New (old) Bass Day: ESP Series 400 - any tips on tracking its year?
Arrived yesterday and I disassembled last night to give it a deep clean. Fretboard got a razor treatment with lemon oil, saddle / bridge taken apart and cleaned, and new strings. Overall this was kept in great condition and its got a very comfy feel, fast thin neck. Looking forward to spending hours on this.
From some TalkBass threads I've found, it sounds like some people could identify the year of these by the inscription under the neck: this one says NY-21. I'm guessing this means it was assembled in New York, but not quite sure about the "21". Serial number is 02046.
I can kind of place it's year around 1985 - but it's hard to say. ESP's records are non-existent for this era. Headstock design looks like it was before Fender sued and they changed to a more angular design.
Anyone else know more about these?