Good lord where is everyone's minds on that serial number? Until Fender changed to the "US10" numbers last year all the artist signature models started with an "S"; so of course the Sambora Strat is going to have an "SE" or an "SN" serial number - just like a Beck, Clapton, SRV, or Malmsteen of that day.

In fact the "S" for "Artist Signature" info is on the same page on the Fender website where the OP found the information about "E9 + 5 digits" equals a 1989 guitar:

http://www.fender.com/support/articles/ ... uct-dating

Just scroll down to the "odd serial numbers" and you will see info on Artist Signatures using "SE", "SN" and "SZ" numbers from the 1980s through the 2000s.

Now is it a 1989 maybe - Fender used the "SE9XXXXX" serial numbers from 1989 until circa 1992 or even 1993. For some reason I'm thinking the Sambora didn't come out until more like 1990; however, the only way will to know for sure will be to take it apart and check for dates - as others have said, Fender's CS database only goes back to about 1993 with full details.

To the OP - the Sambora looks legit to me; typical color for them (I've only seen one in person; it was hanging on the wall in a music shop in Cleveland, OH I stopped in one day back in 1992). If you got it from Gruhn's I wouldn't have any worries; they are about as legit in the vintage guitar game as you can get. If they are a place to go to make sure you have a real '59 Les Paul or a real '53 Tele then they aren't going to mess up on authenticating a Sambora Strat from the early 90s.

+1

The Sambora Strat wasn't available until 1991.

I believe this guitar is supposedly one of the numerous prototypes Richie used in the late 1980s a couple of months after Kramer came into bankruptcy.