Well, I have a CP50's, Now I wanna build a "Blackie". The closest platform I can find is the Classic 50's. I'm not so sure about the fretboard radius though. From what my old mind can remember, that 7.25 radius is a stringbenders nightmare. I'm stuck between Gold Lace Sensors or Vintage Noiseless. I do know the midboost is a must have. Chime in with your ideas

The CP50 is a 9.5 as is the Clapton, but the Clapton is a 22 fret neck.
Both are a soft V neck, but the Clapton neck is equine.

I would say you best option at this point would be to buy a MIM standard stratocaster in black and have Warmoth make you a a Clapton neck for it.

You going to replace the pick ups any way and the newer MIM are all alder bodies.

As to the pick ups, I would suggest the hot noiseless.

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Marriage is like playing cards...

At first all you want are Hearts and Diamonds.

But in the end, all you really want is a Club and a Spade.

+1 Great Idea using the 50s CP to make a EC guitar.

Custom all the way.

The 50s CP is also available in Daphne Blue for those "Slowhand" fans are interested to make their own replica of the CS EC LTD 2010. Unfortunately this guitar is not available in Pewter, which is the only colour close to the slightly darker EC Grey.

Just a word of advice...the noiseless pickups require a deeper pickup route than a normal strat pickup.

Now the route on the CP50's might be deep enough, I've never tried one, but you may want to check before buying the body and finding that you can't fit the pickups you want.

May I suggest that a better body would be one of the slightly older Powerhouse Strat's that also had the mid-boost circuitry in them as that will save you having to route somewhere to fit the PCB and 9V battery...assuming you're intending going with the active circuitry....

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How did it sound to you?

Be careful you don't confuse the CP 50's with the Classic 50's. The CP 50's is only available in Shoreline Gold and 2-tone Sunburst. The neck radius of the CP 50's is different than the Classic 50's. Other differences include CP 50's 2-point trem, vs. standard trem on the Classic 50's.. Pickups are also different.

AndyBigHair had trouble fitting hot noiseless in his CP60's. I can't see the pickup routings being any deeper on the 50's.

Personaly, I wouldn't go for the midboost on a Blackie replica. The original Blackie didn't have one, the Tribute guitars don't have it either.
I'd go with these pickups. And just add a eq pedal to my effects, with a big hump at around 100-300hz gradually decreasing to flatten at around 3Khz. It really is centered on the low mids. Though it's doubfull you'll find one giving 25db of boost. 15db is the most I've seen. (Wonder if you could just lower the unadjusted sliders by 10db, then raise the volume by 10db to give a perceived 25db boost????)

http://www.coda-music.com/product_info.php?products_id=6954

Hot noiseless are a good pickup, though not sure their a bit too aggressive for this application. Vintage noiseless are a waste of time, even with the midboost. SCN's sound better, but still a little thick on in the midrange, with the midboost circuit. I'd be interested to try the Dimarzio Area series pickups and how they perform with the circuit.

The other thing you need to consider is battery and circuitboard placement. I couldn't fit it all in the control cavity, others have. I ended up putting the battery between 2 tremsprings in the tremclaw cavity. Also I found that you need to really isolate the circuitboard if you put it in the control cavity. Or it amplifies every thump on the scratchplate. In the end, I bought a Powerhouse Strat body, just to have dedicated cavities for that circuit.

Though I do rate the circuit, it can be a bit limiting. Particularly if you play a couple of guitars live. The output increase on that circuit is so big, you have to reset your amp when you switch. If your amp has little drive and a load of headroom, the midboost control becomes deafening. I adore the Clapton circuit through my JCM, through my 18watter it's unusable. The midboost just acts like the amps master volume. So watch your amp choices, avoid loads of headroom. It just acts as a massive volume boost. Maybe that could be worked around by fitting the amp with a input dedicated for active electronics.

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No no and no

I guess I worded my post incorrectly. I meant to say I already have a Classic Players 50's 2-Tone Strat. I'm going to leave it as it is. I sold some gear so I'm gonna buy 2 guitars. The first is a Deluxe Players Strat, only mods for it are black pickguard and a set of Texas Specials (you see where I'm going with it, poor mans SRV)....next one I want to buy is a Classic 50's for a "Clapton" build. I I was set on black but the daphne blue could be a cool build. Anyways, The Vintage Noiseless from the Deluxe Players will go in the build. I'm just on the fence about the fretboard radius. It's been a long time since I've played one.

I did indeed. Details are about half way down the page linked bellow...

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=46979&start=45

The Hot noiseless are ,as Nick says, decent pups but they sound really very harsh with the mid-boost.

Good luck with your build.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Well, I scratched the Deluxe Player idea, I'm gonna stick with the 50's series. I decided to go with Daphne Blue, Lace Sensors and a set of the vintage locking tuners like my Classic Players 50's Strat. I had Lace Sensors in my Tele Plus years ago and I liked them.

If you put Lace Sensors on the Daphne Blue Classic 50s, your guitar will look very much to the blue Strat AFL used during the One More Car One More Rider world tour in 2001. Eric's Daphne Blue guitar uses Vintage Noiseless pickups, not Lace Sensors.

I guess that you've watched the famous DVD from the concert held at the Staples Center almost ten years ago and got Andy's blue guitar as an inspiration!

I've recently posted a thread on the Custom Shop discussion page asking for the Lace Sensor option on the CS EC LTD models, though I've seen a couple of pictures showing several CS Claptons with BOTH VN and LS pickups.

Everyone can order an EC Grey or a Daphne Blue with Lace Sensors anyway, but you'll miss the artist's signature on the headstock. Eric occasionally uses a Blackie with Laces for the slide repertoire.