What’s up with Eric Clapton and that strat? It seems like most every time I see him play, except when it’s an acoustic, he’s playing the same old black and white guitar. Even back in the day, when he had lotsa hair.
Man, the guy can play, though.
I think it may be the guitar he refers to as “Blackie.” I read his bio recently and he mentioned many of the guitars he auctioned off to benefit his Crossroads addiction treatment center and it seems to me that Blackie was one of them. I loaned to book to a friend some weeks back though and can’t check for sure.
It seems guitar players get very accustomed to certain guitars and use them forever. I recently bought the Eagles Farewell 1 Tour DVD set and many of the guitars those guys use have huge worn spots on them, both front and back.
Yup. Good ol’ Blackie. Made from the best bits of three different guitars.
There’s a story that Clapton sent a guitar (probably Blackie, since he played it so much) back to Fender for re-fretting and they sent it back with the neck re-laquered :eek:
Worn spots, like Trigger, Willie Nelson’s “axe”?
Yeah, I was semi-watching the Crossroads concert on PBS.
I love ol’ Willie. Dude’s getting old, along with “Trigger”.
Some guitarists love to change instruments for different songs, but some don’t. Clapton played an SG with Cream - it had great tone and a psychedelic paintjob - but pretty much became a Strat-only guy after Cream broke up.
I could geek out on you for pages and pages on Blackie if you are interested, or Clapton in general.
He started out on a Gibson ES-335 with the Yardbirds, but switched to a Les Paul Sunburst with the Bluesbreakers (bought because he loved Michael Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who, along with Keith Richards, are generally considered to be the first 'burst players who started the hype - and Clapton saw Andy Summers (later of course with the Police) who mentioned to Eric that there was a second 'burst at the same store. After that guitar (the Beano 'burst) got stolen, Clapton persuaded Summers to sell him his…)
With Cream, he played the Fool SG (the painted one), the same 335 (for the Crossroads solo) and a Firebird 1, along with a Les Paul Custom he got from someone - I think Paul Kossoff of Free.
Then he saw Hendrix.
Everything changed and he started playing Strats. He assembled Brownie (used on Layla) and Blackie from parts of 50’s Strats he bought for about $100 apiece at Gruhn’s Guitars in Nashville - he gave one of the other ones to Pete Townshend, IIRC.
Since then, he has primarily played Strats - but if you saw clips of his From the Cradle tour and more recent tours, he is playing 335’s and Les Pauls, too.
He sold Brownie at the first Crossroads auction and sold Blackie at the last one for close to $1mm. Guitar Center bought it and issued a limited edition replica - I think 150 guitars - for $25,000 each - they sold out immediately. There is also a Crossroads 335 replica as well. You can see the videos showing how they were built on Youtube - or you used to be able to.
Clapton’s switch to Strats is a very big deal to players - he is so influential, but the vast majority of folks prefer his guitar tone from the Bluesbreakers and Cream - both Gibson-based. And when his Fender Signature Strat came out in the 90’s it comes equipped with a battery-powered mid-boost - so it can sound more like a Gibson! But again, most folks don’t like the mid-boost and just play their Strats with that turned off.
He is a truly exceptional player and deserves all the accolades for the music he has produced and the influence he has been. But damn, I wish he would go more with his earlier tone. Even when he played with Cream a year or so ago, he played Strats - agh! Wrong tone for the music!!
Sorry for geeking out…
I just caught the end of Alvin Lee’s act. Man was he smoking. I didn’t recognize him and was glad when Clapton mentioned his name. I loved 10 years After. When I was in high school and saw them play in Boston at The Music hall.
Bill Kirchen still uses the same beat up Telecaster he used to play “Hot Rod Lincoln” when he was with Commander Cody. During his shows, he remarks that back in those days it was coal-burning rather than electric…
He’s a monster player - there was an article on him and his Tele in Vintage Guitar magazine a few months ago…
In terms of beat-up guitars, we players prefer to think of that as “mojo” 
As I have mentioned in other threads there is HUGE money in “relic’ing” new guitars to look old. There is a guy named Tom Murphy who takes an exacto knife and *cuts into the guitar’s finish * to replicate lacquer crazing and crackling. A Murphy-aged guitar can easily command $5000 more than its equivalent. Why, yes, that is completely insane, in case you were wondering…
Billy Gibbons legendary Les Paul “Pearly Gates” has been played so much that the top edge on the back of the guitar is rolled over where he held it close to his body for years and years.
This one guitar dealer and collector who Moderates the Les Paul Forum has a guitar called G.I. Paul - it is a Les Paul Goldtop so worn and aged that the Gold has greened on it - hence the name “G.I.” - since it looks more like camoflage than a gold top…
There’s a picture of it here (link to thread at the Les Paul Forum; G.I.Paul is the topic of the thread…)
Thanks for the info, WordMan! I had heard once that when Clapton heard Buddy Guy play he was first turned on to how good a Strat could sound. Any truth to that?
Yes, WordMan, thanks for a really informative and interesting (and enthusiastic 
) post.
Peace,
mangeorge
The first name player that I know of to use a conspicuously beat-up Fender was the late Rory Gallagher, whose Strat was already showing more wood than finish in the '70s. Frank Zappa had a Strat that had been torched by Jimi Hendrix, which he rebuilt and used onstage, but it wasn’t his main axe.
Wow!
Just think how good she’ll be by the time her guitar get worn. 
She has a myspace page with some pretty good stuff and some interesting info, big names she’s played with, etc.
I am really looking forward to what this girl is gonna do in the future. Thanks for the link.
Bill Kirchen is an under-appreciated player. At least Andy Stein has regular exposure on “A Prairie Home Companion.” John Tichy (Rhythm guitar and bro of my bro’s best friend back then) is a prof at Rensselaer, but he was heading there, anyway.
Conversation at the zone Zone while watching that special:
“You think that’s Jeff Beck’s daughter or granddaughter on bass?”
“Can’t be his daughter or he’d’ve told her she couldn’t go onstage in that blouse.”
…
“Back in the day, Blind Faith didn’t need two drummers. Ginger Baker was good enough by himself. And Clapton was the only guitarist they needed.”
“They didn’t need doo-wop girls to hit those notes, either.”
“Sure they did. They just missed those notes.”
“Yeah, they’re lousy singers.”
“If ‘Savoy Truffles’ and a decade of being a junkie mean anything, Clapton probably sings that muffled way these days so his dentures don’t go clattering across the stage.”
“But I saw Winwood’s crowns, so he still has most of his teeth.”
Sometimes an ear for dialogue results in stupid and pointless dialogue. Trust me: it’s better to be creative than to have a photographic memory. Mine doesn’t even help me win arguments with my wife.
I can see that, YellowTail, since Buddy Guy was one of Jimi’s teachers. He could toss off the riff from “Third Stone From the Sun” in the midst of a solo and sounded EXACTLY like Jimi. Woke up in a bar once and there was his polkadot guitar as plain as life. I muttered, “That’s fuckin’ Buddy Guy,” listened until a break, then went out to the parking lot to puke. Ah, Chicago in the 70s!
I’d have to dig into my archives to check it out, but the short answer is that it is likely. Hendrix is supposed to have gotten into Strats via Guy.
The issue with Clapton is that he has fallen over himself stating that so-and-so is the best and/or his biggest influence, so you just can’t go by what he says. I have seen quotes where he holds out Guy, Otis Rush, Magic Sam (all Chicago BLues Strat players), Freddie King (who’s picture on the cover of his Hideaway album with a Goldtop Les Paul is supposed to be THE catalyst for players like Bloomfield and Clapton to pickup an LP - remember, it was EC’s cover of Hideaway on the Bluesbreaker’s Beano album that led directly to the Clapton is God graffiti in London), BB King, Albert King, Robert Johnson, etc. He has also stated that Jeff Beck is the best there is (Clapton acknowledged that Becko blew him off the stage at the benefit concerts for Ronnie Laine about 20 years ago), along with a number of other more recent players, like SRV.
Gotta run - but I can check back in the afternoon if further geekery is required… 
My pleasure. And thanks for showing her page. I’m thinking of getting her CD.
One of the other **Jeff Beck ** vids identifies his awesome bass player as Tal Wilkenfield. Does that ring a bell with you? She’s news to me, but she’s one to watch for.
I could have sworn it was Albert Lee, not Alvin Lee at Crossroads. Alvin was the **Ten Years After ** guy, with the later solo album Diesel. Albert was in Clapton’s touring band off and on, for years. He’s said to be in demand as a Nashville sideman. He’s one of those “shoulda been a star” guys.
Clapton was given one of the Guitar Center “Blackie” reproductions, and it may be what he was playing there. The Clapton Signature Strat has Lace pickups, IIRC, and he was playing one with “dots” pickups. For a while, he toured with Signature Strats in various colors, but he’s past that phase.
By the way, I am NOT trying to one-up WordMan. I bow to his encyclopedic knowledge.