Question about Fender's "Eric Clapton Blackie" Tribute Strat

[Bill]

According to Fender,

"For the Tribute Series Eric Clapton BLACKIE (R) Stratocaster guitar, the Fender Custom Shop has recreated the legendary instrument down to the last authentic detail. From the worn-to-the-wood body, to the neck reshaped by Clapton's own hand (...) every historical detail is faithfully recreated."

Meanwhile, in describing Blackie, Eric Clapton is quoted as saying,

"I wore it out too. It's pretty well inaccessible now--there's not much of the neck left. It's worn away on either side and on the back with wear and tear."

So unless the Fender ad is lying, the neck is unplayable.

That's $24,000 for a new guitar with an unplayable neck.

Am I missing something here?

Also, if you bought one of these and the neck played fine, could you sue Fender for misrepresenting their product?

 

[tazzboy]

I think Lee Dickson (Erics guitar) said it's still 100% playable just that there is was a lot of wear on the edge which made it difficult to do vibrato on the high E string. That was in his 2001 Tonequest Interview. Don't know if Lee Fix it or not

 

[Bill]

Yeah, but I'd still have to take Clapton's word over the technician's. After all, Clapton is the one playing it (or not).

 

[tazzboy]

I think Clapton is talking about how bad the neck is on blackie and I'm sure that it's still playable otherwise Guitar Center wouldn't have done the Relic thing. Cause They (GC) would loose money on it if that were the case.

And maybe Clapton and Lee Dickson had something done to neck before Clapton sold it in 2004 and don't know.

 

[Pete Galati]

Never believe marketing hype. Especially coming from Fender. This is a company who reissues amps, that are build nothing like the originals.

As far as the worn neck on the original Blackie goes, a guitar can be pretty messed up, and still playable. That doesn't mean that a person that knows what the guitar is suppposed to play like will be happy with it.

These guys are marketing to collectors, not players. Nobody in their right mind spends $20000 on a guitar because he wants to play it. The Eric Johnson Strat is a much better deal if you're buying a Strat to play it. If you want their best Strat deal, IMO get a Jimmy Vaughn Strat.

Pete

 

[Duncan]

Meanwhile, in describing Blackie, Eric Clapton is quoted as saying,

"I wore it out too. It's pretty well inaccessible now--there's not much of the neck left. It's worn away on either side and on the back with wear and tear."

I've seen the original after it was retired, and the neck was not worn out. I'm no Clapton historian, but I think EC just decided to move on and start playing something else. He's rather infamous for doing that.

 

[GTO]

Am I missing something here?

You may be missing the point that Fender don't state at what point in its history the guitar is modelled on. To make it playable for the public it could well be modelled as it was the day before 'the neck wore out'. You see, playing with words can work both ways.

 

[tazzboy]

Clapton likes soft V necks so maybe that's what's going to be on the Relic. I don't know. All I know is that the Relic are going to be at every Guitar Center tomorrow. (of course I am going to be work tomorrow)

 

[Chrismeyer]

Have you ever said anything that was just a little exagerated when you look back on it?I believe that Clapton probably made that statement and over exagerated it to imply that there is alot of wear on that old guitar,not that it is actaully unplayable. I mean,come on,can a human hand wear a piece of wood down that bad after a couple hours a night maybe 200 nights a year(back in it's hayday)?Doubtfull,but is it really worn down and are the edges a little worn?,yeah I'd say so.
You can see the guitar on the fender site from all angles,does it look like the neck is worn to the point of no return?Not to me.The body looks worse than the neck!
Just be realistic about it,that guitar is fine and playable and I'm sure if there were any REALLY bad issues,it would be resolved by making the neck have the look of the real one,but not the actual wear.CLOSE,but with allowences for years of play.
I think sometimes we're a little over critical of Fender here,considering that they made two of our favorite guitars.Don't you think they figure all this out before they present it to us? Probably.

 

[Chrismeyer]

Oh yeah,BTW,it's a hard V like the real one.

 

['caster oil]

I don't know when the actual release date was/is, but when I was at my local GC a week or 10 days ago, they had one... up high on the wall, with an alarm and trip-wire. probably have to show your black Amex just to try it out...

 

[tazzboy]

[quote='caster oil]I don't know when the actual release date was/is, but when I was at my local GC a week or 10 days ago, they had one... up high on the wall, with an alarm and trip-wire. probably have to show your black Amex just to try it out...[/quote]

Tomorrow is the release of the Blackie Relic

 

['caster oil]

I'm not a drinkin' man (on duty.) I swear to h*** I saw it...

; )

 

[all_identaties_taken]

Lee Dixon went to the Custom shop about ten years back and with the guys there they did work on Blackies' neck. After this Eric did use Blackie at the Albert Hall shows and in the studio. But by that time he was mostly useing EC sig Fenders. Even stating that he liked brand new ones which is why he gave so many away.
As for 'Blackie' remember Eric made a couple of guitars out of the ones he brought cheap. One was red and there was a second blackie. Eric gave this guitar to Pete Townsend who later passed it on to John Entwhistle. According to Pete Eric couldn't tell the differnce between the sound of the two black guitars and gave him the one with less damage to the finish. (Although anything Townsend say's should be taken with a large pinch of salt. He once claimed to have invented the internal combustion engine after being egged on by Daltry and Entwistle)

 

[all_identaties_taken]

[QUOTE='caster oil]I'm not a drinkin' man (on duty.) I swear to h*** I saw it...

; )[/QUOTE]

Soho Soundhouse in London have had one for a couple of months although not on display as yet. But I got an invite from the mailing list.

 

[LarryR]

So I was in Hollywood GC tonight. Saw the real Blackie on display there. Wanted to look at the copy and compare, and the salesman says that they sold the two they had and also said that GC's nationwide sold 170 of the 185 that they have this morning. Seems like a lot of $20,000.00 guitars out the door. Played an Esquire that was tagged at $6,000.00 that was marked "English" on the neck plate. It was filthy and played dead. Seeing as it was in the "Platinum" room I would think that they would at least clean it off once in awhile.

 

[Bill]

I'm very, very far removed from understanding this. For $20,000 you're in the neighborhood of buying a real 50's Strat. I'd think it would appreciate more, too.

I don't want a Blackie. But I sure wish I had the kind of finances that would enable me to think purchasing one wasn't ridiculous. Oh well, I guess even lawyers like to play "pretend."

 

[Gareth John]

I read that Eric Clapton didn't want to adujst the nut. The neck was made unplayable by a bad refret and in order to compensate for this the nut needed changing. that's what I read in a magazine (or what I understood)
hope that helps. I'm not a Clapton fan, but I do like that blackie guitar,there's a place in my heart for relics but not at that price. not til I win the lottery.

 

[Chrismeyer]

Yeah,Bill's dead-on on this one.You could buy a real '50s Strat,and maybe even a nice beater like a '70s to go with it for that kind of jack,and heck yeah it'd appreciate like crazy!

 

[Gareth John]

Clapton made blackie out of 3 strats. did he make 2 other strats out of the other bits? what did he do with the remaining parts?