The Fender Jazzmaster changed more times in its first 14 years than almost any other model in the Fender lineup. This guide documents every spec change year by year: gold guard to tortoiseshell, slab to veneer, clay dots to pearl to blocks, spaghetti to CBS black logo, Klusons to F-tuners, and a complete custom color reference with the correct pickguard pairing for every finish.
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The 1966 Gibson ES-335 is a pre-Norlin Kalamazoo instrument built to the same standard as the early 1960s examples: Patent Number humbuckers, ABR-1 bridge with nylon saddles, trapeze tailpiece, and tortoise side dots most buyers don’t know to look for. This guide walks through every authentication detail with close-up photos of a clean original, including a full set of intact case candy, one of the rarest things to find on a vintage Gibson.
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The 1962 Fender Stratocaster comes from the end of the pre-CBS golden age of Fullerton production: pre-CBS, pre-veneer on early examples, and built to a standard Fender rarely hit again. The main challenge in authenticating a 1962 is the mid-year slab-to-veneer rosewood transition, but there’s more to it: black-bottom pickups, pot codes, the puzzle-piece finish test, nail holes with bare wood inside, and a mint-green pickguard that only original celluloid produces. This guide covers every detail.
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The 1959 Fender Telecaster packs more changes into one year than any other in the model's history: slab rosewood fingerboard, top-loader bridge reversal, the Telecaster Custom introduction, and a mid-year gap where Fender employees were ordered to stop dating necks entirely. This guide covers every feature change, every dating method, and every detail that separates a genuine 1959 from a reissue or misrepresented example.
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A year-specific authentication reference for the 1954 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, the first full production year with the corrected neck pitch and wrap tail bridge. Covers serial numbers, no-line Kluson tuners, Grey Tiger capacitors, barrel knobs, P-90 pickups, bullion gold finish, and how to tell a genuine 1954 from a reissue or a date-shifted neighbor.
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How to identify and authenticate any Gibson Byrdland, from the first Kalamazoo prototypes in 1955 through the current Custom Shop era. Covers every major construction change: cutaway shape, pickups, solid vs. pressed back, neck lamination, nut width, labels, serial numbers, hardware, and more.
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A collector's guide to the 1951, 1952, and 1953 Fender Precision Bass: the original slab-body P-Bass. Joe Dampt covers every authentication detail: butterscotch nitro finish, tan lines under the hardware, nail holes, the early single-coil pickup with white string wrapping, pressed fiber saddles, Clarostat pots, paper-in-oil capacitor, large flat metal tuner buttons, mismatched neck and body dates, and more. Free appraisals nationwide.
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Think of it as a “Telecaster on steroids.” The Fender Hardtail Stratocaster is one of the most underrated tools in vintage Fender. From the resonant pre-CBS models of the 1950s to the punchy, lightweight players of the 1970s, the hardtail offers a percussive “snap” and rock-solid tuning stability that traditional tremolo models don’t. Find out why these rare “string-through” Strats, which made up only about 5% of early production, were the choice of players like Nile Rodgers and Robert Cray.
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A history of the Gibson L-5 CES, the electric archtop that set the standard. This guide covers its evolution from the 1920s acoustic work of Lloyd Loar to the “Staple” and PAF humbucker eras. Learn how to identify rare finishes, date your instrument using serial numbers and orange labels, and tell Venetian and Florentine cutaways apart. If you are looking for a professional appraisal or the full story of this guitar, here is what you need to know about the king of Gibson archtops.
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