1968 Telecaster

[Guitarzan]

Hi guys.
I'm hoping someone here can help me to figure out the hardware numbers on a Tele my neighbor just brought over here for me to look over for him. He just wanted me to try and verify that it's all original. My confusion is with the pot codes. The neck plate serial number checks out as a '68. Of the 2 pots, solder makes one illegible and the other has the following:
015479 1 MEG AUD 304-6617. The pot with the solder over the numbers leaves only 015473 legible.
The guitar is a Telecaster Custom, has a bound body, top and back, tobacco burst, maple neck with dot fret markers. I believe the finish to be poly and the headstock decal is on top of the finish There's a grease pencil "8" in the neck socket and heel of the neck reads 30 OCT 68B. The back of the neck where it fits in the socket has a small ink stamp that reads 468.
It's got a "F"neck plate with the serial number 223531. The "Custom Telecaster" words on the headstock logo decal are in a straight line and do not include any numbers


The pots appear to be Stackpole. I read somewhere that right at or just before the CBS acquisition, Fender bought a huge lot of CTS pots. I further read that this can result in a 1970 strat having CTS pots with a '67 date code. This has me confused with the Stackpoles that are in this guitar and appear to be factory. Also, am I reading it correctly?
304 = Stackpole and 6617 is the 17th week of 1966? With Fender being notoriously "frugal" I find it interesting that they'd still be pulling from a supply of '66 pots in '68. But then maybe they got a huge lot of those in '66 cheap too like the '67 CTS pots. Oh, and another interesting thing is that the under side of the 3-ply pickguard is pearloid. Why use pearloid on the side that won't show?
Any input from you guys will be very much appreciated.
Regards
-Zan, Jane, and the monkey

[sluckey]

Also, am I reading it correctly?
304 = Stackpole and 6617 is the 17th week of 1966? With Fender being notoriously "frugal" I find it interesting that they'd still be pulling from a supply of '66 pots in '68. But then maybe they got a huge lot of those in '66 cheap too like the '67 CTS pots.

You're correct with the pot code. It's also possible that the pots sat in a mfg bin or even a distributor bin and Fender didn't actually buy them until '68.

[Guitarzan]

Of course! DUH!! That possibility never even crossed my mind. Thanks Slukey. That makes sense.

[Guitarzan]

I got a reply from a different forum regarding this. Evidently this guy knew something about the way of the assembly lines at Fender back in the day. The pots would be in a bin at that station of assembly where the control plates were put together. When the supply got low someone would come and dump a bunch more in the bin with no regard to rotating stock. So any that were still at the bottom of the bin remained there until eventually when a bin would finally be emptied. So older pots in newer guitars seems to be a VERY common occurrence.