83 U.S. made Strat, 2 tone sunburst,maple fretboard.

Pics please? That sounds like one of my "someday" guitars

They go for around a grand depending on the condition and the individuals making the deal. Solid instruments.

Since it's an '83, are we assuming it's what's called the Dan Smith-era strat? Dead giveaway in stock condition are two knobs (master volume, master tone) and the output jack on the pickguard where the second tone knob would be. Not bad strats at all, just different from the norm. A friend's Dad had a Smith strat I played a few gigs with a decade ago and it was what all you'd want from a strat.

This was also the era of the Stratocaster Elite. Dead giveaway here would be lack of pole pieces on the pickups (like later Lace Sensors). These are MUCH more desirable for that era. They have a great factory hum-canceling circuit/design that retains the traditional strat quack and chime tones. I'd pick up one in a heartbeat if it showed up at my shop at a fair price.

Both of those used the shortly-lived Freeflyte tremolo system. Let's hope your friend has the tremolo bar for it still - it can be difficult to find and typically not cheap if and when you do.

That bridge can throw some set up techs for a loop as well. Not that they are complex, but just that they were so short lived a lot of modern bench techs have never worked on them.

If it's either of the ones I described above, you can be assured they are good strats and definitely on the rarer side today. If the guitar you're getting is stock, unmolested and you pay below fair market value, you've done quite well.

After a little research,on the serial number, it appears that it is actually an 84model, serial number is E4 with 5 digits following.
I looked the guitar up and down,and I don't see anything different from a standard American Strat,3 knobs,chord jack in the normal place,but I have always been a telecaster guy. It does have the whammy bar with it, and my friend said he had never even put it on the guitar.It doesn't have any special markings of any kind.
It has the black plastic rectangle case,and not the tweed one.

What would market value be? This thing is as close to perfect as I have ever seen,other than brand new.

He didn't even know that he might have a valuable guitar, he was just hearing me talking with another picker,and obviously Stratocasters came up.

Later,he came to me and said" I've got an old Fender stratocaster in my closet,are they valuable?"

My reaction " are you shitting me Don?"

He said "NO! and he told me about his folks buying it,and him never really having an interest. I got him to bring it to show me right away. He says he also has the amp they bought,but I don't know what that one is yet,because he only brought the strat over.

The price we agreed upon is a little bit over what has been suggested yet,this guy is a good friend of mine,and I would never want him to think I cheated him,and this guitar is UNREAL nice.

He kind of didn't want to sell it,but I said to him"Don,this a great guitar,and it was built to be played,that's what it's for. You know I'll play it,and take care of it. It took about 2 weeks for him to think about it,before he finally told me he would be willing to let it go.

I am paying a little bit more for this one,but I am OK with it. Nothing in the shops,or online,will touch the condition.

Thanx folks. What everyone said,was pretty much right in my line of thinking.

You have some great points,and to tell the truth,this is not my grail guitar,but it is THAT guitar for somebody.

I will make a little profit off of it,when the right buyer comes along,because a comparable one isn't available. It will get me a step closer to my dream guitar, a new Cherry Sunburst B-bender Telecaster Deluxe.

Is a new Telecaster or Strat as good as an old one? The new ones sound and play great,even new cheap guitars are better now than they ever were. The thing is though,we absolutely know how good the old ones are,it will be 30 years until we know how good the new ones really are.