I suspect an instrument destined for MK may have a little more care, attention and love at the Fender factory than one destined to be for the general public.
SE00000 and SE00001 for example!
I presume these 2 instruments were the correct colour red too?
See what I mean?
That does make complete sense! I’ve always wondered about stuff like that… love the bit of mystery behind it.
I was fortunate to see Jimmie Vaughan and his band not long ago. He’s another one that plays his signature model on tour and the YouTube interview with his tech notes that he plays a factory spec guitar (in his case a MIM model no less!) I totally dig that. Love that these guys could be playing any instrument they want and will opt for more inexpensive models. (Like MK’s Danelectro as another good example)
It would be crazy to assume an artist of MK's magnitude uses off-the-shelf stuff. The man receives a Monteleone guitar as a gift, has dozens of custom guitars built for him, has his own studio, and plays a stock signature guitar. That's insane!
Even Tommy Emmanuel, an artist of way lower calibre than MK, uses a custom-built signature guitar. His Maton is built by one man throughout and you can order an exact guitar like his for about 10 grand. Or by a stock one for way less money.