just found this thread...
Keep in mind, the era that I'm focusing on here is 1983 - 1984....
Just re-hashing this post from a few years' back as it seems though it remains unresolved.
First of all, I love Dallas and all, but you have to take what he says with a pinch of salt. After reading many articles and viewing many youtube videos with him commenting on Edge's gear, he is mistaken half the time. I'm not sure if this is intentional or perhaps one too many bong hits, but he's simply been wrong on many occasions. Furthermore, he wasn't around pre-1987 so I doubt he has all the details to the War/UF setup during 1983-1984.
Second of all, if you know any history of Fender 70's strats, there are some "tells" with regard to defining which period the guitar is from. For this particular purpose, let's look at the head stock decals. Fender put the serial number on the back plate until 1975 and then moved it up on the headstock underneath the "Fender" logo afterwards. Furthermore, Fender strats up until 1975 also had an "Original Contour Body Patented" decal on the headstock after "Stratocaster". The ones after 1975 don't have this circular decal.
Now if you look at all the photos of Edge's performances during the War/UF tour, including the iconic Live at Red Rocks and even Live Aid performances, he's using a 70's strat with serial number on the headstock without the "contour body" decal. This puts the guitar clearly post 1975.
Now you may be wondering whether it is 1979 like many others have purported. It's not. How can you tell? 1979's had a slightly altered "Fender" decal where it had a gold border. This made the whole "Fender" logo look more "noodley" and thin and less bold. The photos of Edge's headstock show the "Fender" logo in bold, so this puts his famous "Blackie" squarely in the 1976-1978 era.
As for pickups, I think the interviews with the Edge regarding his recently issued signature strat around the Dimarzios are self explanatory.
Hope this clarifies. In conclusion, I'd say a 1976-1978 is more the "iconic" U2 Edge "Blackie" guitar, and not a 1973. Now I could be mistaken, but I would not be surprised if the photo of the black and white 70's strat a few posts up in front of his rack is this same "Blackie" but went through a pickguard change along with a Floyd Rose installation/removal (as evidenced by the holes near the nut on the headstock). At a minimum the guitar is definitely post 1975 so clearly not a 1973 as Dallas mentioned. This is definitely the same guitar used in R&H Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet as well as 360 Fly, even the U2 for Aslan video, on quick check/examples. From my research, the 1973 strat that most folks speak of appears to surface during the JT era, as you can see him use that guitar on R&H Pride, Bad, etc. The slightly ironic part is that the quintessential "Streets" from R&H was played on a guitar that's not even a Fender Stratocaster. It's a Danvel/Nelson custom strat.
Anyway, if you're after that early U2 pre JT and War era strat, find yourself a 1976-1978. (And yes, they came stock black/black).