This is my 1984 Strat, a “two knob”, “cost cutter” American Stratocaster I purchased new in 1984:

In the early eighties, Fender noticed the market share that Japanese guitar manufacturers had developed, and decided to reduce Stratocaster manufacturing costs by reducing the number of body routs from three to one. The pocket for the input jack was cut, with the jack being placed on the pickguard where the 2nd tone control normally went (and the pickguard has an extra screw near the jack, added to keep the guard from pulling up when the plug was removed). A new tremolo was designed (called the “Freeflyte”) that was a “top loader”, meaning the strings no longer ran through the body, thus eliminating the large rout on the back of the guitar. Contrary to popular belief, it’s still a three-spring design - the springs are under the pickguard and appear to be the same length as other Strat trem springs.

UPDATE: Download a PDF of the 83-84 Owner’s Manual, which includes the tremolo setup!

The only variants of the “two-knobs” were the “Elite” which featured active electronics, and the “Bowling Ball” strats. which were the same two-knob USA guitars with a marbled paint finish.

Fender purists hated the changes - to many it seemed like a massive sacrilege to mess with Leo Fender’s classic design, which had not seen significant changes since its introduction in 1954 - and by 1986 the “American Standard” was developed, based on the lessons learned from the well-regarded reissue Strats of the early 80’s. These new Standards were much like sixties strats, but introduced the 2-point floating tremolo as opposed to the “six screw” vintage-style trem - a decision that still divides Strat fans.

However, the 83 & 84 “two knob” models were actually very good guitars, with high quality necks, bodies, and setup - they were, after all, hand-made guitars from American workers, using premium woods and undergoing more rigorous inspection. The body of this one is the heaviest strat I’ve played (it’s still no Les Paul though), and the heavier body is mentioned by many owners of this era Strat. The extra weight may account for the noticeably fatter sound and really nice low-end “thump” this guitar has. It’s the best player I’ve ever owned as well. The tone? Very Fender-ish, but the top-loader trem design doesn’t seem to deliver as much “spring” sound. This model came stock with a graphite nut and graphite string tees as well; currently it has a stacked humbucker in the bridge position - but I still have the original pickup.

On close inspection, these really are well-made guitars - the neck-to-pocket joint is a tight fit, the fretwork is impeccable with nicely rolled edges, and the tuners are high-quality. I adjusted the bridge twenty five years ago and haven’t touched it since. After something like 500 gigs with this guitar, the frets show noticeable wear, but nothing that affects tone or playability.

Still under-rated by collectors, they are quality guitars, and mine seems to support the belief that good guitars just get better with age - it really sounds and plays great after a quarter century.

(this video was shot using a Sure Sm57 on a Peavey Classic 30 Amp, and plugging the mic directly into the XLR input of the DVX video camera - not the best way to record an amp, but not bad).