I read on an older post on telecaster.com about this very same issue with the serial# when cbs sold fender they kept using the older serial numbers you had to go by the neck date and mine is dated 06/28/88 in pencil on the butt of the neck, what makes me curious is the custom shop was opened in 87 and having the John Cruz stamp on the heel, and having block inlays I have never seen on a production model, could it be possible to me a custom shop guitar? It will be interesting to see if fender emails me back.
here is a link to that post
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/archive/i...p/t-90363.html