Crossroads 2023 Guitar Festival | Fender Custom Shop Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster Ltd. Ed.

[@TheButchersApprentice]

That strat is absolutely beautiful

[@victoriapennockband]

As always, excellent job Mr Krause!

[@berkc06]

What s beatiful color!

[@rayadray9279]

Todd, had a chance to see this beautiful Stratocaster you crafted at the Crossroads festival a awesome color blue" Congratulations.

[@nicolegossart7424]

What a beautiful guitar !! 🎸🎸💖💖

[@GerryBlue]

Can't afford that one, but certainly can watch this video in glorious 4K and enjoy that guitar!

[@s2seltaeb]

Grab one of the 60 Crash guitars! $3499!

[@GerryBlue]

😂@@s2seltaeb

[@s2seltaeb]

@@GerryBlue they look so cool! That anodized blue pickguard looks amazing.

[@GerryBlue]

@@s2seltaeb I liked it, more than the previous Crashocaster, but I don't have 3.5K and being limited to just 60 guitars, I'm sure they are all take now

[@s2seltaeb]

@@GerryBlue They are still available to order at Guitar Center's website. I pre-ordered yesterday. The page said "you won't be charged until it's shipped," but I have a pending charge this morning, so we'll see. I haven't seen anything definitive yet on when these will actually be in people's hands.

[@darrenc8776]

To order a master built three colour 1958 strat from the Legend Mr Krause for me would be as good as it gets

[@philippinefandango2859]

I have a Strat Shawbucker that I’m very pleased with. It is the same color as Blackie, but of course the bridge pickup is a humbucker. It also has a maple neck. Sounds amazing..

[@WarriorMigs24]

My guitar hero

[@l0g1cseer47]

Congrats.

[@campy3888]

This guy looks EXACTLY like every local luthier I know xD

[@scottbeckett111]

It's disgusting how nice that is

[@rayadray9279]

Looking for the new special edition 2023 Mantos Clapton Stratocaster.

[@stonephilips9361]

. Do they paint them as well.

[@ceroci343]

i want to buy this but already sold out

[@dblat1291]

How is this blue different from the mercedes blue from the other custom shop EC strats? "We don't have a color close to this", hmm, think we might be splitting hairs on what is normally called navy blue, or midnight blue, dark blue. A bit on OOOO grit sandpaper on a V neck and roll the edges and WOW, that "luthiery" justifies a 6 figure price tag. Same noiseless pickup and tone control signal path from the others, not even locking tuners. Case is nice though, which is where this will sit until the collector flips it for the next investment purchase. At least if you bought a "Greeney" you got a dinner and meet and greet trip to Nashville.

[@s2seltaeb]

Midnight Blue has bigger metallic flake. It pops a bit in a sapphire like way. Mercedes Blue has fine metallic flake, but a slight greenish hue. A subtle color, but very classy. Dunkelblau (EC used this one in 2018, 2021, 2022) is a Porsche color with fine metallic flake. Darker than Midnight Blue, but lighter than Mercedes Blue. To me, this new Blu Scozia seems to be a brighter blue, most similar to Midnight of the three listed above, but perhaps even more vivid, but with fine flake. Blu Scozia is a Ferrari color.

[@GerryBlue]

@@s2seltaeb Is this one Metallic too? It doesn't seem to be. My all time favorite is Mercedes Blue, amazing color

[@s2seltaeb]

@@GerryBlue I think Scozia is probably non-metallic by the looks of it. I searched up the Blu Scozia Ferrari color, and it looks like a flat blue. Very cool! Mercedes Blue is excellent. I think both that one and Dunkelblau are both very dark, and can look almost black (especially Mercedes), but can "pop" in the right light. I had a Mercedes Blue EC a few years ago. Looks amazing under the light. I have a Dunkelblau on order. I think Dunkel looks like a nice sapphire under bright light. (See photos of EC at 2018 Hyde Park for an example).

[@azcharlie2009]

$15K!!!! Are you kidding me? No thanks.

[@acpnde]

Dude It's a Fender custom shop plus it's an Eric Clapton signature guitar what did you expect

[@azcharlie2009]

@@acpnde And, why would I want a custom shop guitar for $15K?

[@colunasemdores]

Unfortunately these models with the Noiselees pickups will never be better than the guitars produced with the Lace Sensor Gold Pickups! A shame to see this happen. Those who are familiar with the best times of Eric Clapton, who know how much the Lace sensor pickups have greater characteristic of him and a much more pleasant sound than the current ones. A lot of people complain but Fender really doesn't understand the mess they made by not using the Lace sensors! Unfortunate

[@GuitaristDog87]

So true man! While EC managed to get decent tones like at the MSG shows with Winwood in '09 or the Cream '05 reunion, it just hasn't been the same ever since the switch to the Noiseless pups. I love his performance at the SRV tribute show with the white Strat, that's a great example of the Lace Sensors in action. Even Buddy Guy wowed the audience by simply bending a note and letting it sustain with his Polka-Dot Strat equipped with Laces and Mid-boost.

[@colunasemdores]

@@GuitaristDog87 Hi friend, I agree. At this time, in the mid-80s, Mark Knopfler, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Clapton, among others used Lace Sensor pickups. I believe there was some kind of contract with everyone with the LACE company, and I believe there was a breach of contract for Fender to create pickups for each one, in order to also sell these exclusively and have a certain domain with their own name. I already talked with Todd Krause by E-mail and with Lace Sensor, both didn't prefer to talk about what really happened, they deviated from the subject. But many people complain to this day and wonder why their guitars no longer have the Lace Sensor pickup. Pickups that should have more merit, because they are great. In my humble opinion, the power of these pickups is clear since 1987, at Eric Clapton's shows, mainly in 1999 at MSG, "Eric Clapton & Friends in Concert: A Benefit for the Crossroads". I hope that one day Fender reflects and uses these pickups in Clapton's guitars again, as their biggest hits and solos were using Lace Sensor Gold guitars. Another factor that we must take into account is something that John Mayer himself said in an interview: "Fender has several chairs, that is, a lot of people are in charge there, it is difficult to propose innovations or changes". Even if it was a blunder or a mistake, I hardly believe they'll ever go back. That's why Mayer went to PRS, although I heard that PRS really wanted to bring Eric Clapton to their team, but Clapton has already been linked to Fender for years, only if he wasn't really interested in working for Fender anymore he would leave. Anyone who has listened to Clapton's sound for a long time knows that he has had changes in his guitar tone, he has evolved, there have been changes, I believe that if he is satisfied with the current engineering of the instrument he uses, that's good, but one thing is a fact, there was a contract with Lace Sensor at the time, which was broken and he had to adapt to the use of Noiseless Pickups, which even today many people complain about, saying they are weak and do not have the same characteristic brightness that Lace Sensor have. it's pitiful. Hug.

[@LukeMaynard]

Well said! Years ago, in a pawn shop, I got an unbelievable deal on an ugly-looking Strat that I realized was one of the old 1980s Strat Plus guitars, which it feels like somebody tried to convert into a Clapton guitar. I can't see any other reason why they'd take a guitar with a tremolo bridge, then block it off, rather than simply using a hardtail. I've never seen anyone but Clapton use a blocked tremolo because that's what Blackie had. It also has the TBX tone pot in it, I think original to that generation of Strat Plus--and yes, to your point, it has the Lace Sensor Golds on it: in fact I think it's even from the era that they were briefly dual-branded Fender/Lace Sensors. The one thing it's missing that's "characteristic Clapton" is the 25 dB active mid-boost. That thing is absolutely nuts: like Clapton's Ferraris, it's way too overpowered, not an easy thing to drive, and only serves a certain kind of artist. But I've learned to watch how he "plays" the boost the same way that, say, Jeff Beck played his whammy bar-not as an add-on or effect unit, but as a core part of the instrument itself. I'll never listen to a Clapton solo or read another guitar tab of his, because any guitar tab that records the notes of his solo but not the sliding amount of boost he feeds through his overdrive is not an accurate representation of what he plays. The people who say he just plays the usual pentatonic licks, but can never capture the magic or that indescribable human-voice quality to his solos is not aware of the boost or how Clapton uses it. Just slapping a big meaty boost pedal in your signal chain, even a very good one, is not going to get you there. For those who don't want to gut their prized guitar to put one on board, I'm toying with the idea of learning to replicate the effect by using a flexible dual overdrive pedal like the Strymon Sunset, which takes an expression pedal, and using it to control the boost on one side as it feeds into the overdrive on the other. For those of us who don't own a proper EC strat, that might be the next best approach.

[@daviddalziel884]

€15 k apparently?

[@DeOmnibusDubitandum76]

I've owned 4 EC Strats over the years. The perfect neck, setup and aesthetics for me. More important, you can just plug and play it, old school. No need for pedals or stomp boxes. The midboost under the hood cuts right through the mix when it is your turn to take it away and a tweed or a silver face will scream line nobody's biz. But this particular instrument is a joke! 15 grand, GC? They really must need that cash.

[@s2seltaeb]

This is for Crossroads (charity)... and based on the cost of a Masterbuilt TK EC Strat, the price for the Blu Scozia is "only" about a $5K markup... And I'm sure a lot of it (all of it?) is for the Crossroads center.

[@DeOmnibusDubitandum76]

@@s2seltaeb Yep! Steep, nevertheless, but for a good cause, I guess. Most likely EC is getting a cut too.

[@rogercardenas111]

How much is this going to cost? Would this be considered bluey ???? Similar to blackey???👍😷🤓🎸🎸🎸👏👏🥃🍻🍻🍻🥃🍺🍺 If i had disposable income,I would buy it myself.

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

It's $15,000.

[@ianclevenger9714]

I sometimes nickname his gold leaf Stratocaster Goldie

[@SimpleManGuitars1973]

@@ianclevenger9714 He's my ultimate hero but I'm a rosewood guy and would kill for one of the very few rosewood boards they done for his line back in the day. Apparently it ticked him off and he told them to stop and they did. He said since he never used rosewood and so his signature line shouldn't have it.

[@rogercardenas111]

@@SimpleManGuitars1973 damn ,count me out . 🧐🤨😱

[@PhilAstles]

Just add a rosewood neck bro - no one needs to die 😂 💪 x@@SimpleManGuitars1973

[@churchbryan35]

Any old hardware or pickups, or anything being kicked around the shop...I'll pay for whatever... Eric bought 4 guitars from a guitar shop, gave 2 away Hendrix,and Peter Green and told his tech to take the best parts out of the rest and Blackie was born....im probably forgetting a few things i can't remember the name of the guitar shop in which he purchased....just hit me Mannys guitar shop in NY...maybe..lol I just want a stratocaster with great action...ive learned how to set up, stratocasters, pretty well ...mine never ever goes out of tune, string height isn't really an issue, but i feel like its fretting out around 14th fret with D, B strings...i dont

[@charlesbolton8471]

I’m pretty sure he bought them from George Gruhn in Nashville.

[@churchbryan35]

@@charlesbolton8471 your right, I was thinking of David Gilmour..✌️

[@eldritch6871]

it only costs $15,000! Who the fuck is gonna buy that?

[@NR-gp2il]

Rich Guys who suck at guitar

[@pabloperez4063]

People pay 100.000 for a car everyday...uneccesarily

[@eldritch6871]

@@pabloperez4063 there's a huge difference between a car and a guitar

[@Worklikeyoushouldbe]

"Extremely limited" well I'll take two then ...

[@jumpboy29]

And he didn't play it? I understand a master builder is going to waddle on about the specs, but it's a musical instrument not a piece of furniture

[@brunoantony9257]

They're really milking this Clapton thing, huh?

[@Shiznitt_]

“Clapton is God”

[@Nordic_Sky]

Clapton should just play a hardtail. Blocking out a regular guitar is nonsensical. Sure, he did it back in the day, but there's no reason to stick with that. Hardtails sound better anyway.

[@robmorrison1043]

LMAO, your telling EC what is nonsensical on his personal guitar? The man forgot more then you will ever know about guitars and what he likes on his guitar's. I believe Todd Krause could educate you on the difference between blocking the tremolo and a hard tail.

[@Nordic_Sky]

@@robmorrison1043 Sure go ahead & educate me! Lol!

[@zenmaestro04]

Better is subjective. He like's the sound of a Strat with a blocked tremolo so that's what he uses

[@PhilAstles]

Yes - the additional metal and springs add the zing he likes and the block keeps it in tune and aids with the overbends x@@zenmaestro04

[@Nordic_Sky]

@@zenmaestro04 Exactly. He's always done it this way and it's Krause's job to give him what he wants (and not ask too many questions). I always think it's hilarious when an arrogant know-it-all guitar geek pipes up thinking he's a musician. Lol.