Fender Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster

‘C’ meets ‘V’ feel that’s designed to be
a comfortable palm-full and bring an
ounce or two more tone to the guitar.
“Again, this is taken from my favourite
’57 Strat,” says Eric. Like so many
Fenders these days it’s almost a work
of art, its fi ngerboard’s edges having
received the ‘rolling’ treatment that
leaves it feeling smooth as silk, and its
slightly larger frets perfectly set,
dressed and polished. Maple
fi ngerboards usually feel better with
slightly heavier fretwire, as inevitably
the frets are buried somewhat in the
lacquer – even when it’s as thin as
stipulated by Johnson. The slinkiness
of its polished surface can also make
bending a little too slippery with
vintage-style ‘fi ne’ frets; whatever
Eric’s intentions in this regard, the
result is playing perfection.
The lightness of the EJ was a
revelation: you could play it for hours
and hardly know it was there. Action
was set dead right – low enough for
comfort but with enough purchase
under the strings for easy bending. The
cellulose fi nish is totally drag-free and
it’s one of those necks you can forget is
there and just get on with playing.
SOUN D S: These pickups echo
Johnson’s love of vintage Strats and so
were voiced to refl ect the kinds of
sounds you hear on albums like Ah Via
Musicom, Tones and his excellent new
release, Bloom. But it’s not all hyper-fat
lead; Eric also loves sparkling bridge,
classic Texan neck and spanky middle
pickup tones, as well as those ‘vocal’
sounds so ably served by positions two
and four. “I wanted them to sound like
fi fties pickups,” explains Eric, “with the
exception that the bridge was a bit
brighter. These weren’t copied from
my guitar, but Michael Braun and I
sought out magnets and copper wire
close to the 1950s specs.”
So while the resulting sonic palette
is distinctly classic in timbre, there’s
super clarity on offer too. All these
sounds are ideal for rhythm and riffs,
sparkling clean leads and of course
Johnson’s legendary chord voicings
layered with dreamy effects. But when
you do require power and girth…
What Strat player hasn’t wished that
pesky bridge pickup could sometimes
be tamed? Of course, on many Fenders
this is now possible, but on something
as vintage-vibed as this it’s a rarity.
Eric’s shifting of the tone pot from the
middle to the bridge pickup allows this
– and by default the bridge-and-middle
positions – to be adjusted. And while
you can already do this latter move on
most Strats, via the middle pickup’s
tone pot, there’s a subtle but noticeable
difference here: in the standard
combination the middle pickup’s tone
gets rolled off, but here it’s the bridge
pickup and that creates a tone that’s
just as thick, but much more defi ned.
And as both ‘in-between’ positions on
the fi ve-way are noise cancelling, this is
as close to a genuine humbucking tone
as you’ll fi nd on a Strat. But that bridge
pickup: knock back the tone by 35 per
cent and it sounds like a Gibson SG –
we kid you not! What’s best about it is
that, when playing live, you can use
those other positions for rhythm and
fl ick instantly to either bridge or the
bridge-middle combination and it’s
tantamount to jumping on a
humbucker pedal! “All my Strats are
wired this way,” grins Johnson, “I’ve
actually been doing it since the 1970s.”
Verdict
Signature guitars are a minefi eld of
whim and fancy. What represents the
Holy Grail to one guitar star means
little or nothing to anyone but the
artist’s most diehard fans.
But Eric Johnson knows Strats inside
out. He understands aesthetics, is a
stickler for playability and his views on
great tone are legendary. Along with
Fender – whose desire to create
exactly what Johnson wanted has to be
applauded – he has created the perfect
guitar for lovers of vintage Strats who
want something extra.
That between them they have made
it look, feel and sound better is
testament to a guitar company at the
cutting edge of quality and innovation,
and to a guitarist to whom style, feel
and above all tone, represent
everything there is to strive for.
108 JANUARY 2006
FENDER ERIC JOHNSON SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER £1,549
ELECTRICS
FENDER ERIC
JOHNSON STRAT
PRICE: £1,549 (inc
cream tolex case)
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Contour bodied
double-cutaway
solidbody electric
BODY: 1957-style two-
piece lightweight alder
NECK: Tinted maple with
slim headstock and no
string tree
SCALE LENGTH:
648mm (25.5-inch)
NUT/WIDTH: Plastic/
43mm
FINGERBOARD: Maple,
integral to neck with
black dot inlays
FRETS: 21, medium
jumbo
HARDWARE: Chrome-
plated vintage style
vibrato with silver painted
block, countersunk
scratchplate screws,
staggered Gotoh/Fender
tuners eliminating the
need for string trees, no
backplate and no screw
holes for same
STRING SPACING,
BRIDGE: 56mm
ELECTRICS: Three Eric
Johnson spec single-coil
pickups; single volume
control; tone pots for
bridge and neck pickups;
fi ve-way selector
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 7/3.2
RANGE OPTIONS:
Fender offers a wide
range of Artist
Stratocasters, from Eric
Clapton and Jeff Beck,
through Buddy Guy and
Jimmie Vaughan, to John
Mayer, Ritchie Sambora
and more. See website
for full details…
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Two-tone
sunburst (as reviewed),
black, white blonde,
candy apple red
Fender GBI
01342 331700
www.fender.co.uk
When playing live, you can fl ick instantly to either bridge
or the bridge-middle combination and it’s tantamount to
jumping on a humbucker pedal!
Johnson prefers fi ve springs
on his vibrato, but it still
performs well with the more
conventional three
The pickups echo
Johnson’s love of
vintage Strats
Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster
RATING
GIT272.rev_fender 108GIT272.rev_fender 108 7/12/05 11:52:26 am7/12/05 11:52:26 am