Eric Clapton Stratocaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fender Stratocaster | |
 |
|
| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1988 — Present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on |
| Woods | |
| Body | Alder |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Maple |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Blocked Synchronized Tremolo |
| Pickup(s) | 3 Vintage Noiseless Single-coils |
| Colors available | |
| Olympic White, Black, Pewter, Torino Red, Candy Green | |
The Eric Clapton Stratocaster is the signature model electric guitar of English guitarist Eric Clapton, and was the first signature model guitar ever released by Fender.
[edit] Background
In 1981, Fender had informally discussed the idea of a signature model Telecaster with the legendary James Burton; however, this would not come to be until 1990. Jeff Beck had also been offered a signature model Stratocaster, but he rejected the idea at the time.
Clapton, though he had played Fender Telecasters in his brief career with The Yardbirds, would attain "guitar god" status while playing models such as the Gibson Les Paul, Gibson ES-335 and SG whilst a member of Cream. However, in 1970, for his landmark Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with new band Derek and the Dominos, Clapton switched to a vintage sunburst Stratocaster nicknamed "Brownie". This was in part due to the influence of Clapton's former bandmate Steve Winwood. Clapton later fused the best parts of three vintage Strats to create his favorite guitar, the famous "Blackie", a black Stratocaster which he played for many years. Both guitars would later sell for record prices at auction. When Blackie finally wore out, Clapton and the Fender Custom Shop began to work on a signature model.
[edit] Features
Clapton asked Fender for a V-shaped neck similar to his Martin acoustic and what he called a "compressed" sound from the pickups. The final product used three of Fender's new low-noise pickups, the Lace Sensors which were not at all popular with other Stratocaster players. Active electronics helped deliver better tone from these normally bland pickups, helping to get some of the tone Clapton desired. Also, the guitar had an interesting feature: a tremolo arm-style bridge blocked off to tremolo arms. This came about as Clapton shunned the tone of hardtail Stratocasters but never used the tremolo arm.
In 2001, reflecting the changes Clapton had made to his own guitar, the Lace Sensors were replaced with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups.
