Lets See Your Strat

[JakeK]

Since we're having a discussion about Strats, I was wondering if anyone's ever test-drove/owned/owns an Eric Clapton signature Strat. What's the differences between a Clapton Strat and an American Standard Strat?

I heard that the Clapton Strat is one of the most versatile guitars out there.

[deaconblues]

I have a partsocaster built from a Squier with a '57-style Allparts neck and a ton of aftermarket hardware. Don't have a picture of it yet, but it's a workhorse and I think it sounds great.

The Clapton Strats are essentially '57 RIs with TBX tone control and a mid-boost knob, which actually boosts the volume of the guitar and makes it sound much more aggressive. I absolutely love the mid-boost feature, and I think I'm going to buy one aftermarket and retrofit it to mine.

[dogload]

One of my rare visits and a chance to show off my strats! Woo-hoo!

Fender Paisley (1987 ish)

1982 ish Tokai Strat-a-likee. The Roland hex pickup is no longer featured!

[wmthor]

I've got three Strats, two leftys and a right-handed one.

[whojamfan]

Since we're having a discussion about Strats, I was wondering if anyone's ever test-drove/owned/owns an Eric Clapton signature Strat. What's the differences between a Clapton Strat and an American Standard Strat?

I heard that the Clapton Strat is one of the most versatile guitars out there.

The mid boost fattens up the sound to try to make it more Gibson like when he wanted to do his older stuff. This is what the guys at Fender who built and designed this guitar for him, and as a signature model for the public, told me(us).I was fortunate enough to get a full tour of their Ensenada and Brea facilities, along with plenty of schooling with the engineers and custom shop builders when I was employed by a Fender Master Dealer in the late 90s. Having played and demoed this guitar many times, it's really a love/hate deal, not much middle ground IMHO, and from the reactions of my customers. I would strongly advise you go play one to really get the scoop on this unique instrument to make up your own mind. Any big box dealer should have one in stock.

The TBX is a neat tone control, I put one on the neck pickup of my 330. In the center detent, the control is completely bypassed, counter clockwise from there it's a normal tone control, clockwise it adds a little shimmer. Some say it doesn't add anything, just subtracts at the detent and gives you the untouched sound at full open, but I can hear a difference from a regular tone pot full open, and this one full open. I'm sure pot value has something to do with it as well, but it sounds just a little juicier on the neck now, which I find pleasing as it sounds kinda muffly there anyways.I'm going to experiment around with different caps and maybe even a choke one of these days I don't have a million things going on.

I'll post my strat up here later when I have some time. I've got it, and a bunch of my other gear up on my FaceBook site.

[Brian Krashpad]

I'm not much of a Strat guy any more (though I did go through a phase where a Strat was my main guitar), but still always like to have one around. So my Strat is this Peavey USA Predator, fine for only spending a Benjamin:

[deaconblues]

Here's a quick shot of my Strat - built from various parts:



Next steps are a steel trem block, some kind of boost control, and a two-tone burst body.