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1984 Fender Stratocaster Elite

1984 Fender Stratocaster Elite — cherry front body on black, Freeflyte tremolo, Elite pickups

About this instrument

Quite possibly my favorite rock guitar tone of all time is that of Ty Tabor of King’s X. He famously used a Fender Stratocaster Elite along with a Lab Series L5 amplifier. Something about the combination of that guitar and that amp produced something really magical.

The early 1980s were not a great time for Fender. They were losing sales to companies that were making super strats and their build quality was pretty poor at that time. The Fender Stratocaster Elite was easily one of the weirdest Fender Strats that the company ever made. It was outrageously heavy at around 12 lbs. This was due to the internal tremolo system. There was no back routing. In addition, this particular model had a crazy amount of electronics in it. Fender only produced these guitars for about 1.5 years between 1983 and early 1985.

The pickups in the Stratocaster Elite were the predecessor of the Fender Lace Sensor pickups. Fender actually wired these pickups with a dummy coil under the pickguard for noise cancellation. The preamp in the guitar is active, and it is also quite noisy. The circuit featured a boost that, when engaged, makes the pickups sound a lot more like P90s than single-coil pickups.

Oddly enough, this nearly mint condition example of this guitar has a Brazilian rosewood fretboard. Fender had stopped using Brazilian rosewood long before this. It’s thought that this was part of their old stock of Brazilian rosewood that was left over, and they just used it in production as it was convenient.

You can hear this guitar on my Kings X guitar cover of “The Big Picture” on YouTube. Watch on YouTube.

Specs

  • ModelStratocaster Elite (produced ~1983–early 1985)
  • SerialE 347207
  • Weight~12 lbs
  • TremoloInternal Freeflyte tremolo system (no back routing)
  • PickupsLace Sensor predecessors with dummy coil under pickguard
  • ElectronicsActive preamp with boost (P90-like when engaged)
  • FretboardBrazilian rosewood (old stock)
  • ConditionNearly mint

Personal instrument — not for sale.