There's no bigger name in the entire guitar world than Eric Clapton! The man is a legend with a career that spans over 40 years! So, as you can imagine, this is one musician that can play any instrument he chooses - and he chooses the Fender Eric Clapton Artist Series Strat. That's right, the same guitar you can own (though his comes with a custom paint job these days).

First introduced in the 1980s, today's Eric Clapton Strat has been updated with three Vintage Noiseless pickups, which work in conjunction with both a powerful active midrange boost and Fender TBX tone circuitry to create on of the most versatile guitars in the Fender catalog.

You might think that a famous guitarist like Eric Clapton would pick some amazingly figured maple and ash, but in truth, other than the custom paint jobs, this is Eric's guitar. And once you play it, you'll see why he never asked for anything more. You start with a lightweight alder body with a black polyurethane finish and single-ply white pickguard (the same as Clapton's famed Blackie guitar). Thanks to the active 25dB midrange boost and TBX circuitry, you can go from crystal clear tone to a full-throated growl with the simple spin of a knob. Combine that with three of the latest versions of fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups and Eric's personal choice of a blocked American vintage synchronized tremolo, and you have the makings of a truly soulful instrument that sounds as great in the studio as it does onstage!

The original Strat had three single-coil pickups, so it was able to produce sounds that no other guitar could deliver - particularly once players discovered they could lodge the 3-position blade switch in those in between positions to access different pickup combinations. These were often erroneously referred to as the out-of-phase settings. The Eric Clapton Strat comes standard with a modern 5-way blade switch, making it easy to access all the pickup combinations. But then it adds a special active 25dB midrange boost on one tone control to give this guitar the extra meat you might expect from a humbucker. In addition, the second tone knob functions as a standard Fender TBX master tone control, which can smoothly go from bright and glossy to dark and smoky by rolling off the highs!

SPECIFICATIONS

• Pewter color with polyurethane finish
• Maple neck with soft V shape and 9.5" radius
• Solid alder body
• Fender/Gotoh vintage-style tuners
• Maple fingerboard
• 22 frets
• Dot inlays
• 3 Vintage Noiseless Strat pickups
• Blocked vintage-style synchronized tremolo
• 5-position blade for pickup switching
• Chrome hardware
• Vintage Tweed case included
• 25.5" scale length