Fender acoustic guitar dating by model

Reviewed 2026-10-153 primary sourcesSee sources

Fender says the serial numbers of its acoustic guitars were never archived, so they can’t date one. What Fender does publish is the years each acoustic model appeared in its price lists and catalogs. Find the model name, usually on the label inside the sound hole or on the headstock, and look it up here.

Covers: Fender acoustic guitars sold from 1963 to the late 1990s: the early U.S.-made models, the F, Standard, California, Gemini, SX/CX, AG, Spring Hill and DG series, and the Tarrega and Regal guitars Fender distributed.

Where to find the serial number

• On a Fender acoustic the serial number is usually inside the sound hole.^[2]

What Fender acoustic says, era by era

Why the serial number doesn’t help

Fender’s records aren’t complete enough to date many of its acoustics from the early 1960s through the 1980s, and it never archived their serial numbers.^[1]

Where the years come from

Fender built its model list from its own price lists and catalogs, starting in 1968, and marks anything it doesn’t know with a question mark.^[1]

The first Fender acoustics

Fender introduced its first acoustic guitars in the summer of 1963.^[3]

What the serial can’t tell you

• The years are the span a model appeared in Fender’s catalogs, not the year your guitar was built. Fender calls the result an approximate age.^[1]
• Some first years are unknown (shown as “not recorded”), especially for the Tarrega and Regal guitars Fender distributed in the 1960s.^[1]
• Acoustic models after the late 1990s aren’t in Fender’s list; newer models need the product’s own documentation.
• Fender’s list includes original list prices; we leave them out because they aren’t current values.