Fender Eric Clapton Signature Strat

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Eric Clapton Signature Strat

It’s ironic that Clapton is the world’s

most famous living Stratocaster player,

since he made his name playing

Gibsons and was rarely seen with

a Strat until after the death of Jimi

Hendrix. And while Eric’s love of fat,

powerful tones is evident in his

particular Signature Fender, aspects of

Gibson playability are present too.

The timbers for the Custom Artist

range are the very best. On the EC

model we ﬁ nd a top grade alder body

that’s been curved and contoured in all

the right places, and polyurethane

ﬁ nished to unfaltering standards. The

neck is all maple and this time the ﬁ nish

is satin, for drag-free playability.

While Eric chooses vintage style

medium fretwire, as a serious string

bender he likes his ﬁ ngerboards a little

ﬂ atter than the 7.25-inch radius of early

Fenders. This guitar’s 9.5-inch radius is

more Gibson-like and allows for the sort

of ﬂ uid ﬁ nger work that we expect from

EC. The neck is shaped into a soft ‘V’

for that ﬁ nal element of luxury.

Hardware is traditional, with vintage-

style tuners and the classic vibrato

system. But as Eric doesn’t use his

vibrato bar, the bridge remains screwed

down, with a block of wood wedged

inside to prevent any movement.

On a plain white scratchplate – which

refuses to lie ﬂ at on the body around

the lower horn – sit a trio of Fender’s

Vintage Noiseless pickups, which

replace the Lace Sensors of the older

Clapton model. We’ve found these to be

organic and natural sounding – ideal for

sweet blues and as a basis for more

overdriven excursions.

Eric’s equal liking for humbucking

and single-coil tones led to Fender

developing an ingenious boost control

that cranked up the mids by as much as

25dB. Eric has always run things from

the guitar’s volume pots, and so this

rotary is used to dial in the exact

amount of boost required. The middle

of the three controls is the master tone,

featuring Fender’s TBX system; a

centre-notched pot that allows both

treble cut and boost.

This is a lovely guitar to play. The

velvet smooth neck sits perfectly in the

crook of the hand, its soft ‘V’ the perfect

mating of vintage and modern shapes.

Old-style frets seem very thin when

compared to today’s tastes but, while

you expect the strings to slip from

under your ﬁ ngers when bending, that’s

not the case. It’s a smooth player, but

not a guitar that runs away with you; it

urges you to work for your vibrato and

feel everything a bit more.

Jeff Beck Signature Strat

When Jeff Beck’s ﬁ rst signature guitar

hit the streets a decade and a half or so

ago, eyebrows were raised at the

audacity of both Beck and Fender to

put out something so… weird. Apart

from a pair of Lace Sensors joined

together at the bridge, there was the

neck: it was a monster! It actually felt

deeper than it was wide, and the most

common description was ‘baseball bat’.

Big necks do mean big tone, but there

has to be some compromise in order to

make a guitar do that other important

thing that’s required of it – play! Some

112 JUNE 2005

FENDER ERIC

CLAPTON STRAT

PRICE: £1,799

(inc hard case)

ORIGIN: USA

TYPE: Offset double-

cutaway solidbody

electric

BODY: Alder

NECK: Maple, bolt-on

SCALE LENGTH:

648mm (25.5-inch)

NUT/WIDTH: Bone/

42mm

FINGERBOARD: Integral

maple with black plastic

dots and 241mm (9.5-

inch) radius

FRETS: 22, vintage ﬁ ne

HARDWARE: Blocked up

vintage-style vibrato,

Fender/Gotoh vintage-

style tuners, angled jack

receptacle: nickel/

chrome

STRING SPACING,

BRIDGE: 52mm

ELECTRICS: Three

Fender Vintage Noiseless

pickups, master volume

and TBX tone controls,

ﬁ ve-way selector plus

0-25dB active mid boost

circuit

WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.35/7

RANGE OPTIONS: Other

models in the Custom

Artist Stratocaster series

include the upturned

headstock and reverse-

angled bridge pickup

Dick Dale (£2,499), the

Inca silver non-vibrato

Robert Cray (£2,299),

and Robin Trower’s

Signature (£1,799) and

Tribute Strats (£ POA)

with their ’69-style large

headstock and Tex-Mex

bridge pickups. The

standard non-Custom

Shop Eric Clapton Strat

costs £1,299

LEFT-HANDERS: No

FINISHES: Mercedes

blue, black, midnight

blue

Fender GBI

01342 331700

www.fender.com

ERIC CLAPTON STRAT TEST RESULTS

Build quality

Playability

Sound

Value for money

■ WE LIKED Brilliant blend of features;

superb build and great neck

■ WE DISLIKED Exclusivity makes it

expensive; some won’t like skinny frets

Winding up the Clapton’s mid boost control offers an

extraordinary level of extra gain, with the mids fattening

out well and the amp’s front end getting a serious fright

FENDER ERIC CLAPTON, JEFF BECK & RORY GALLAGHER STRATS £1,799, £1,799 & £2,699

ELECTRICS

Vintage Noiseless

pickups replace

Lace Sensors on the

Clapton model

The middle pot utilises

Fender’s TBX system for

treble cut and boost

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