I have a stratocaster bought I believe in 1986 or 87. Serial #begins with E and it says American made on the front of the headpiece. It is a sunburst finish, maple neck. Here is the interesting part it has a solid wood back with no plate. everything gets worked on from the front of the guitar. Anyone tell me anything about this model? I'll post pictures another time. thanks.

Hi dbluesman,

The Strat serial numbers started with a letter beginning in mid 1976. Strats from that year had both 76 and S6 at the beginning of the serial number. The eighties Strats serial numbers started with an E. So your serial number indicates an eighties Strat, E6 (86) or E7 (87). You can email fender with the serial number and they may be able to tell you if it's all original, paint etc.

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Sounds like a 83-85(???) revision of the Standard Strat, with the freeflyte trem.


Somewhat of a rarity these days and go for around the £800 mark in the UK.

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No no and no

damn good call....
i forgot about those, i was reading about the bowling ball strats recently same shape, 2 knobs input jack the same.
those are sweeetttt.
i read it without reading carefully, i was thinking a block of wood in the trem cavity, no backplate.
goes to show, read carefully kids....

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

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Wasn't '83 the only year that they put the jack on the pick guard? If so, it would be pretty rare.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

83-85 they made em. Considering the quantities CBS were knocking out, their no rarer than any other guitar from those years.

Bluesstrat, it's just familiarity mate.

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No no and no

You might as well consider it 1983-1984; CBS essentially shut down the plant at the end of January 1985 in preparation to sell the company. There might have been a few pieces assembled from left-over part after FMIC took over in April 1985.

Virtually all of these will have E3XXXXX serial numbers, but there are a few documented cases where they have E4XXXXX numbers. The bowling ball ones are really the only ones that carry any siginificant value, but like all late 70s/early 80s guitars they are all going up in price these days.

According to the VG Price Guide the 83-84 2 knob Strats are worth from $900 to $1,125.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Whoa - seems like these were going for $300-$500 just a couple of years ago since they aren't really sought after (except for the bowling ball finish models). Like I said everything from the CBS era is going up in value these days.

Yeah but I consistently see them in the 6-800 range. They really aren't that collectible, but then again neither were 70s strats until recently