I have a Mexican Strat that I got at guitar center and the Serial number does not check out on a site that verifys them. Does anyone know about these things? The number is MZ9407453.

You should probably email this to Fender Consumer Relations to verify but this looks like a typical serial number used from roughly the middle of 2009 to the middle of 2010 - the "MZ9" part translates to:

"M" for "Mexico"
"Z" for "Zeros" meaning "200__"
"9" for "09" or "2009" - but as I mentioned the MIM numbers change over mid-year, not at the first of the year.

The issue is the ammount of numbers in the serial number. It seems that the normal is 5 after the MZ9

No, the issue is that the "guitar dater project" is lame. Just because they have no record of this serial number, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. This same "dater program" used to say that any 5 or 6 digit number was legit. I had typed in everything from 00000 to 999999 and they all showed as legit (obviously there was never a 00000, and there couldn't be a 99999 and a 999999). Now they've changed the program and claim to have gathered actual "facts" about real serial numbers. There are both 5 and 6 digits used after the year on the serial number of many types of Strats. Who would waste their time and effort to fake a MIM Strat? Not much reward in that. And, if you bought it at GC, as new as it is, that should be a fair indicator that it is legit. Try John C's advice, if anyone would know for sure, it's Fender.

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Agreed. The GDP was a great idea, but funding probably became an issue?

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I was trying to sell it and an interested party said the number was fake according to Fenders site. I actually do like the MIM guitars and others have faked even cheaper guitars. Besides, I am more of a Bass player. I did email Fender.

I e-mailed fender customer service Wed. Sent my serial #, and had a reply Thursday. Told me everything about it. Mine was made April 2011. Didn't know it was so new....lol

Ppl who do serial numbers like this are wrong. I knew a guy that tried to tell me one of my strats was made in 2008 after i just bought it new. I didn't believe him so I called Fender and It was made in 2010[/quote]

Well using serial number is just an approximation; it has always been an approximation that gets you to the "ballpark" ow when a guitar was built. Sound like your guitar is either an exception or the person who was looking at your guitar read the dates out wrong - I could see someone saying a 2010 was a 2009 (these things don't change over on January 1) but a 2008 serial number on a 2010 would be kind of outside the norm. A 2009 number on a 2010, particularly one made early in the year, wouldn't be unusual.

Of course the only ways to accurately get the production date are to email/call Fender (which works for FMIC guitars since the early 1990s) or to take it apart to check the dates. There are some "notable exceptions" including the use of "S9" serial numbers on Strats from as early as late 1978 through 1981, the use of "E4" serial numbers on the first of the American Standards and Pluses made from late 1986 and used as late as mid-1988, the accidental use of "N9" instead of "N0" decals on American Standards/Pluses/Plus Deluxes built in early 1990, and even as recently as 2000 when regular "Z0" decals were used on some American Deluxes that should have had "DZ0" decals.

I have owned more than a few Fenders with odd serial numbers and still have a '79 Lead II with an E0 (1980) serial number; I'm not sure they ever used "S9" decals on these. And yes I have the original sales receipt from November 1979. I also owned a 2004 American Deluxe V-Neck Strat with a 2003 serial number and a plain "Fender Corona California" neck plate instead of the "50th Anivesary of the Stratocaster" logo neck plate. I bought it in March 2004; the guitar was assembled in December 2003 so it could be shipped to a store that ordered it in January 2004 when these were first made available.