Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster Review – Unmatched Versatility
Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the past 15 years, you know that Fender has had no dearth of Artist-inspired musical instruments. One of their earliest offerings is still one of their best, the Eric Clapton model Stratocaster. Though it’s had a few refinements over the years, its versatility and quality remain extremely high.
Since most folks shopping for a Clapton model are already familiar with the basic Stratocaster characteristics, it’s probably best to focus on what makes the Clapton Stratocaster unique.
For starters, there’s the electronics. Throughout his broad career, Eric Clapton has played a variety of instruments, including a Gibson Les Paul, a Gibson SG, a Gibson ES-335, and, of course, a Fender Stratocaster. So it goes without saying that Slowhand needs a guitar that can cover a lot of sonic ground.
Fender has obliged with an astounding amount of sonic versatility in a single instrument. For starters, there’s an active mid-boost control (powered by a 9-volt battery).
When you add this mid-boost control to the Fender Noiseless pickups and the master TBX control, you’ve got a guitar than is a six-string chameleon, capable of emulating a wide variety of useful, tasteful guitar tones. Candidly, the Clapton Strat might be the most versatile guitar we’ve had the good fortune of playing.
The sounds are only part of the picture, though. The playability is top rate as well, owing in no little part to the V-shaped neck with 9.5″ radius. The neck is incredibly smooth and notes fret and bend with ease. It truly is one of the most comfortable necks we’ve ever seen.
We simply can’t laud the tones and playability of the Clapton Strat enough. You’d be hard pressed to ever find a guitar with the range of tones and ease of play as this one.
However, we could still think of some room for improvement, though the propositions are minor. We believe locking tuners would be a wonderful addition, since it’s such a “modern” guitar in all other regards.
We’d also appreciate it if the bridge weren’t blocked, but this is a Clapton Strat, and that’s how he wants it, so there’s not much chance of that changing soon.
The minor “problems” are not really worth worrying about. The Clapton Strat is truly an amazing guitar, and we recommend it strongly. It’s a keeper!
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