Has anyone tried the Fender Clapton Strat?

[Daveman]

Has anyone had a chance to play the Clapton strat with the noiseless pick-ups. I was hoping to get a review of the guitar and whether the pick-ups really allow you to switch between a vintage strat sound and a les paul sound. I have a Peavey EVH Wolfgang and would be real interested in a comparison to those who have tried both. Also wondering if the Clapton was woth the $$$.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[sc morris]

i've played to old one...with the lace sensors....so i guess i'm not really answering you question. but i did like it, and it's basically the same guitar. they have switched the pup's to noiseless, and took off the cool, block saddle bridge and went back to the old, original saddles. they have also dropped "inca silver and pewter" from the color options....whick i think stinks, personally. but, the one i played was really nice. i think that $1300 is waaaay too much for it though. heck, you could buy a Standard USA model and upgrade the pup's to noiseless and still be under $1000. but, if i had $1300 to blow on a new strat.....the Clapton model would be the one i would get. i for one, think the sig. on the headstock is cool and i would be prould to play a sig. model. as long as it's not that moron Yngwie Malmsteen's model! that guys is so lame.

[mapletrees]

how much would it cost to take an off the shelf American Series Strat and put in a

couple of Joe Barden S-Deluxe's and

a HB Two/Tone or whatever the heck he calls them.....

?


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[Mike A.]

Originally posted by sc morris
they have also dropped "inca silver and pewter" from the color options....whick i think stinks, personally.

I didn't like that much either. I bought mine a long time ago when he was playing the Pewter one almost exclusively, so I got the Pewter one. Now I'm glad that's the color I chose since nobody else seems to have one in the Pewter.

And yes, those Lace Sensor Golds are quite buttery and with that boost control, can get nice and crunchy. I've played the new ones with the Noiseless'. They're nice but they seem to be missing a certain warmth. I can't quite put my finger on it.

-Mike A.

[Stixx]

If you can find a 2000 model American Standard Strat with one piece swamp ash body , but it. The pickups are not noiseless but are the best sounding strat and best playing the first year of the new bridge tremolo and it rocks . I bought two , two color sunburst with maple fretboads in the first weeks of production, and immediatly sold all my custom shop strats and Eric Clapton models as well.
His new one is based on the new American Standard but has that aggravating v neck profile which I find nine out of ten of them have problems with the e string wanting to fall off the neck in solo runs and the noisless pickups are not transparent enough. It is not a bad guitar mind you it just is about hype more than content. Clapton's tech rebuilds all his strats practically from the ground up and the ones fender buids are not the samre other than cosmetically. If you want claptons tone buy one of the old ones if you can find one that doesn't have a bad neck on it.

[4Gtrs]

I understand the Clapton Strats have an active mid boost, something like 12 db. There's a battery in there.

[Dennis]

yes, they do have a battery.. i played a friend's clapton strat withe lace sensors and loved it.. then i bought a clapton strat w/the noiseless and did not like it and sold it 2 days after I bought it.

i now own a black clapton strat w/lace sensors, which happens to be signed by clapton. i never play it, obviously, but it does sound great.

go for the older one w/lace sensors.

d

[SCTaylorPlayer]

Originally posted by 4Gtrs
I understand the Clapton Strats have an active mid boost, something like 12 db. There's a battery in there.

Yes, it does have an active mid boost, 25 db, the "Buddy Guy Sig" also has the same mid boost. The EC has the "TBX circuitry. The "Deluxe Power House Strat" (MIM) has the 12 db mid boost. I have the new EC with the "Noise less" pkps. I like it and I like the neck on it as well. I got the black one, only because it has the "Blackie" moniker on it. May be that my "playing ability" (or lack there of) has a lot to do with why I like it. I haven't had any problems with the neck to date. I would love to find one in "excellent to unplayed" status with the Lace Sensor pkps. in it. Just for the sake of posterity. It sounds pretty good to my ears through the "Hot Rod Deluxe Limited" with the lacquered tweed finish and a 12" Jensen instead of the usual Celestion. Probably would sound better through a Vibroluxe!

[troubleman]

I've owned two (both Torino red) - neither had the Noiseless Pickups. I'm not a big fan of the Fender's noiseless pickups. True - they eliminated single coil noise, put they took some of the single coil tone with it. The noiseless pickups are "lifeless" as well....

Fender's Lace Sensors work well if you use effects - especially rack-mounted effects. They're pretty cool if you use a fair amount of overdrive. I'm less impressed with just those pickups and a cord straight into a tube amp. The mid-boost pre-amp allows you to overdrive any tube amp. That part's pretty cool. The bummer is that I couldn't set a great clean sound and turn up the midboost to get my amp to overdrive without changing the amp's settings. The mid-boost circuitry generates a fair amount of mud with it's boost. Resetting the EQ on the amp solved the mud problem pretty quickly and I could get some great tones. It just didn't work well "on the fly"....

That said - I really like the original Clapton neck (more pronounced "V"). I think one of the original necks with a refret to jumbos, and a set of Harmonic Design pickups and you've a winner of an instrument. Joe Barden pickups are cool for an aggressive "punch you in the nose" kinda tone and attack, they just don't do the delicate Strat tone thing (think SRV's "Lenny") too well....

[aggie182]

all strats are sent from god.