Dating this Fender Coronado (1), calling the experts!

[Jimbilly]

My late step-mo-in-law gave me this a couple of years ago, I'm having a hard time figuring out what year it is. Apparently the neck plate is newer than these should have been built, and the pots are kinda hard to get at... What year do you guys think?

[serial]

Oddly enough, I've been looking at Coronados recently-kind of the bastard stepchild of Fender stuff, but they have (on the good ones) something kinda cool, maybe "out" cool about them.

That serial number is WAY late for a Coronado. I think that they'd have stopped around the 300.000s at the latest, but Fender is screwy. Can't see enough of that one, but the pots would be the best indicator. The Coronados are still relatively cheap as older Fenders go (under a grand typically), but as much as I've not been a fan over the years, I've seen a lot of cool, particularly English, artists that I've been a fan of for years playing them (thanks Youtube), I'm appreciating them more now.

[HAMERMAN]

Whats the deal with the (non original looking) aluminum dowel between the neck and the body? Is that for neck stability or sustain enhencement or something along those lines? Just curious as I have never seen that done before.

[Willie G. Moseley]

The Gruhn book sez the series was made '66-'69, +1 on the serial # being way off

[NeilZ]

I have a Coronado II and the date is stamped on the heel of the neck where it seats in the neck pocket.

Mine dates to 07 FEB 67

I noticed that the entire neck on your Coronado is sprayed in sunburst covering the area normally used for the date stamp.

Since Fender is fairly consistent in date stamp areas, is there any chance this is a refin?

Perhaps the dealer bought them from Fender then refinished them when they were still new?

[serial]

I have a Coronado II and the date is stamped on the heel of the neck where it seats in the neck pocket.

Mine dates to 07 FEB 67

I noticed that the entire neck on your Coronado is sprayed in sunburst covering the area normally used for the date stamp.

Since Fender is fairly consistent in date stamp areas, is there any chance this is a refin?

Perhaps the dealer bought them from Fender then refinished them when they were still new?

"7" is the code stamp for a Jazz Bass, so that wouldn't be the code on your Coronado neck. The first number is not, as many people think, a date code, but rather the neck product code. Coronados used #10 for Coronado Is and IIs, #14 for Coronado 12s, #18 for Coronado Basses and #19 for later Coronado IIs.

The 60s Fender neck heel code was "XX MMM YY" . As an example, "01 FEB 64" is the neck stamp for a Feb '64 Jaguar.

As for the neck refins, I've seen a few Coronados finished like that, but there's some debate as to originality. The neck pocket on this one has the correct "paint stick" spot in the neck pocket and it looks like the same thing on the neck.

[cmatthes]

The sunburst neck on that Coronado looks to be original to me (from the photos). Over the years, I've seen a few like that in SB (and even a few in Antigua) with the back of the neck finished to match the body.