FENDER ARTIST SERIES ERIC CLAPTON SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER
Written: Oct 18 '05
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: It nails the sound of Eric Clapton.
Cons: There are none.
The Bottom Line: If you want to have a guitar that can nail the sound that Eric Clapton gets today, this is the guitar for you.
|
|
|
| Dr.P's Full Review: Fender Artist Series Eric Clapton Signature Strato... |
FENDER ARTIST SERIES ERIC CLAPTON SIGNATURE STRATOCASTER
(OR THE SON OF FRANKENSTRAT)
How does someone get to be an incredibly unusual and great blues guitarist? The answer is, at least in part for Eric Clapton, is that they have an incredibly unusual childhood, and through the healing powers of music, they are somehow able to transform their negative experiences into the ability to play the blues like few people have ever done. Before I discuss the Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster in detail, I would like to give a bit of background on the legend himself, and how his guitar (“Blackie” or Frankenstrat as I like to call it) came into being.
Eric Patrick Clapton was born in a Ripley, a small English village on March 30, 1945. He was the illegitimate son of Patricia Clapton and a Canadian soldier who was stationed in England during WWII. Shortly after the War was over, Eric’s biological father returned to his wife in Canada, and his mother, left baby “Ricky” as he was called as a child, to be raised by his grandparents. She then married another Canadian Soldier who as stationed in Germany. She returned to England when Eric was 9 years old, with a 6 year old son. Eric went through his early formative years believing that his grandparents were actually his parents, and that his mother was actually his sister. Eventually, Eric’s grandmother could no linger keep up the pretense, and informed him of the truth. This left the young Eric as a confused, isolated, and alienated boy, entering his adolescence. This would have made many an adolescent vulnerable to drugs or alcohol as a way to cope with his troubled feelings and confused emotions. As fate would have it, Eric reportedly saw Jerry Lee Lewis performing Great Balls of Fire on T.V., and he knew that music would be his way out.
As any true Clapton fan knows, Eric was greatly influenced by Freddy King, and as a result in his early career with John Mayal, the Yardbirds, and Cream, he clearly had a preference for Gibsons. Among others, he played a Les Paul with Mayal, a 335 with the Yardbirds, and an SG with Cream. Sometime around 1970, Stevie Winwood impressed Eric with the sounds he was able to get from a Stratocaster he was using. He was also clearly impressed with the sound that Hendrix was producing from his Strat. This got Clapton thinking. He then recorded “Layla” with a vintage sunburst Strat that he called “Brownie.” Later, while touring with Derek and the Dominoes in 1970, Eric was in Nashville, and went to a music store called Sho-Buds, where he found a lengthy rack of used old Stratocasters, all going for $100 a piece. He bought 6. He reportedly gave one to Pete Townsend, one to George Harrison, and one to Stevie Winwood. Clapton then took the best parts from the three remaining 1954 - 1957 Strats, and created one great guitar monster or Frankenstrat, which he named “Blackie.”
Back in 1988, Fender offered to create a Signature Series Stratocaster for Jeff Beck, and he rejected the idea. In 1988, Fender approached Clapton with the same offer, and he accepted. Clapton could have had any guitar made any way he wanted. What he wanted was to replicate “Blackie,” and he instructed Fender to duplicate Blackie, and thus the Son of Frankenstrat was created.
However, there were some other significant differences between Blackie and the Fender Strat that was produced bearing Clapton’s endorsement. For the Clapton Signature Strat, Eric requested that Fender produce the Strat that bears his name with a V-shaped neck similar to the shape of a Martin acoustic that he liked. Of course, Blackie had a stock Fender neck. Blackie had stock Fender pickups, and the original Eric Clapton Signature Series Stratocaster which debuted in 1988 had the new Fender Gold Lace Sensors instead, while the newer Clapton Signature Strat which debuted in 2001 has Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups. Neither of these pickup configurations are even close to what was on the original Blackie. That seems to me like a lot of differences for a guitar that is supposed to be a replica of Blackie. By the way, Blackie was sold at the Christie’s Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Auction in 2004 for $959,500, which is reportedly the highest amount ever paid for a guitar at any auction.
And now onto reviewing the Fender Artist Series Eric Clapton Stratocaster. I was visiting my local Music Instrument supermarket with the express purpose of buying an amp for my nephew. While I was there, I decided to try out the Eric Clapton Signature Strat. I asked for one off the rack, plugged it in, and nothing. No sound. It was not the wire either. The salesman, who was hovering over me like a gnat, quickly apologized, and said that someone who was previously trying it out must have damaged it. He quickly said that he had another in the back. He brought one out quick enough, but when I went to play it, the action was so close to the neck that everything was buzzing. He again quickly explained that one of the previous prospective customers had “modified” the action to suit his playing. I was very disappointed, and as I was expressing this to the salesman, a fellow customer then told me that he owned a 1990 Clapton Strat with Lace Sensors and a 2005 model with Vintage Noiseless Pickups, and that they were both great in their own ways. As we began to talk a bit more, we agreed that he would allow me to play his two Clapton Stratocasters if I would let him compare them to my Line 6 Variax 700 Modeling Guitar.
I will limit my review and discussion here to the new Eric Clapton Signature Series Guitar with Vintage Noiseless Pickups, as this review would be too long to discuss the similarities and differences between this model and the older Eric Clapton Signature Series with Fender Lace Sensors. There is a lot to say about each model.
The Eric Clapton Signature Series guitar I played had a black body (it also comes in Pewter, Torino Red, Olympic White, and Candy Green). The body of the guitar is Alder with a glossy polyurethane finish. The neck is a one piece maple “Soft V” shape with a satin polyurethane finish with 22 frets, with a maple fretboard. Although I prefer a nitrocellulose finish on the body and neck of a guitar, I must confess this neck was remarkably smooth and fast. There was no “sticky” feel after 30 minutes of playing, which is sometimes associated with polyurethane finishes on a guitar neck. The frets were vintage style, and permitted easy string bending, and just the right amount of leverage for superior vibrato. The frets were also placed just perfectly, with no noticeable overhanging edges on the fretboard. The sustain of this guitar was excellent, even when it was not plugged in, and much of this has to do with the solid construction and joining of the neck, as well as to the blocked tremolo. The guitar also held its tuning very well, and this was accomplished with Fender/Gotch Vintage Style Tuning Machines. There is a master volume, two tone controls, and a 5-way pickup selector switch. However, hidden in the bowels of this guitar are two things which elevate this guitar above other Strats, namely a TBX Mid-Boost Tone and an Active Mid-Boost Circuit. I will discuss these in detail a bit further on in the review.
The pickups are three Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups. The original Blackie clearly had stock Fender single-coil pickups circa mid-1950’s. These original single-coil pickups are in large part responsible for the signature sound of a Strat, from its bell-tones to its spank. But the problem with single-coils is that they are noisy. Over the years, Fender has tried to solve the noise problem without sacrificing the signature Fender sound. The compromise they have arrived at for the Eric Clapton Signature Series Stratocaster has been to use a stacked coil configuration, which dramatically lowers the noise, without losing the high-end as they did when they attempted to experiment with the side by side coil configuration used in a humbucking pickup configuration. To my ear, stacked Vintage Noiseless Pickups do not have all the growl and spank that the traditional single coils have, such as on the 1962 model Strat, and they are a bit lacking on the low end. If you want close to a vintage Strat sound, I found that you must turn down the volume on the guitar, and crank the amp to compensate. Of course, then you must contend with the noise of the amp. But it is certainly worth a little tweaking to get the sound you want, and you can get very close to a vintage sounding Strat with this guitar.
Now since Clapton was primarily influenced by people who played Gibsons, like Freddie, Albert, and B.B. King, he also wanted a guitar that could give him a fatter sound than could be gotten from a traditional Strat. Eric Clapton was clearly a Gibson man in his early days, and of course these guitars, for the most part had humbucking pickups, which could produce a warm fat sound. When Clapton was giving his specifications for the sound of the guitar that bears his name, he asked for the impossible, a guitar that could sound like a traditional Strat, but could also sing and sustain like Gibson. The solution to the problem was the addition to Tone Control One of a Master TBX Mid-Boost Tone Control, and on Tone Control Two of an Active Mid-Boost of 0 to 25dB.
The Treble Bass Expander or TBX Circuit on Tone Control One is a dual concentric stacked tone control. From 0 – 5, the TBX functions just like a normal tone control. The higher the number, the brighter the sound, and rotating the knob counterclockwise from 5 gradually filters off the high frequencies to a very mellow sound, just like any other tone control. However, when you turn the control up to 5, you will notice the feel of it switching to or engaging a different point on the control, whereby going clockwise (higher numbers) you are adding presence and brightness. The Master Active Mid-Boost on Tone Control Two permits you to have control over the midrange response of the guitar. By turning this control from 0 to 10, you can gradually increase the midrange and bass frequencies as you decrease the treble frequencies. I found that by cranking these two Tone Controls to 10, as well as the Volume to 10, I was able to achieve very close to a realistic humbucking like sound.
On to the pros and cons of this guitar. If you want a vintage Strat sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn’s 1962 Strat, keep looking. This guitar lacks the spank and growl, but it does come close. In order to get the classic bell tones of an old Strat you must lower the pickups, but then you can not get the sweet sustain you would be able to get by having the pickups closer to the strings, which is necessary for the humbucking sound. On the other hand, this guitar is much quieter than a vintage Strat or one with conventional single coil Strat pickups. If you want the sound Clapton achieved between 1988 and 2001 on live recordings, such as the 1997 Live In Hyde Park DVD, you are once again out of luck, because that Signature Series Clapton Strat had Lace Sensors, which do sound different. However, if you want a guitar that sounds like the model Clapton plays now, then this is the guitar for you.
Personally, I loved this guitar. It was very versatile, and the addition of the TBX Circuit and Active Mid-Boost made this instrument capable of a wide palate of sounds. As to playability, the feel of the neck was great, and the overall balance of the instrument, either standing or sitting, was excellent.
Just one more note to the purists who may complain that this guitar does not sound exactly like a 50’s Strat or a Les Paul. You are correct it doesn’t, but it does come close, and the sound of this guitar should be judged on its own merits. By way of analogy, a Van Gough painting does not have the intricate detail of a DiVinci (ala The Last Supper) or the grandeur and scope of a Michelangelo (ala The Sistine Chapel), but that does not mean that a Van Gough (ala Starry Night) is not a masterpiece because it does not look just like either a Michelangelo or a DiVinci. To my ear the Eric Clapton Signature Series Stratocaster does not nail the sound of a 50’s Strat or a 50’s Les Paul, but that does not mean it is worthless. This guitar must be judged on its own merit, and I feel it is great sounding musical instrument.
In case any readers would like me to review the Fender Eric Clapton Signature Series Strat equipped with Lace Sensors for comparison purposes, please indicate this by writing a comment after rating this review.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review, but now I must get back to my practicing.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.