my 2 cents.

It is an early American Deluxe that has been modified. The neck has the correct logo but the string tree is suspect. The clay dots are correct and I believe the body color is correct. They made a bing cherry transparent red and a teal green transparent available about the same time period 99-2001. The contour body heel was not available until 2003? I think and the LSR nut is only available on the HSS models. The early Deluxe used the Vintage noiseless pups and later switched to the SCN. Yours seems to have been replaced with something else altogether. The locking tuners bother me because I'm thinking they had the F logo on the screw cap in the back on the ones I have seen. The serial bothers me too because it should be 1 or 2 letters followed by 6 digits and I'm counting 7? Could be the picture. If he gives you the serial that should clear up a lot of the questions.

Offer him 500 and see what happens...800 too much for a questionable heritage

thanks again guys! Believe me I'm not going to plunk down money before I give it a good going over. I will see it tomorrow so I will get the serial number first hand along with checking the rest of the components.

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'00 American Deluxe Stratocaster (Kinman Hx pups)
'08 Ibanez AS73 (Gibson Burstbuckers)
Fender DeVille 410

Hello Kk5fe & All,

My 2000 Am Deluxe also did not have made in USA
on the headstock only the neckplate.
and no "F" on the locking tuners.

2 piece Ash body Joined at the centerline.

Not a great photo but here is the one I owned.

Cheers.

Well, I saw, I bought.... Less than what he wanted for it too! I'm happy.... It is just like Mr. Bill's except of course the color is a transparent cherry. It is a deluxe.... verified by Fender customer support. It is a 2000 model. Built 5/31/2000 to be exact.
It has locking tuners with no "F", micro tilt neck plate with made in Corona on it. almost mint except for some tarnish on the frets easliy taken care of. It looks like it hasnt been played in ten years.... what a waste!

The pickups are aftermarket though, but all three are Kinman Hx pups. Not to shabby and sound great. The string tree also looks like someone changed it I think.... that will be replaced with as original as I can find.

I will post some better photos after I get her all cleaned up!

Thanks again for all the help and comments!

Keith

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'00 American Deluxe Stratocaster (Kinman Hx pups)
'08 Ibanez AS73 (Gibson Burstbuckers)
Fender DeVille 410

Congratulations Keith! I am glad everything worked out good for you. Now enjoy your new guitar!!

Hello Kk5fe,

Sweet deal on the new Am/Dlx.
For what it's worth I recently sold mine for
$900 with no case, the buyer had been bugging
me since Christmas past, finally he had the do-re-mi,
and adios to my green guitar, I'll be on the lookout for a deal.
Best of luck with it, that axe will practicly play itself, a very comfy neck.

Cheers.

Thanks Mr. Bill..... it does play very nice!

a question..... in my post to say I bought it I forgot to mention that it also has the S1 switch which works with the Kinman pickups. I didnt think the 2000 models had S1... or did someone modify it along with replacing the pickups? I'm not complaining! Its great to have it either way!

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'00 American Deluxe Stratocaster (Kinman Hx pups)
'08 Ibanez AS73 (Gibson Burstbuckers)
Fender DeVille 410

I don't know much about this topic, but it's possible the Kinmans were purchased with a DIY no-soldering harness and switching system. Much easier to install that way... and a cool $400 or more. I've not played a guitar with them installed, but they're very highly regarded.