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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:26 am
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It's a "Factory Special Run".
Dealers who make bulk orders can specify certain special features.


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:04 am
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Les A wrote:
I went buy there again today and he jacked the price up on me. The serial number on the back reads n097998795 also on back of the neck it reads special edition with a star below it. It is white with american vintage tremelo rosewodd fret board and 8 hole pickguard.


Lots wrong here - way too many numbers in that serial number for it to be a USA Fender. If it was a circa 1990 (i.e. starts with an "N0") it would likely only have 5 digits after the "N0" part. Fender didn't really get into the 6 digit serial numbers for the USA models until later in the 1990s and this guitar's serial number has 8 digits after the "N0". Also, the "N" for "Nineties" would be a capital "N", not a lower-case "n".

I'm not sure if Fender was doing factory special runs back in 1990, and if they were they were likely identified on the neck plate (as in "1 of 50" or possibly even "1 of 50 for Sam Ash" or some such) and not by any decals on the back of the headstock.

You've got a couple of posts going on this beast - we really need pictures, not descriptions.


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:16 pm
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Eric was seen playing Strats with rosewood fretboards on many several occasions.

One on his personal stage guitars (a candy green model) was fitted with a rosewood neck and an LSR Roller nut. It was used during a concert at the Reunion Arena of Dallas (TX) in April 25, 1990.

I believe this particular guitar served as a basis for the 94 rosewood-neck prototypes made circa 1991.


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:00 am
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i AM GOING BY THERE THIS MORNING AND WILL HAVE PICS LATER ON TODAY


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:58 pm
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This is the best I can do on the pics with there lighting.The pics didn't turn out to good

http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m635/les1957/


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:49 pm
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Les A wrote:
This is the best I can do on the pics with there lighting.The pics didn't turn out to good

http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m635/les1957/


Okay - thanks for posting the photos. They are good enough to show the guitar is a complete fake. Several things wrong with it:

1. Wrong tuners - typically tuners like that are only found on low-end Asian guitars (China, low-end Korea, Indonesia, etc.)

2. Wrong truss rod access - note that the truss rod access hole just has a clear finish on it. USA Fenders would have a walnut plug with a small opening in the plug for the allen wrench.

3. Wrong serial number and font - the "Made in USA" is the wrong font, the "s/n" is the wrong font, the number is the wrong format. Fender never used a "09 XXXXXXXX" format as they were still using the "letter + number" format for 2009 (which would be a "Z9XXXXXX" number with only 6 digits after the "Z9"; plus since this is supposed to be a Clapton Signature it's serial number would start with an "SZ9").

4. No Clapton signature on the front of the headstock and the headstock decal just doesn't look right, like it wasn't fully printed or something.

5. I don't believe that is what a real Fender "Special Run" or "Special Edition" sticker looks like but it has been so long since I've seen something like that in person I can't tell you if it's a reasonable fake or a really bad fake - but I believe it's a fake (just like the headstock decal is a fair fake - I've seen better and I've seen worse).

6. Except for those few made in the early 1990s Chromeface referenced there have been no production line rosewood board Eric Claptons.

7. Fender never used that small round decal with Clapton's 90s portrait; that might have come from a pack of strings or something.

8. Pickups and bridge also look like low-end Asian manufacture.

Sorry but your page keeps crashing on me so I can't really look at the other photos of the red Strat; however, the red Strat (that in some photos has the pickguard removed) looks like a legit post-1999 USA Strat. At any rate compare the white guitar to the red one and you'll see all these differences.

Hope all this helps - run away from this one.


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Post subject: Re: How can I identify an Eric Clapton Strat
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:32 pm
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chromeface wrote:
Eric was seen playing Strats with rosewood fretboards on many several occasions.

One on his personal stage guitars (a candy green model) was fitted with a rosewood neck and an LSR Roller nut. It was used during a concert at the Reunion Arena of Dallas (TX) in April 25, 1990.

I believe this particular guitar served as a basis for the 94 rosewood-neck prototypes made circa 1991.


Yeah we got that, but when you see a Clapton strat in the wild it is a mapleboard strat. I have also seen Clapton playing an SRV strat so when ever someone ask about an SRV strat do we have to point out Clapton played one one time in Japan while standing on his head in 1954? No because Clapton strats are maple boards. and all but the last few years of master builts have the Clapton sig on the headstock. and they do not have trapezoid tuners

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran


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