Squiers from People's Republic of China or Republic of China (aka Taiwan)

[Lanaka]

Yako is a company HQ'd in Taiwan (ROC) with manufacturing facilities there also. But their work for Squier is done on the mainland.

When Fender/Squier first subcontracted back 1994 to start manufacturing in China, the PRC was still just opening up. They needed a company with an understanding of western ideals and guitar experience. Yako was already building guitars for other companies, so it was a good fit.

Cool, thanks for the clarification on Yako! That makes sense and will now pay closer attention on WHO in PRC is making my "Chinese" guitars!

I noticed right away that my two Yako Contemporary Telecaster HHs had very excellent build quality with good fit/finish overall. The first was my black metallic 2017 I bought used. Loved it so much as a HH, that I almost immediately had to get another one to keep as a HH. I had plans to mod the guitar into a SSS before I even HAD it, LOL! The red metallic 2020 was purchased "new" in Q1 2021. I think it was the store floor model but considering the store was closed for most of 2020, it had "low miles" on it. I got lucky there. Altho I DID sanitized it ...just in case. LOL 😆😂😅

FYI, full disclosure, the 2020 DID have an odd flaw: the pots and associated stuff soldered to it was single coil spec'd 250k pots and had different r/c soldered on than what was installed on my 2017. Swapping the loaded control plate for my 2017 plate made the 2020 sounded VERY close to the unmodded 2017. Sticking in the 2017 pups into the 2020 made it sound almost identical to the unmodded 2017. That suggests to me that the pups are basically identical with the differences probably due to the stacked minute differences in the wood, pups and the rest of the electronic components.

I'm assuming that in 2020, skilled labor shortage due to COVID had caused the error in the abnormally low serial numbered guitar. The 2020's serial ID# is in the low 9 thousand range vs the 2017 being in the 1.2 millions. Y'know, I bet not many guitars were made in China in 2020.

All I know is that Yako built NC's have gotten insanely expensive.

I know I will be keeping MY Yako Contemporary Telecaster HHs! However, I'm not going to hold my breath on it's future resale values. Instead I'll be just enjoying my "preciousesss." ✌️😁👍

Ditto my '84 Yammy SC-300T!

 

[shaz5]

I thought Fender stopped using Yako because of the high cost of labor. Not cheap to build in Taiwan anymore.

Therein, I believe lies the answer to the OP. The "C" means it was "crafted in China" and the Y means by Yako, a manufacturer in Taiwan. So Squire is/was using Yako's know-how and expertise, but building them in mainland China, for the cheaper labor. BTW, the specific city where the guitar is made is denoted by the last 5 numbers in the serial number. For example, my squire was made in Zhangzhou, China, denoted by 03638 in the SN.

 

[ericb7799]

Your info is quite out of date & also incorrect in more than a few areas. I’ve worked for Fender/Squier dealers for many years & Yako actually has their factories that make Squiers located in Zhangzhou mainland China (PRC) with their company HQ located in Taiwan (ROC). There’s no Yako Squier factory in Taiwan, all Yako Squier models are made at one of the China Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories located in the southeast part of mainland China approx 300 miles west of Taiwan.
NC/YN & CY were all older China Yako prefixes. NC/YN were the mid 1990’s Yako prefixes & they changed it to CY in 1998, but as of 2020-2021 the CY prefix is no longer in use anymore either & there are multiple new Yako prefixes: CYK is the main new Yako Zhangzhou prefix but they also use CMY & CMG at some of the Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories.
CD, COB & COS are actually not mysteries, CD was China Dalian, COB was the China CorTek factory (now CMC prefix) & COS was the China Samick factory (now CSS prefix). CA/CAE/CXS were China AXL & CGR/CGS were China Grand-Reward.

All the Squier factories in China are located in mainland China (PRC). Yako’s are in Zhangzhou, Grand Reward is in Guangdong, China CorTek factory is in Dalian, Liaoning & both China Samick & China AXL are in Shanghai.

 

[ericb7799]

Didn't they change the IC-prefix to ICS-prefix, even though the factory remained the same?

There are no recent IC-prefixes around, but a lot of ICS.

Yes, that changed back in 2009-2010 when they dropped the old “IC” prefix from use completely & changed them all to ICS for “Indonesia CorTek Squier” & ICF for “Indonesia CorTek Fender”. This Fender release here about Indonesia serials does mention the change to Fender branded models but doesn’t mention the changes they also made to Squiers at the same time as none of these releases from Fender are ever written to specifically address Squier serial numbers. In reality, nothing has gotten “IC” since 2009-2010 & ICS has been used on every Squier made by Indo Cort since then, both regular production & FSR models, with the S in ICS just meaning “Squier”-not “Special Run” or FSR.

All the Squier prefixes actually have four letters in them now, but only the first three letters are for the country/factory prefix. The new 4th letter is just a month code letter that changes every month: A for January to L for December. You read the month plus year date of production by the 4th letter + the very first two numbers.
For example this 1st pic ICSG21 decodes as ICS=Indonesia Cort Squier. G21=July 2021 & the last six digits are just the individual item number. All Squier factories in both Indonesia & China are formatting their serials this way now since about 2020 just with the specific factories’ three letter prefix: CYK is the new China Yako prefix, CSS is China Samick, CMC is China CorTek, ICS is Indonesia CorTek & ISS is Indonesia Samick.

How can I find out when my Indonesian-made instrument was manufactured? · Customer Self-Service

 

[bls8226]

Grand Reward hasn't produced any CV guitars since 2019. Since then, they've all been made by Cort and Samick in Indonesia, except for a few transition models early in the changeover that were still made by GR as Squier made the transition and Cort and Samick were ramping up production to meet contract requirements and demand.

I guess I got one of the last ones. Looks to me like a Febuary 2020 Grand Reward.

 

[Lanaka]

Wow, talk about resurrected thread, LOL!

 

[ericb7799]

Aren't all chinese Squiers made by Yako at least since 2013?
I think Fender invested a lot of money with AXL it's likely COB and COS are made by AXL but for outside of China market. Difference in body thickness might be just to the fact Fender Squier has always had one line with Alder (more expensive) but with different specs simply because they wanted not to replicate a fender strat but to make something with Squier character

No, China Yako is just one of many factories who make Squiers. There are at least 5 current factories making Squiers right now, 3 of them in China & 2 in Indonesia-also not counting the 2 or 3 more who used to make them in China & no longer do like China Dalian, China AXL & China Grand-Reward. COB & COS were not from AXL. AXL was CA/CAE/CXS. COB was China CorTek (now CMC) & COS was China Samick (now CSS).

They’ve made Squiers in Indonesia since 1998-1999 & have never stopped making them there since. The majority of Squiers including Classic Vibe series & Affinity Series are still made there now: ICS prefix is Indonesia Cort & ISS prefix is Indonesia Samick. The rest are made in China by Yako (CYK), China Cort & China Samick. Some series like Affinity & Bullet Series & the pack models are made in both countries with those series production lines being split between both China & Indonesia.

 

[Eddie]

Your info is quite out of date & also incorrect in more than a few areas. I’ve worked for Fender/Squier dealers for many years & Yako actually has their factories located in Zhangzhou mainland China (PRC) with only their company HQ located in Taiwan (ROC). There’s no Yako factory in Taiwan, all Yako Squier models are made at one of the China Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories located in the southeast part of mainland China approx 300 miles west of Taiwan.
NC/YN & CY were all older China Yako prefixes. NC/YN were the 1990’s Yako prefixes & they changed it to CY in 1998 but as of 2020-2021 the CY prefix is no longer in use anymore either & there are multiple new Yako prefixes: CYK is the main new Yako Zhangzhou prefix but they also use CMY & CMG at some of the Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories.
CD, COB & COS are actually not mysteries, CD was China Dalian, COB was the China CorTek factory (now CMC prefix) & COS was the China Samick factory (now CSS prefix). CA/CAE/CXS were China AXL & CGR/CGS were China Grand Reward.

All the Squier factories in China are located in mainland China (PRC). Yako is in Zhangzhou, Grand Reward is in Guangdong, China CorTek factory is in Dalian, Liaoning & both China Samick & China AXL are in Shanghai.

Great info, and it mostly collaborates with what I wrote.

Yako does not build Squiers in Taiwan, but they do have their own factories there for other builds.

Good info on the other C-something models. Helps to decipher where they were made.

 

[jimk06]

Your info is quite out of date & also incorrect in more than a few areas. I’ve worked for Fender/Squier dealers for many years & Yako actually has their factories that make Squiers located in Zhangzhou mainland China (PRC) with their company HQ located in Taiwan (ROC). There’s no Yako Squier factory in Taiwan, all Yako Squier models are made at one of the China Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories located in the southeast part of mainland China approx 300 miles west of Taiwan.
NC/YN & CY were all older China Yako prefixes. NC/YN were the mid 1990’s Yako prefixes & they changed it to CY in 1998, but as of 2020-2021 the CY prefix is no longer in use anymore either & there are multiple new Yako prefixes: CYK is the main new Yako Zhangzhou prefix but they also use CMY & CMG at some of the Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories.
CD, COB & COS are actually not mysteries, CD was China Dalian, COB was the China CorTek factory (now CMC prefix) & COS was the China Samick factory (now CSS prefix). CA/CAE/CXS were China AXL & CGR/CGS were China Grand-Reward.

All the Squier factories in China are located in mainland China (PRC). Yako’s are in Zhangzhou, Grand Reward is in Guangdong, China CorTek factory is in Dalian, Liaoning & both China Samick & China AXL are in Shanghai.

I'm a little late seeing this, but thanks for posting this-- really interesting info here.

 

[Lanaka]

Great info, and it mostly collaborates with what I wrote.

Yako does not build Squiers in Taiwan, but they do have their own factories there for other builds.

Good info on the other C-something models. Helps to decipher where they were made.

Is Yako the only guitar factory in Taiwan? I'm curious since I have a 1984 Yamaha SC-300T that specifically states that it's "Made in Taiwan."

 

[DougMen]

Is Yako the only guitar factory in Taiwan? I'm curious since I have a 1984 Yamaha SC-300T that specifically states that it's "Made in Taiwan."

Yamaha is a VERY big company, and I'm pretty sure they have their own guitar factories. I think they build everything with the Yamaha name on it, no matter what product sector, whether musical instrument, electronics, or gas powered vehicles for road, dirt, or water. Remember they not only make guitars, but pianos, synths, band instruments, and home and pro audio electronics, as well as motorcycles, ATVs, and outboard motors and Jet Skis.

 

[Lanaka]

Yamaha is a VERY big company, and I'm pretty sure they have their own guitar factories.

Yes, that may be true, but I prefer having confirmation on that so I can fill in the blanks in the Identification/Source section of my database. Right now it just says "?" for source factory information.

 

[DougMen]

They also make a full line of boats

Yamaha Boats – The Worldwide Leader in Jet Boats | Yamaha Boats

Legendary Yamaha reliability and performance on the water. Yamahaboats.com

www.yamahaboats.com

 

[Lanaka]

They also make a full line of boats

Yamaha Boats – The Worldwide Leader in Jet Boats | Yamaha Boats

Legendary Yamaha reliability and performance on the water. Yamahaboats.com

www.yamahaboats.com

I know that Yamaha made lots of things other than just musical instruments. I love their motorcycles, in particular, their R series. The R50, R500 and the R1 are favorites.

 

[Eddie]

Is Yako the only guitar factory in Taiwan? I'm curious since I have a 1984 Yamaha SC-300T that specifically states that it's "Made in Taiwan."

Yamaha had factories in Taiwan at the time. I think they've since pulled out and are building on the mainland.

I'm sure there are other musical instrument manufacturers in Taiwan, and I'm not sure how the recent cross-straight tensions have effected things.

 

[ummagumma]

Your info is quite out of date & also incorrect in more than a few areas. I’ve worked for Fender/Squier dealers for many years & Yako actually has their factories that make Squiers located in Zhangzhou mainland China (PRC) with their company HQ located in Taiwan (ROC). There’s no Yako Squier factory in Taiwan, all Yako Squier models are made at one of the China Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories located in the southeast part of mainland China approx 300 miles west of Taiwan.
NC/YN & CY were all older China Yako prefixes. NC/YN were the mid 1990’s Yako prefixes & they changed it to CY in 1998, but as of 2020-2021 the CY prefix is no longer in use anymore either & there are multiple new Yako prefixes: CYK is the main new Yako Zhangzhou prefix but they also use CMY & CMG at some of the Yako Zhangzhou sub-factories.
CD, COB & COS are actually not mysteries, CD was China Dalian, COB was the China CorTek factory (now CMC prefix) & COS was the China Samick factory (now CSS prefix). CA/CAE/CXS were China AXL & CGR/CGS were China Grand-Reward.

All the Squier factories in China are located in mainland China (PRC). Yako’s are in Zhangzhou, Grand Reward is in Guangdong, China CorTek factory is in Dalian, Liaoning & both China Samick & China AXL are in Shanghai.

man thanks for the info. I’ve been searching with little results. I have a 22 tele cyk. Amazed at quality for 150$. Fret work 100%

 

[Wound_Up]

The only thing I can think while reading this is that I wish Guitarmageddon was here.

Sorry if that puts a damper on things.

We miss ya, Ryan. 😕