Hey guys

I'm being offered a Strat and/or Tele with serial numbers that I bear no resemblance to standard Fender identification.
The Strat S/N given to me is Z3214615
The Tele " " DZ6103181

Could someone please provide some info on that to make sure that I'm buying a genuine Fender.
Many thanks

Nat

Based on the Strat serial number that guitar was made in Mexico in 2003 / 2004
Not sure on the tele though.

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.

Based on the Tele serial number it's an American Deluxe Series man in the Corina plant USA in 2006

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.

My Deluxe Tele serial number starts with a DZ.
The Strat Z number is also American made.

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If it was made in Mexico the serial number would begin with an M

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When I entered ther serial numbers into the guitar dater project website the Strat serial number cam up as Mexican made. When I selected the American option the system came up with nothing but when Mexico was selected it came up with the info

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.

I must be wrong then, I thought a Z serial number was made in America.
My `08 Strat had a Z prefix and was made here so I`m a little confused at this point.

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E-mail Fender, consumerrelations@fender.com, with your serial numbers and they will tell you everything there is to know about your guitar.

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"When words fail, the guitar speaks."

I'm new to all of this and going by the information I found in the guitar dating project website. I could very well be wrong and if I am I'm sorry.

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.

Not a problem. I`m sure others who know more about it will help with some information about the prefix letter.

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I just sent the serial numbers of my two MIM Strats to the Fender email address posted earlier to see what they can tell me.

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.

That Guitardater project website seems to have issues on several serial numbers. It shouldn't be turning up a USA number as an MIM number - I have never heard of an MIM serial number from the 1990s or the 2000s that didn't start with an "M" prefix (starting in mid-2010 they are using an "MX10" prefix on the MIMs since they dropped the "Letter + digit" method of identifying the year).

Hey John C
Thanks for the insight maybe from now on I will just email costumer relation at Fender when I'm looking for accurate information.
I guess I took the guitar dating project site as being reliable.

_________________
He who dies with the most Strats wins.

Z prefix serial numbers should be a USA-made "modern" models built in the 2000s (and as you know the first digit tells you the year). Fender added additional prefix letters for various series:

D for the American Deluxes (starting in 1998 when these came out) - so these serial numbers read "DN" for the 1998/99s and DZ for the 2000/2009s. There is an exception where some 2000 American Deluxes did not have the "D" prefix. S

S for the Artist Signatures starting in the late 1980s with "SE8" serial numbers (it took Fender up until about 1992/93 to use up the SE8 and SE9 decals and "catch up" to the year code).

M for the Made in Mexico models from their introduction until last year, so an "MN" would be an MIM in the 1990s; an "MZ" would be one made in the 2000s.

MS was used for MIM signature models like the Jimmie Vaughn guitars.

The new serial numbers really mess up these sites - all "modern" USA models used just a "10" from say January through about April, starting in May they began using a "US10" prefix. Also Fender has dropped the "D" and "S" additional prefixes.

As of about July of last year the MIM models now use an "MX10" serial number.

American Strat 2003
Telecaster Deluxe 2006