by johnc » 08 Nov 2018, 14:29
The neck date was written on the neck end when the neck was completed. The guitar serial number (for Strats, this was the number stamped on the neck plate) roughly equates with the date on the neck, giving a clue to the approximate date range that the guitar was put together. Other components like the body, pickups, bridge plates, wiring harness and pots etc often also had date marks.
In the list in my book (Guitar Identification etc..by Andre Duchossoir, printed etc around March/April 1983)..which contains examples from various date ranges etc,the nearest to 34346 are:
33999- Jan 59- Strat
34562-March 59- Precision bass
Hope this is of interest.