Fender Gold Elite Stratocaster

Back in 1982 I purchased a new Black Fender Gold Elite Stratocaster with maple neck together with it's fitted flight case, the intention was to put it to good use, well after a few hours use it got put away and forgotten about, 'not intentionally' it's just that my Hofner and Jaguar suited me better at the time. Well several weeks ago I rediscovered the thing in the back of my cupboard, having now restrung it and placed a new battery into the back I was really taken back buy just how fine a guitar it really was, not really appreciated at the time. I know at the time it was condemned by many guitarists as not being a real Stat, and having far to many Patent pending innovations, but hell it really is a fine instrument and rarely seen these days. Is there anybody out there that agrees with me? or am I one of the few that still has a soft spot for the thing. I read with interest several Guitar mags on a regular basis but have never seen an article written about them or even a comment good or bad, surely there must be somebody who has played and enjoyed the instrument. Any comment on this particular breed would be most welcome. Regards Rob Taylor

Rob, as you say not a very popular guitar and IIRC Fender only made them in 83 and 84. However one of them did find its way into the hands of Kings X guitarist Ty Tabor. It was his main stage guitar for many years (until Zion built him a signature model). Coupled with his unusual choice of amps (Gibson Lab Series) he obtained some great tones. Check out Out of The Silent Planet and Gretchen Goes To Nebraska for some fine playing.

Seeing as I was a big fan I spent a long time trying to get hold of one - they were like Hen's teeth. The only ones that seemed to turn up were the natural (ie: non solid colours) Walnut bodied Gold Elites and they were going for silly money. The last one I saw was in Music Ground and was £1200........not surprisingly they had it for a very long time (in fact they may still have it).

I love the pickups and actives in the guitar and the push button pickup selection (except the all off position which can be a bit disconcerting) - the less we say about the trem the better.

You're not selling it are you ?

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That could be one of the non-export Höfners : There were quite a few models that didn't make it to the UK. In Germany they just had numbers : 'President' and 'Verithin' were names used by the