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ELITE STRATOCASTER

In the early 1980’s things seemed to be looking up in Fullerton. CBS - owned Fender had finished a decade that had seen the quality and consequently the reuptation of the formely thriving company sink like the sun at the end of a California day. But now the company seemed poised for a turnaround. New top management people had been brought aboard and money was made availabke for resurrection. Contours were getting better, weight was lower, finishes looked better and above all the abortive and suspect 3 bolt neck had returned to its 4- scew glory. Even some pretty good reissues were being produced. This marks the begining of the so-called "strat mania". Everybody and his brother seems to own a Strat type guitar available. Some manufactures take things a few steps further with multiple options like humbuckers, locking tremelos and exotic colors or graphic finishes - the "Super" Strat.

Fender apparently decided to do something a little super of their own. A few series of instruments were developed called Elite. The range included a Precision bass variation, a Telecaster and a Elite Strat which is our Quick Take for this month.

Fender crowed in their 1983 catalog that the Elite range incorporated as many as 14 patent pending innovations. The Strat got most of them. Among the obvious Elite touches were three new pickups with no polepieces showing, a new style top loading tremelo and 3 push/push buttons replacing the old lever switch. This is Fender’s first attempt at active electronics which include an internal dummy pickup for hum cancelling, an MDX mid boost control and a TBX tone control that serves as both a standard tone control (counter clockwise) and a bright boost (clockwise) from a mid point click stop. The Freeflyte tremelo system worked on a knife edge principal to reduce friction. String ball ends were held in notches on the top of the unit. The arm itself though it looked similar to the old style snapped in instead of threading. Tension adjustments were made from the top as well. Since pickup selection was now accomplished with on/off buttons, all seven combinations could be used. also worth noting is the Elite series’s introduction of the Biflex truss rod. This system allows the rod to adust the neck to concave or convex without relying on string tension to help. The neck itself sports medium jumbo frets on a flatter (12") non vintage radius for easier string bending. Even though the 70’s tilt neck adjustment is retained the neck is secured with four screws the old way. Neck adjustment on the Elite instruments is with an allen wrench at the headstock. However, instead of the phallic bullet adjustment, the nut is sunk into a well and kept out of sight.

These instruments also had Fender’s first strap buttons that accepted a strap lock as well. Other nice touches included self-lubricating close ratio tuning pegs, redesigned string trees for reduced string friction and a whole new palette of colors including bursts that go from left to right instead of center to outward. The Deluxe Walnut Elite and Gold Elite came with new arline approved flight cases.

We will never know for sure wheter these particular "Super" Strats would have caught on with public. A year later CBS sold the company and American production was temporarily ceased. When production was resumed the Elite series was not a part of it. The Elite legacy does live however. Several of the Elite innovations are still with us on the Fender American Standard line. Biflex 4 bolt necks, 12" radius, large frets, strap buttons, tuning pegs, and string trees are all identical to the original Elite series.