Fender Serial Number in Relation to Production Question

[DaveGo]

I tried searching the TDPRI for previous discussions on this but wasn't successful, likely due to operator error. The question is broad so I will keep it specifically to the production years 1966-67 which used serial numbers in the 100,000-200,000 range. I assume this range include all types of Fender stringed instruments, e.g., Jaguars, Telecasters, Stratocasters, basses, et al? If so, is there any documentation that estimates how many Telecasters (of all models) were produced during that time frame?

Sorry if this has been discussed before and would be grateful for the link to the discussion if it has. Guestimates are welcome. In the interest of full disclosure I have a '67 transition maple-cap Tele. Just from my experience there is no shortage of '68s for sale at any given point but '67s seem to show up less frequently. Chalk this question up to end-of-year vacation burn boredom.

Best Regards,

Dave

 

[unixfish]

No easy answer here.

Fender tended to go sequentially in their numbering back in those days - in general. There was overlap.

I checked on http://www.guitarhq.com/fender.html#serial and found this for serial numbers:

110000 to 200000 = 1966
180000 to 210000 = 1967​

This would seem to show about 50,000 instruments per year - ish, but that would be all Fender guitars? Or maybe other lines of guitars used the same serial numbers? I would venture to guess 50,000 per year, or maybe only 20,000 per year.

I could google some more, but I'm at work so...

 

[unixfish]

I just stumbled across a site that said Fender product 50,000 guitars in 1966. Given Strats, Teles, Mustangs, bases, etc. I would say 15,000 - 20,000 Teles.

I have not come across a "Tele number".

 

[DaveGo]

That's probably in the ball park. I wonder what happened to Fender's records after and in the early days of the CBS takeover. I really like Richard Smith's Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round the World. I checked the acknowledgements and though he mentioned consulting several past Fender employees including Leo, there was no mention of a Fender archives.

Thanks for the information.

Dave

 

[warrent]

I will keep it specifically to the production years 1966-67

from an old post of mine
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/fender-sales.1045221/page-2#post-10086768

There's not really any actual sales data available the only Figures that are around are for 1966 from Tom Wheeler, The Fender Archives: A Scrapbook of Artifacts, Treasures, and Inside Information (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2014), p. 69.

 

[DaveGo]

Many thanks Warrent. Just what I was looking for. We might presume '67 production would be increased by some unknown number as a result of the explosion of great music of the time.

All the best for the coming holidays,

Dave