2015 or 2016 Red Tele

[mmcwhorter]

Newbie here, first post:
I always wanted a USA Fender red telecaster. I have a line on a used red 2015 (or 16) Tele...transparent red.
Looks to be in good condition.
SN US1503397....lookup on website URL below says Made in Corona for Export. What does this mean?
Can anyone identify the "series" (Player/Artist/Ultra/American Standard, etc...) from the Serial Number.
Thanks...

Fender Guitars Serial Number Decoder - GuitarInsite

www.guitarinsite.nl

Mark

 

[John C]

First off don't use those sites; they will return that info just based on the serial number format. Use this link on the Fender website instead - it works for most USA Fenders made in the past 20 years or so; I think you still have to contact them for lookups for guitars going back to about 1993, and before that they can't look up anything but the general model specs. Here's the link:

Serial Number Lookup

serialnumberlookup.fender.com

I ran that number through here and it doesn't return anything - it should have 6 digits after the "US15" and the number you posted only has 5 digits.

If you could post a couple of photos that would be helpful - the counterfeiters like to use a real Fender serial number to fake out the other serial number lookup sites.

Also you can't tell the series from the serial number; Fender uses that same format on all USA models except for the American Originals/American Vintage, and a few of the Artist Signature models have unique serial numbers.

 

[Si G X]

I think that transparent red is a pretty uncommon colour for Fender too, unless it's some kind of special.

... need more info/pictures for sure.

 

[Si G X]

The 'for Export' thing is interesting because when I search 'transparent red fender telecaster' all the picture results come up from Russia, Italy and Capetown SA of all places.

A colour called 'crimson red transparent' it's a USA standard with a black pickguard. I don't recall seeing them for sale in the UK.

 

[John C]

The 'for Export' thing is interesting because when I search 'transparent red fender telecaster' all the picture results come up from Russia, Italy and Capetown SA of all places.

A colour called 'crimson red transparent' it's a USA standard with a black pickguard. I don't recall seeing them for sale in the UK.

Yes; Fender had that crimson red transparent on the American Standards with ash bodies from 2008-2016. I used to see them a lot during the first years of that generation American Standard, then didn't see them quite as often after 2014 but I think they were still available until the American Standards were discontinued. That being said I saw a lot more of the ash body in natural - and both the crimson red transparent and natural had the black pickguards, giving them a late 70s vibe.