Hey everyone,
I've been searching to find out the year of my fender strats...I have two of them. They both are Fender Stratocasters made in USA, serial #'s begin with E 3xxxxx. Should I assume that is 1983??? The serial # decoders that i have used say they were made when CBS owned Fender and they were made from 1982-1985 in the fullerton factory. Is that as close to the year that i can get? On my gibsons i can find out the exact date.
thanx

Hi disom007, welcome to the Forum.

Fenders generally have the date of manufacture stamped or written onto the end of the neck heel:


It'll often tell you the month as well as the year.

Of course, that's only the date the neck was made: sometimes there could be a delay of months before that neck was assembled with a body and the guitar completed, so potentially the neck and body can show as being constructed in different years.

But it is the most accurate way of dating your guitar. Much more so than the Guitar Dater Project, with all due respect to that website...

Cheers - C

thanx alot ceri, good info.
I posted that on another forum and got no response.
thanx for the quik reply.