Hi everybody,
I went to the The Guitar Dater Project website and they tell me my guitar was made in either '08 or '09. I just bought the guitar new. It's an American Standard Strat. Does anybody know for certain what year it was actually made?

my guess if it says '08 or '09 probaly '08

If it is a 09 it will start with Z9 if 08 it will start with Z8, so on and so forth.

This only goes up to 2005, right? I looked here first before posting.

This makes perfect sense to me. I'm just wondering why the GDP says my Z8XXXXXX is either an '08 or an '09. I just want to be certain. Does anyone know if there were changes to the model between '08 and '09?

Sometimes Fender will continue a series of serial numbers into the next year. Not uncommon to have a Z8 on an 09 guitar.Hope this helps. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

If you take a peak under the pickguard or in the neck pocket, you'll probably find the date those parts were made.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Thanks everybody,
I'll check under the pickguard. It's not a really big deal, I just want to be able to say I have an '08 Strat or whatever year it was made. This will be more important in the years to come I suppose. Thanks again. This forum rocks.

another thing you can do is email consumerrelations@fender.com with your serial number and they will email you back the exact "born on date" along with a whole sheet of info about your guitar. I did that for my USA Deluxe strat. I found out the date it was assembled on was 5/31/2000 plus a ton of other things. They replied to me within a few hours of me sending the email.

I dont think they can get that exact with MIM strats.

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