Spotting Fender Neckplate Repro vs

Spotting Fender Neckplate Repro vs. Stock

There is a new wave of reproduction neckplates out on the market. There are quite a few guys making them now, so its just a matter of time before the market is flooded with these knockoffs. Lucky for us, nobody wants to invest much beyond the stamp, so there are a number of ways to spot these bogus plates.

The first thing to note is that nobody is punching out raw plates, numbering them and having them plated. That is too expensive. The only plates made correctly were done in the 90's by Reproco. These plates are exact, but feature a "Repro" stamp on the backside. The ones made today are off the shelf pre-plated plates with the number stamped in after. So the first obvious clue will be chrome plating in the walls of the numerals. But sometimes the originals rust out and the plating is gone. What to look for next?

Streaking in the plating

Plates and bridge bases of all years had some level of streaking in the plating. It will be wave like distortions around each numeral. Some are very mild, some are heavy.

This first example (above) shows medium streaking coming off the top edge.

Heavy streaks on this 3 bolt plate.

Here is a mild streaked plate shot at the right angle to highlight the ripples.

The chrome plating should be somewhat grainy and not like a perfect mirror. The plate thickness should be roughly the same as a dime (thin). But those plates are available as well. The countersinks should be very thin.

Stress Cracks

Not common in all plates, but very common in the Pre-CBS era. The plate bends from screw tension and the plating 'checks' around the holes.

Other items to look for

Quite often you can spot where the electrode was placed on a neckplate. It will be a streak or leave a bare spot on one of the corners next to a screw hole.
The backside of factory plates were given little attention, so they are often rough looking and may even have some small patches of copper exposed. Most new plates have a rather nice plate on the backs.
Look for the impression of the numerals through the back. Real Fender plates will have a distortion in the metals surface on the back. Modern stamps may have some distortion as well, but will often have scratching or scoring of the plating.
Look for consistency in numbers placement. Fender used production equipment and any variances usually happen within timeframes. If a number looks to be oddly placed, be suspect.

Flat out Fakes

A trio of aged fake necks plates sold by Nash Guitars (click to enlarge)

Once in a while a seller will attempt to pass off neckplates not correct and not even Fender as old originals. Various excuses will be made such as Fender used more than one font (not true) or they have had the neckplate for sale for XX years (implying it CANT be fake). Fender used one style font from 1950 forward. Yes, the bridge stamps are the same as the neckplate stamps. The manufacturer whom made Fenders machine does not even offer these alternate stamps! The subtle differences in the fonts between different plates are due to the usage of different stamp manufacturers. Each manufacturer has a slightly unique font.

Above: 1980 Tokai ST-100. note the nice original Fender looking streaks in the plating, no foot on "1" and odd looking 6 and 9

Allparts

Bottom edge numbers

In the very early 60's many plates came out stamped on the lower edge of the neckplate. These neckplates are 100% real! However, it does appear that Fender attempted to use them up on the Musicmaster family budget line. I have yet to see one of these plates on an unmolested, no excuses non-Musicmaster family instrument.

100% legit bottom edge stamped neckplate

If you are unsure about a guitars neckplate, and the above doesn't seem to make you feel comfortable to ID your plate, feel free to email me a picture. I also have a database of thousands of Fender serial numbers, full guitars and loose plates.