Conflicting date stamps. What year was this Mark1 manufactured?

[Tyler Moradkhani]

Okay first off I know this has been asked over a million times. Ive done the best research I can but would love some extra input. The date stamp on the tone bar rail reads "22 72". I understand that to mean the 22nd week of 1972. However, when installing the VV miracle mod last night I saw an additonal stamp in a very odd location reading " 2 1 Aug. 2 1973"...The second stamp is located to the left of the left harp support. Any help is much appreciated!

[laberge]

The easiest way to explain this is that different parts were built at different times and the stamps are different.

I have a 1973 Harp with a 1972 key bed if I recall correctly.

[Ben Bove]

All the date codes were not put on by Fender themselves, some of them are dates applied from the vendors they subcontracted parts from.  For example, the most consistent date code on a Rhodes is in the upper right hand corner of the harp, or 2272 in your case.  This was actually applied by Turbo Jet (TBJ) upon completion of the pickup rails, who supplied the pickups for Rhodes pianos.  This date isn't a completion date of the whole piano - just the pickup rail by another vendor, which was then put into a piano later on.   

This would also be true of a date code on the side of a key - this would have been stamped by the vendor that supplied the key bed.  In the early 70s, specifically around 72-74, there was a stamp inside on the left harp support as you noticed.  I can't say for sure if this stamp was from Fender itself or from a keybed manufacturer, but this explains why the dates don't specifically match up.

After Jan 1 of 1975, Fender started applying an actual "finish" date code on the tonebar rail, which is the closest way to date completion of those pianos.