Overview
Brand name:
Product:
- electric guitars
Series name:
Variant of:
Dates of manufacture:
1983 to 1984
FENDER manufactured the Walnut Elite Stratocaster from 1983 to 1984. It was the top of the innovative Elite Stratocaster range having gold-plated hardware, pearloid tuner buttons, American Black Walnut body and neck and ebony fingerboard.
Other features included:
- Biflex truss rod adjustment (installed from the rear - with skunk stripe on neck) with a neck angle adjuster located in the neck plate
- Slightly wider nut width and flatter 12 inch fretboard radius
- Ezy-Glyder point contact string retainers and high ratio, low backlash machine heads with specially lubricated tuning gears
- Security lock strap buttons
- Heavy duty cast bridge assembly with 'drop-in' string loading, Freeflyte tremolo system with tension adjustable from the top and snap-in Torq-Master tremolo arm. There was no backplate or recess in the back of the body for tremolo springs.
- Alnico II single coil pickups without protruding poles, noise-cancelling pickup system with a dummy coil between the lead and the middle pickups and active electronics with a special preamp circuit including MDX (mid-range) and TBX (high-range) controls. There was a small backplate near the edge covering the 9-volt battery for the active circuitry.
- three separate pickup push-on-off selector switches, an edge-mounted jack output and control knobs with a serrated rubber insert
Specifications (10)
Body
Body material | walnut body |
Body shape features | double cutaway |
Hardware
Bridge | Freeflyte vibrato |
Hardware color | gold-plated hardware |
Tuners | pearloid button tuners |
Neck
Neck material | walnut neck |
Electronics
Pickups configuration | 3 single coil pickups |
General
Scale length | 25.5 inches scale-length |
Controls
Tone controls | 2 tone controls |
Volume controls | 1 volume control |
Prices (2)
Date | Price | Condition | Name | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | $1500.00 | new | Danny Barrette | I changed the pick guard to a white pearled one I still have the original. |
1983 | $1200 | new |
Reviews (1)
FENDER Walnut Elite Stratocaster reviewed by Anonymous
Anonymous
WEIGHED A TON, AND SOUNDED BAD (THIN ) NO TONE.. , GOT RID OF AS FAST AS POSSILBE. BUT BEAUTIFUL GUITAR OTHERWISE..