So I was not expecting to buy at the moment, but the price was right and it was a one owner in incredible condition. The right color(Dakota Red), with the right neck(rosewood) in the original case... Owner claims he purchased it the day his son was born Dec 1989.
Is there a way to tell the date from the serial?

Fender American Stratocaster serial numner E 410395

I will post pics

Thanx,

Lewd

No the serial no' is a waste of time dating that, without Fender Customer Services involvment.
So email or call Fender. Or take the neck off and look for the neck and body dates.

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No no and no

ok, will do! I will get the dates from the pocket, and pots. Correct me if I am wrong but the body should have the swimming pool routing for the pups right?

I don't have it yet, but these are the pics I have. I will post some hi-res when I have it in my hands!

Unfortunately Fender's records start in 1993; evidently the older records were never transferred to their current system.

The photos aren't showing up for me; I am a member at "My Les Paul Forum" but still had to cut/paste. Yes, this is an early American Standard Strat.

Now a bit of history - Fender used E4XXXXX serial numbers on the first production runs of the American Standard Strat - if you take the neck off you could see a date as early as the fall of 1986 and as late as the early part of 1988 (although rare I have seen a photo of a date as late as June/July 1988 on an E4XXXXX Strat Plus). Likely the original owner bought the guitar from store stock in 1989 but is is either a 1987 or 1988.

Thanx John! I will see if I can fix the pics. 1988 is the year I turned 14, and july 2nd I got my 1st guitar! '88 was a great year for me!