Fender Champ Question & New Member Intro!

Cole Wheeler · From: Missouri, USA

Hey, I am a new member.. HELLO!

I am really a bass player but have had this for a long time. I would like some more info please. That is why I have turned to the experts in here.

I have what I believe is a fender champ that I am trying to date. I pulled the bridge and tuning pan to look for info, found some but can't make out much of it. Could you all help me to date this instrument?

Here are some pics of my guitar, "Frank".

There are several like this one on ebay but they have a decal rather than the badge. The stampings under the tuning tray are very hard to read and I tried adjusting the pics to see if the writing could be brought out but this was the best I could make out..

Any ideas what year this was made and then a reasonable estimate of the worth of this instrument?

Thanks a bunch,

Cole

Mark Roeder · From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Welcome Cole
This is the place for all your steel guitar needs....
I see you've had 60 views with no takers, there are real fender experts on the forum and I'm sure one will see this post. I can tell that it is a late model, but that's as far as my knowledge goes.
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Cole Wheeler · From: Missouri, USA

Thanks for the welcome, Mark! Very Happy

I guess, after some further research, that I could date it by the numbers on the pots??

It sure would be nice if some fender experts could let me know a little more about this guitar.

I have owned it since 1998 and don't really want to part with it but we have a baby on the way and we might be needing some extra income soon.

Oh Well

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Welcome, Cole. Fender made this particular model from 1955 until 1981, and there is no apparent serial number scheme to establish the year of manufacture for steel guitars (unlike many other Fender guitars).
You could look at the information on the potentiometers and guess approximately when it was built, but unless there's a date pencilled in there that I don't see, any guess of the year of manufacture would be just that, a guess. There is a number that I would read as "1955" stamped in the tuner pan area, but I haven't seen other Champs with such a stamp, and I don't know if that's a year of manufacture or something else.
Gbase shows dealers offering such lap steels for between $750 and $1000, but I believe they're actually selling on eBay for around $500-700 depending on condition.
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John Dahms · From: Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA

Cole,
It looks like plastic wire so it's after mid 60s. Near as I can tell from the pictures the pot code looks like it as 1978 or 79. The numbers after 137 (CTS the pot maker)are the year and week. In this case it seems to be 7839 or something like that.
With it in hand you should be able to make it out better.
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William Clark · Posted 10 Jun 2010 8:41 pm

Hello Cole: Welcome to the forum! Like John said, I would check the dates on the pots. Assuming that they haven't been changed, there will be a six or seven digit number on the pot. The first three numbers are going to be the manufacturer code. 137 would be CTS and 304 would be Stackpole. (I think, or it could be the other way around.) The next number would be the year of manufacture and the last two would be the week of manufacture. So, if you had the number 304522 it would be a Stackpole pot manufactured the 22nd week of 1955 or 1965. I think in the mid 60's manufacturers started going with a 7 digit code. For example, 1377422 would be a pot manufactured the 22nd week of 1974. My guess based on looking at the pics you posted that it was manufactured in the late 60's or the early 70's. As was mentioned earlier, you have plastic coated wiring, the pickup bobbin is Grey and has a Blue ink stamp which I have seen on CBS pickups and the metal badge has the post transition logo on it. Cool piece, how does it sound? Bill

Cole Wheeler · From: Missouri, USA

Thanks everyone! Seriously, thank you.

It really looks to me like everything is original in there. I was wondering about the wire and that cap. Those do look newer than some of the pics I have seen of the more vintage models.

This guitar sounds GREAT to my ears.. It has great response all through the freq. range and esp. good low end and top end "chime". I am not really good at talking about "tone" but I sure do like the tone of this axe. If I weren't so focused on playing bass, I would def. love to learn more about it and play it more.

My wife and I are expecting a child in July and we are making room and trying to make some money in the process. If any of you are interested in this guitar, I think we could make a deal. But I am sure you all have all the guitars you need already. Laughing

If anyone IS interested just shoot me a PM or email.
Thanks again. This forum is a much needed resource on an instrument that is worthy of such enthusiasm. Cool

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