and he payed a lot of money for it...I suspect it's made in Japan because it doesn't say anywere made in usa...the serial number is: V098409. Can anyone shed some light on the subject?

my bass player brought a different bass for practice last night, and I set it up for him....anyways he tells me it's a '62 reissue custom..made in the usa. But there are NO decals on the bass that say made in U.S.A. Nor on the plate that connects the body to the neck...it doens't have the fender logo, it just has the serial number on the plate. He bought it years ago at some guitar show and he payed a lot of money for it...I suspect it's made in Japan because it doesn't say anywere made in usa...the serial number is: V098409. Can anyone shed some light on the subject?

A US made AV model would have a neck plate with a serial number like that.

Sounds like a partscaster to me. Why would anyone take off a Fender decal? If it was a reissue there is little chance the decal would flake off like some of the early Fenders.

Sounds like an 80's era US reissue. I don't remember there being any Made in USA decals prior to the Mexico thing, only the Japan decals on the Japanese copies. The serial number maps to the early 80's reissues. I definitely could be wrong though.