Leaderboard

I'll add my local shop, Matchetts in Belfast. They have a website with online ordering. The staff are friendly and helpful when in-store.

The last guitar I bought was from merchant City music in Glasgow. They were really helpful and let me noodle for ages on lots of different guitars. Every guitar I tried was well set up. I've bought small things from them online before like tuners and pedals and they've turned up really quickly. Also bought a bass from guitar guita a couple of years ago. Completely online transaction with helpful online chat on the website. Turned up quickly in good condition. Kennys are always friendly but I've not bought anything from them. Hope this helps...

Putting a year to this will be hard without any sort of serial number to go on. Encore have been under the JHS umbrella since 1980 (there’s a little bit more of the brand history here; https://jedistar.com/encore/amp/) and I’d guess that a Strat copy with a Fender-style headstock has been a regular part of their catalogue from day one. There may be some clues in the pickup cavities, in the neck pocket or under the pick guard if you feel like stripping the guitar down - otherwise, all we have to go on is the aged appearance of the pickups and that, to my mind, puts it somewhere in the late eighties or nineties. Which is a wild guess on my part but with nothing else to go on….