People get stuff wrong all the time - that doesn't mean there's a mystery, it just means the Fender Japan numbers are pretty baffling at first. MADE in Japan Q numbers were 1993-94 CRAFTED in Japan Q numbers start with zero, and come from 2002-4.Ĭheers MatthewK,to be honest,I just want to know for sure,Fender had the serial number,they say '93,I thought later at first,even though buying it as a 93!Like I mentioned before,they also mailed me straight back just over a week ago,regarding another J.M I was thinking of buying on ebay uk,a CIJ with a B & 6 digits,they said 1985,but according to your chart,thats impossible!Why dont they sort this out,seems crazy that they tell people one thing that contradicts whats printed on the guitars!,anyone else got the same guitar as me on here,maybe you have the eact same issues!?Either way,a great guitar,even if its birthday is unknown!,ha ha! You'll notice that there are no CIJ guitars before 1995, which is when Fender did the deal with Tokai Gakki to take over from Fuji-gen Gakki as their chief Fender Japan manufacturer (note that the MIJs have returned in recent years). Here's a chart from Fender Japan I pulled from a Japanese guitar blog: You may prefer to believe otherwise and that's entirely your right, but there's no ambiguity about the meaning of the serial number. On the other hand if you go to Japanese websites, they will tell you that CIJ began in 1995, and that CIJ - Q0 + 5 digits indicates a 2002-2004 manufacture date. MatthewK wrote:There's no mystery, the Fender guy told you it wasn't in his database so his answer was a guess.

Tokai guitars serial numbers