We had a to and fro about this recently and ME stated emphatically supported with photographs, that the finishes on the guitars were indeed entirely different, and that the company was not in the habit of doing the kind of things JB accused them of. Given the controversey, it's a cool move by JB in that he's getting rid of excess baggage and, at the same time paying an homage to a friend who did him one with that Albert Hall guest appearance. That guitar should command a high price.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Also in that glass case is yet another of the many black Strats to be seen in this show. That one was also made for the Cream Reunion gigs, by Mark Kendrick of the Custom Shop. They want $20,000 - 30,000 for it. On the plus side, it has a nice curly birdseye neck:



This would be the one Stipes had reproduced.

I have the honor to be spottable near the stage in the DVD of Joe's Royal Albert Hall show in 2009. That night Eric Clapton came on and did a number with him. This is the Sonic Blue Strat he played that time - hey, another day, another Strat:

I have the honor to have been the subject of what you were whispering in your wife's ear in that sight bite....




By the way, for those of us (including me) who like to give out about how lowering your pickups near to the pickguard can be good for tone, it was interesting to note that all of Eric's Strats had the pups set just about as high as they could go. Strokes for folks...

By the way.....those bridge saddles are set precisely the way all his other Strats are setup. Must be part of the Lee Dickson formula for setup, intonation, and fret dressing. This a secret yet to be revealed.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Amazing work, Eric. AH! Ceri. Sorry.

Didn't you have a sudden surge of claptonmania and just carry off a few goodies?

Ah... back to real life. How can anyone own so many guitars anyway? It's just not healthy.

Anyway, thanks for sharing! And for photo-shopping all the other onlookers out of the pics! (That must have been a lot of work).

To Eric! GEEE, I did it again. To CERI! There!

-Nutter

Care to see my wife's quiliting closet ....How many spools of blue thread does anyone need??

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"Another day in paradise!"

Answer: ENOUGH!

What's the most expensive?

What's the least expensive? (I'd be better off not knowing.)

I see there's a little Danelectro and amp, did he ever use these?

The first two auctions raised in the millions, don't know if I see a million in these pics.

Thanks for your patience Sir Ceri.

There's three Black Lace Sensor Strats alone which I bet will fetch over 100K each.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Yeah, remember the guide price is the start price. They will only escalate.

The auctioning of a rock legends gear happening in three major cities.

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No no and no

If my understanding of this is correct, the physical auction will be held in Manhattan on the 9th of March whilst the center in London, LA and NY were chosen for previews for interested parties to view the physical items, all to be ultimately transported to NYC. I trust there'll be telephone bidding as well.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Mega pics, Ceri - thanks!

Quite fancy that Soldano rig for my house. That would please the neighbours... I do use a Soldano but it's only 20W. I reckon the SLO100 packs a bit more punch

Any pics of the black strat used at the Cream shows?

I have the book, sad, missing knobs, original case vanished, I don't get why any of those guys, Gilmour, Clapton, Walsh et..etc would let the hard rock Cafe's display what was/is to them a prized instrument.
I believe the Cafe couldn't care less, it's just about " Hey Wannabee's, the Gilmour or Clapton strat is on display, come in and spend money.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Thank You Ceri,
I think I have a couple Mclaren FI's I could perhaps trade in exchange.
Only glitch is that they are Minichamps and only in 1/18th scale

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Great pictures Ceri, thanks so much. I can only wander what remains of his collection after selling all of this...

Warehouses full as yet, I shouldn't wonder.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Hi T-L: well... One time I was crossing at the lights in the center of town, the traffic was heavy and a sliver Porsche had come to a halt right across the stream of pedestrians so people had to walk around it. I glanced in and found myself looking at Eric Clapton at the wheel, elbow on the window, chin in his hand with a bored look on his face. Our eyes met and he got a tired expression which said; "Rats, now you're going to want to talk to me, aren't you?"

To which the only decent response was to fire back a look that said; "No, I have more dignity than to bother the Famous Person." So I stepped around the car and went on my way.

Which was very frustrating, because I spent the next few minutes thinking of all the things I would indeed have liked to talk about with him. "Can I have one of your guitars" wasn't amongst them - but now I see how many he has to spare maybe it should have been...!


Hi LeftyElliot: the one in this pic was built for the 2005 Cream Reunion shows in London and New York. None of the original '60s Cream gear was in this collection: I presume all of that stuff was sold off in previous auctions.




Nutter, for the second time today, shame on you!

And shame on me too, because it did cross my mind how easy it appeared to be to simply grab one of the items not in cases and stroll out the door, down the stairs and off into the street with it when the guard chappie was busy with his back turned chatting with his friend. I expect there's rather more security in that auction house than met the eye, and anyway...

Actually, the most difficult thing was remembering it wasn't a shop and I couldn't just pick up a guitar and have a strum. In reply to the Doc (above) I did notice that all the guitars had especially well finished fret work, far as the eye could judge. My hands were itching to double check...

(And shame on you for "claptomania" as well... )


Hey rip: I just said to the milling crowds; "Step aside please ladies and gentleman: Forum photographer at work..." They parted like the Red Sea.

Cheers - C

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