On the back of the head it says Crafted in Indonesia, with the serial no IC050525656.Information in this article provided by nicod98 from Squier-Talk.com30 Years of Fender's Budget Guitar Brand Tony Bacon. For fender, a serial number of MB would indicate an amp made in England M in during the 38th week of the year, production number, set up for value in the United States B. These are still found on stickers with a fender code on the back of the strat. Serial number squier search squier. "Licensed by Schaller" tuners. The neck is pretty good, I couldn't say it's perfectly straight, there may be just the slightest bow forward.The "Telecaster" begins life in 1984. There are many holes in this article since many things are not (or hardly) documented.The "Standard Telecaster" dates back to 1990 under various part numbers. The information in this article will hopefully shed some more light on the Affinity and Standard Telecaster models from this era. They manufacture large quantities at a fast production rate.The tool works for most Fender electric guitars including the Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Fender bass guitars, Fender Squier models and many custom.There is a lot documentation about the Squier Stratocaster on the internet however, the Telecaster is under documented. Let’s have a look at how Fender keeps the prices of Squier low: Using factories in Indonesia and China means cheaper running and labor costs. The idea was to offer all the classic Fender designs for a budget price.There are also Korean telecasters from around 1996/1997 (VN6/VN7-serials) which overlap with the Mexican Squiers.In the 1996 mid year price list, the ProTone Telecasters were introduced. It was more or less a cheaper hardware version of the Fender MIM Standard telecaster. It had a top load bridge and the dreaded hexagonal tuners.
![]() ![]() Fender Squier Indonesia Serial Number Of MBThey were produced in China and Indonesia, respectively.In 1996/1997 Fender ordered Squier guitars from China for the first time. Two years later, a new Squier Standard model followed. In 1997 the first Affinity Teles were introduced. The ProTone was discontinued in 1997.When the ProTone series was discontinued, the first steps in the modern Squier history started. To protect the brand against internal competition, it was decided that Squier guitars had to become cheaper and lower in quality. It was available as a Fat Tele and as a ‘69 Thinline.Unfortunately, the ProTone Telecasters were in direct competition with the Fender branded guitars, which was hurting sales. Up until around 2000 the “TELE” designation is in a non-fat(bold) font.Even though not listed any price list or documentation there appears to be at least one batch in a very nice baby-blue color. A practice still going on today with the cheapest models (Bullet and Affinity). Serial Numbers On The Back Plate and Starts With “YN”Fender protected the “Telecaster” name with a “Tele” abbreviation on this model. Plastic Rectangle Jack Plate (becomes very brittle after a while) These Affinity telecasters had the following specifications: Shortcut for increasing indent in word macThe “TELECASTER” name is visible in a thin font.The 1999 price list mentions a “top-load” bridge, while in fact, it was a dual-load bridge: both top load an string-through is possible, and the string ferrules were installed.The 1999 new Standard telecaster has the following features: It is also the first year where the “Standard” designation is put on the headstock. Although uncertain, it appears these are the first guitars Fenders buys in Indonesia. The metal jack plate was swapped for a cup. As they were made in Indonesia by Cor-tek, they had the IC-prefix.In 2001 the transformation got finalized, and this resulted in a Squier Standard, that really could be called a “Standard” telecaster. metal rectangle jack plate (not plastic as on the Affinity) Features the “Standard” name on the Headstock (for the first time) Black/Gold decal, to contrast it with the cheaper Affinity. This version remained pretty much the same until the rosewood fretboard was replaced with an Indian Laurel version around 2018.So in essence we have these versions of the Squier Standard Telecaster:Because of the limited time the 1999/2000 Indonesian Standard was produced, the following colors are rather rare:The “regular” colors are far more common: From this point on the Standard had a 22-fret rosewood fretboard (instead of a 21-fret maple fretboard) The 6 barrel-saddles were replaced with block saddles. The hexagonal tuners remain in place, and all seem to have a serial number prefix of "CY".An oddball Affinity tele, or a happy coincidence?A 2000 Affinity was located in a pawn shop. So was the Indonesian Standard tele not selling enough units? Was that the reason for the maple vs rosewood fretboard swap between the Standard & Affinity?Somewhere in 2000 the Affinity got a maple fretboard (without skunk stripe). The first were produced in 1999, and during the year 2000, the model was completely changed. 537 Antique Burst (tortoise pickguard) (introduced in 2004)It's somewhat surprising how short a time that the maple fretboard Standard was made in Indonesia. In fact it is the exact same bridge as on the Standard, with 6 barrels and a regular angle for the bridge pickup (unlike the regular Affinity at that time) Contrary to other 2000 Affinity telecaster this guitar has a dual load (top-load and string-through) bridge, and flush string ferrules. It also has the typical distance between the 12th fret markers for the Indonesian production at that time. Just like the 2000 Affinity strat with rosewood fretboard (which was also made in Indonesia), this Affinity telecaster has 21 frets, a rosewood fretboard, and hexagonal tuners. At this point in time, the Affinity tele is made in China, and the “first” (obviously not!) Indonesian Affinity telecaster is from 2012 (pack Affinity). It is made in Indonesia. The color is “baltic blue”, and there are pictures of other 2000 Affinity teles of the same color in the top-load version, so the Affinity was made in this color both in China AND in Indonesia. This guitar has the typical thinner body of the Affinity. The nut size is 41.9mm, this should be wider than the nut size of a 2000 Chinese Affinity, but I have no reference material to compare this with. This Affinity has (just like the standard) a jack cup. The neck has a skunk stripe (again like the maple fretboard Standard, but unlike the Affinity of the time and unlike the rosewood fretboard Standard) At some point in 2000, the decision was made to make alterations to the standard. So I’m assuming this was done to “solve” something. If anything, this one was actually more expensive to produce (due to better hardware, more hardware, and more expensive labor costs). It would be very unlikely that this would have been done to make things cheaper. This telecaster is very similar to the 2012-2017 pack Affinity.Here are few hypotheses about why Fender made the Affinity tele in Indonesia as well as in China (These are all personal opinion): So this is not an isolated case. I’m assuming that either Fender had a contract for a specific number of bridges, or that the stock was so large that they decided to – temporarily – make a whole batch of Affinity teles with that bridge, so the new bridges could be used for the Squier Standard Tele. Many of these Squier bridges being sold brand new even 15 years later. The only thing that was changed back and forth was the bridge. We’ve seen the change from 21 to 22 frets in one step, and then from a maple to a rosewood fretboard in another step. In 2000 the production line was changed gradually from one model to another. This would also account for the fact that BOTH the Indonesian and the Chinese versions from 2001 are rather rare.We have a very rich backstory for the Japanese Squiers, the move to Korea (including the “plywood”backstory, production in Mexico, temporary production in the USA). (maple neck, sealed tuners). Since 2001 was the year were changes in Affinity telecaster production were introduced, There might have been a temporary change of production to Indonesia to allow for adjusting everything in the Chinese Factory.
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