Fender EOB Sustainer Stratocaster
1
3
first play
FENDER EOB SUSTAINER STRATOCASTER
12
GUITARIST FEBRUARY 2018
launched a Strat model sans the recessed
jack and one of the tone controls; on that
occasion the tweaks were intended to
cut costs. Here, the jackplate has been
relocated to free up some valuable real
estate on the EOB’s body for the chunk
of circuitry that powers the onboard
Fernandes Sustainer system. Yep, the
EOB offers the prospect of infinite sustain
from its Fernandes-branded neck pickup.
It’s joined by a Seymour Duncan JB Jr
single coil-sized humbucker at the bridge
and a slightly overwound Fender Texas
Special in the middle slot. So, this is a
high spec guitar, but the only thing it
doesn’t come with is a load of rock star
ego. Even Ed O’Brien’s John Hancock
doesn’t appear anywhere on his guitar.
Feel & Sounds
Ed O’Brien has used a black Fender Eric
Clapton Signature Stratocaster, retro-fitted
with a Fernandes Sustainer, since 1996.
That guitar has a V-profile neck making
his choice of the 10/56V shape for his
EOB model a no-brainer. The V profile
is actually quite subtle and it morphs into
a C shape as you approach the 12th fret
making it supremely comfortable to
navigate. We like Strats with fuller necks
as it seems to offset the lack of grunt from
the bridge pickup.
Of course, the EOB has a humbucking
JB Jr in the bridge position so there’s
more weight in the tone here anyway.
The JB Jr is bright and punchy when
played clean and grows bolder when
you expose it to some overdrive. It’s
fuller bodied than a regular Strat bridge
pickup and that girth is also present in
the mid-position Texas Special and the
Fernandes unit which acts as a regular
neck humbucker when not in sustain
mode. All the classic Strat sounds are
2
1. There’s no signature
on this guitar but Ed
O’Brien has included a
‘Flower of Life’ design
on the neck plate. The
distances between the
spheres represents
that between whole and
semi-tones, apparently
2. The Sustainer might
be the headline act but
there’s plenty of oomph
from the Seymour
Duncan JB JR ’bucker
3. This Strat was born at
Fender’s plant in Mexico.
The build quality is as
high as we expect from
the home of affordable
modern classics like the
Custom Shop designed
Baja Telecaster
Hit a long
string slide, let
it sustain in
Natural mode,
then fl ick to
Harmonic and
listen to it slowly
begin to squeal
GIT429.rev_fender.indd 12 12/19/17 11:26 AM