Dating Fender Lap Steel 6

[David Rauen]

Does anyone know if these are date stamped in the cavity?
best regards,
David

[Stephen Cowell]

Your guitar is at least as young as mid-60's... the black case tells us that. If the finish is poly instead of nitro it's later, starting '67-ish I belive.

Around this time Fender (CBS) bought a large lot of potentiometers... they're date coded '67 IIRC, and this messes up pot-date-coding Fender guitars for the next few years. Your guitar looks to be similar to my Deluxe 8, 1969, butterbean tuners, poly finish?.

If your guitar has the poly finish it will be harder to see/find the date in the neck pocket, since it's thicker... but on the plus side, it's very easy to pop the ashtray and look. Take the nut off first.

If no satisfaction there you might try the pickups... my '69 Deluxe 8 has date codes on the wafer bottoms. More hassle to get in there... but look at it this way, with a power screwdriver it only takes 5min to take the whole guitar apart.

[Doug Beaumier]

I would put it between 1963 and 1968. Fender Black tolex Cases were introduced in late 1962.
Tuners with octagonal shaped buttons were introduced in 1966 and phased in over the next couple of years. Your guitar does not have those tuners.
The exact year has no bearing on the value. All of the Deluxe 6's from this era would have about the same value, based on condition.

Fender stopped putting pencil dates in the cavity by the 60s. Like Stephen said, Fender often bought huge supplies of pots and used them over the next couple of years. For example, my 68 telecaster has pots dated 1966.

[Tom Snook]

Is it yours?Looks nice,I know that six stringers don't seem to be as popular as eights do,but I'll bet it plays and sounds as good as it looks.

[Dale R Stiles]

Nice Deluxe, I've got a 1965 8 string and the tone is sweet. Does the case have a Fender logo on the outside?

[David Rauen]

I would put it between 1963 and 1968. Fender Black tolex Cases were introduced in late 1962.
Tuners with octagonal shaped buttons were introduced in 1966 and phased in over the next couple of years. Your guitar does not have those tuners.
The exact year has no bearing on the value. All of the Deluxe 6's from this era would have about the same value, based on condition.

Fender stopped putting pencil dates in the cavity by the 60s. Like Stephen said, Fender often bought huge supplies of pots and used them over the next couple of years. For example, my 68 telecaster has pots dated 1966.

It does have Kluson Deluxe tuners, but i didn't know to check if it was one single vertical line or two. That change was in 64.

[Dale R Stiles]

True that Fender Black tolex starts in 1964 but I think exterior logo started in 1966, so if no logo and case is original then high odds is 1964 or 1965...

[David Rauen]

True that Fender Black tolex starts in 1964 but I think exterior logo started in 1966, so if no logo and case is original then high odds is 1964 or 1965...

I think this is as close as we get. The Klusen's are stamped with two vertical lines of text which is post 1964. The pickups are gray wafer, so, 67-68-69?
Anyhow, I played it through the super reverb with an open G tuning: Bron-y-aur-stomp, holy smokes, what a voice. Hair stood on my arms. Went on to "In my time of dying". I was not a steel player yesterday morning, I was a bass player. Grandma Polly from Gatlinburg always said: "Poor fool who can't change his mind".

[Dale R Stiles]

Yeah David, I had about the same experience with my '65 Deluxe 8. I had never had an instrument with a blend pot before and there was a moment when I got the blend dialed in just right and the tone and volume set just so. -- well I swear I had an out of body experience.

As someone correctly pointed out earlier, all things being equal, the Deluxe 6 and 8 from this period sell for close to the same price regardless of exact date. So if it was money value you were lookin for that's easy.

But I think you found the REAL value of these gems when you let that baby sing.

[Doug Beaumier]

The single line or double line Klusons will only tell you when the tuners were made. As we said earlier, Fender often bought large quantities of parts and used them over several years in their guitars. Again, the exact year of the guitar is not relevant to value. They're all worth about the same. If you decide to sell it, just list it as a mid-60s Deluxe 6.