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Old 02-21-2011, 12:18 PM
Gypsyblue Gypsyblue is offline
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Default Eric Clapton's Wayne Henderson guitar

I devoured this book when it came out a few years back: http://www.amazon.com/Claptons-Guita.../dp/0743266358 I even called Wayne and got on the list.

Does anyone know what became of that guitar? Did it become Clapton's favorite or anything like that?
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Old 02-21-2011, 12:39 PM
arie arie is offline
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according to the book, getting on the list and getting the guitar are two different things. how are you with nagging, wheedling, and bribery?

i'd like to know what happened to the guitar too
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Old 02-21-2011, 12:56 PM
enalnitram enalnitram is offline
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Nobody does. Except for Eric.

I devoured that book too. I forget how it happened exactly but I got in touch with the author (probably thru email or on tdpri) and have become friends with him. He's really nice.

thru him, I arranged to visit Wayne in April 2010. I took this picture while I was there at his shop. (actually, I took a ton of pictures).



I understand that Wayne's shop can be like grand central station and that Wayne gets much of his work done in the middle of the night. but the day I visited nobody was there, it was just me, Wayne and Harrol all day.

I'll never forget it.
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Old 02-21-2011, 01:25 PM
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Pardon my cynicism...but I think the "Clapton's Guitar" thing was a catchy title to help sell a book. (Yes, it was a good read, no question.) But I seriously question whether Clapton wanted the guitar or ordered it. As I recall, the book ends with it being delivered to a roadie or something, who showed no particular interest in it. Unless my memory is as bad as my playing.....
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Old 02-21-2011, 01:31 PM
arie arie is offline
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i like wayne's playing though. he's really good
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Old 02-21-2011, 01:32 PM
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I think it's true that Clapton heard about Henderson guitars and wanted to get one. I think it's also true that there's no evidence of its having made it to the top of Clapton's preferred list. I'd be curious if anyone knows of any public appearances of Clapton with his Henderson.
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Old 02-21-2011, 01:47 PM
enalnitram enalnitram is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred View Post
Pardon my cynicism...but I think the "Clapton's Guitar" thing was a catchy title to help sell a book. (Yes, it was a good read, no question.) But I seriously question whether Clapton wanted the guitar or ordered it. As I recall, the book ends with it being delivered to a roadie or something, who showed no particular interest in it. Unless my memory is as bad as my playing.....
The story is all true. Clapton visited a studio owned by a friend of Wayne, Tim Duffy. Clapton played his Henderson and loved it. There is audio of Eric playing the guitar and talking about it. I've linked it below. He's clearly blown away by it. Later, someone contacted Tim, and offered to buy the guitar that Clapton had played and liked, for $100,000. Tim sold it and gave the money to charity.

it took Wayne a very long time to get around to building it, so Eric apparently lost interest by that point. Eric clearly tells Tim on the audio that he wants one, and he wants one just like his.

Just watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36udapkeICI
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Last edited by enalnitram; 02-21-2011 at 01:54 PM.
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Old 02-21-2011, 02:04 PM
NewMartinFan NewMartinFan is offline
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Apparently, the author is frequently asked what Clapton thinks of the guitar. St. John writes in the book that he will provide this info on his website if he ever hears anything. To-date...nothing. But Clapton is a busy guy who lives in a mansion and still has to rent a storage building to house all of his guitars. In Clapton's autobiography, he writes that he owns so many guitars that he forgets what he owns and has purchased multiples of many of them. So the fact that he hasn't called Wayne personally to provide feedback...I'm not sure how much that means.

Also, the guitar was dropped off in London with Lee Dickson, Clapton's long-time guitar tech. Dickson is a roadie in the same way that Leon Penetta was a White House aide.

Last edited by NewMartinFan; 04-23-2011 at 08:48 AM.
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Old 02-21-2011, 03:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arie View Post
i like wayne's playing though. he's really good
Yes, I think many people don't realize that Wayne is an incredible and highly respected guitar player.

Michael
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Old 02-21-2011, 03:47 PM
Howard Klepper Howard Klepper is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by enalnitram View Post
The story is all true. Clapton visited a studio owned by a friend of Wayne, Tim Duffy. Clapton played his Henderson and loved it. There is audio of Eric playing the guitar and talking about it. I've linked it below. He's clearly blown away by it. Later, someone contacted Tim, and offered to buy the guitar that Clapton had played and liked, for $100,000. Tim sold it and gave the money to charity.

it took Wayne a very long time to get around to building it, so Eric apparently lost interest by that point. Eric clearly tells Tim on the audio that he wants one, and he wants one just like his.

Just watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36udapkeICI
This was discussed a bunch on the UMGF a few years ago. People debated whether EC's conversation with Tim Duffy constituted an order for a guitar. Apparently there was never any followup to it by EC or anyone acting on his behalf.

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforu...om/topic/66509
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Old 02-21-2011, 03:54 PM
murrmac123 murrmac123 is offline
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Originally Posted by Sain't View Post
Yes, I think many people don't realize that Wayne is an incredible and highly respected guitar player.

Michael
I think there are very few people who are unaware of Wayne Henderson's talents as a guitar player, as well as his luthieristic talents.
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Old 02-21-2011, 04:13 PM
enalnitram enalnitram is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Klepper View Post
This was discussed a bunch on the UMGF a few years ago. People debated whether EC's conversation with Tim Duffy constituted an order for a guitar. Apparently there was never any followup to it by EC or anyone acting on his behalf.

http://theunofficialmartinguitarforu...om/topic/66509
The whole thing was so unlike any other builder/client relationship or situation, but then, so are Clapton and Henderson. There was no order. There was no payment. "Order" is the wrong word to use in this context. Eric told Tim that he'd love to get one. So, Wayne got him one. I don't really see how it is a matter for debate.

In Fred's post above, he questions whether or not Eric wanted one. It sure sounded like he wanted one, to me.
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Old 02-21-2011, 04:56 PM
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After reading the book in December 09, I sent the author a note telling him how much I enjoyed it. We exchanged a couple of emails, and I asked if he or Wayne ever received any feedback from Clapton regarding the guitar. Neither had heard anything at that point. And, as posted earlier in this thread, Mr St John told me he would post something on his website if and when they did. Heck, I'd just like to know if EC ever played it.
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Old 02-21-2011, 05:20 PM
Fred Fred is offline
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Martin, thanks for the video link. I don't think it proves much, but I'll take Wayne Henderson's word. It does seem peculiar that nothing was ever heard again....
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Old 02-21-2011, 05:21 PM
Truman Truman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred View Post
Pardon my cynicism...but I think the "Clapton's Guitar" thing was a catchy title to help sell a book. (Yes, it was a good read, no question.) But I seriously question whether Clapton wanted the guitar or ordered it. As I recall, the book ends with it being delivered to a roadie or something, who showed no particular interest in it. Unless my memory is as bad as my playing.....
Yeah, my take exactly except that Clapton did say he liked a Henderson which he had played as was discussed previously. I enjoyed the book but found the ending to be very anti-climatic in that it was hard to deliver the guitar - and the grand delivery consisted of chasing down a guitar tech to off load it. Enjoyable read and a bit of a stretch in the title is my tought on it.

I'm kind of amused by the resulting stampede it caused for a Henderson guitar. I personally would have no interest in badgering a person to build a guitar for me over many years.
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