NAMM 2017: Fender debuts Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Strat
A new 2017 version of God's axe?
Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster · Source: Fender
https://www.gearnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Fender-Custom-Shop-Journeyman-Relic-Eric-Clapton-Signature-Stratocaster-close-up. · Source: Fender
Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster Noiseless pickups · Source: Fender
Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster rear · Source: Fender
The new Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster has been announced just in time for NAMM 2017. But what does it offer over the previous incarnations?
Journeyman
Eric Clapton needs no introduction and his relationship with Fender is one of the oldest ones that the company has had, Eric was also the first player to get his own signature Stratocaster back in the 1980s.
Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster Noiseless pickups · Source: Fender
Once famously hailed as God, Clapton is a living guitar legend and can pretty much ask Fender for whatever he wants these days. So what do we get with the new Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster?
The basic specifications are pretty simple: a maple rift-sawn neck and three Vintage Noiseless Single-Coil Strat pickups. However, this new model has a two-piece ash body, rather than alder which is usually used on his guitars. It also has his infamous soft V profile and his preferred ’50s vintage stylings. But apart from that, it looks very much like a nicely worn Custom Shop Stratocaster, but with Eric’s autograph on the headstock.
Fender Custom Shop Journeyman Relic Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster rear · Source: Fender
I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Clapton Strats, as they are such nice guitars to play. We’re looking forward to more details at the NAMM Show on this instrument. But for now, you’ll just have to check out those photos and dream. It’ll be available in a vintage Two-Colour Sunburst or Aged White.
RRP TBC
Full specification on the guitar can be found on the Fender Custom Shop site
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