[Marlow]

Is it an iron-clad rule that serial numbers on Fender pickups always end in the year? Kind of on an impulse, though I've been looking for one for a while , and to see whether a regular '74 strat middle pickup gets anything like a '74 Jerry tone, I just bought this guy:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Fender-1974-Stra ... 1042728391

The serial clearly ends in "02". Hopefully that doesn't mean "2002". When I asked, the seller repeated that this was definitely a '74 middle pickup from his personal collection. I'm willing to gamble because I've been looking for a 74 mid pickup in Canada for quite a while, but maybe I'm a sucker, too. Any thoughts from Fender folks?

[tatittle]

I dont have any experience with vintage p/u codes, but the one rule that supercedes all others with vintage Fender amps is nothing is ironclad lol. It certainly looks like a 70's pup to me; the last digits look more like a 92 to me than 02...just the stamp didnt make good contact. The wire looks like it could be a different kind than the 1970's p'ups I saw online...copper color vs. that maroonish kind. On the other hand they have plastic wire insulation which the repro's Ive seen dont have. Obviously just because it came out of a 1974 Strat doesnt mean its a 1974 p'up, and thats what many folks assume. I read John Frusciante had a vintage 60's Fender (which I imagine he paid big money for) that he was suprised to find Seymour Duncan p'ups inside when he finally opened it up. I think there was quite a bit of variation in vintage years, so modern pups could get closer to a certain sound than the "real" thing in some cases.