FENDER '83 STRATOCASTER ELITE Lefty, Sunburst, Excellent plus Cond, Active Circuit code LH43

1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite Made in Usa In Excellent Overall Condition Original Sunburst Finish Maple Neck 12" Radius Original Fender Noise Cancelling Pickups With Active Pre-Amp (MDX/TBX) 5-way pickup selector switch. Original Frets and Hardware in Very Good Condition. Alder Body, Maple Neck and Fingerboard Low action Comes With The Fender Molded Hardshell Case Trem Arm and Tag

From: The Fender Stratocaster Book. A. Duchossoir (1989).

Fender started work on the designs for the ELITE series in late 1981 with a research and design team that included Dan Smith, Chip Todd. John Page, Charlie Gressett and Freddie Tavares. The Elite series was meant to combine modern technologies with the classic Stratocaster design. The electronics, vibrato and neck adjustment mechanisms were all to be improved. To this end the Elite Stratocasters included active electronics, refined Freeflyte tremolo bridges and Biflex trussrods. When the Elite Stratocaster was finally released in 1983 it included numerous new features:

• 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