When I bought my Am Dlx last year, I seriously considered an EC Strat. I'm thinking about one again. I have a couple of questions:
Has there been any significant changes to the EC Strat over the years that would affect which one I should consider?
Did the EC Strat ever come in Surf Green? If so, what years.
I believe the trem is blocked. Why do I see them with arms displayed in the pictures on ebay?
Thanks for any help.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

The EC Strat has evolved a bit over the years - from 1988 to some time in early-mid 2001 they had Lace Sensor pickups, after that point (and I just don't remember if the revised version came out at the January 2001 trade show or the Summer 2001 trade show) they have Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups.

The neck shape did evolve also - the earliest ones had a bit of a sharper "V" shape to them; they are perhaps a tiny bit thicker and have more of a "soft V" shape. Not a huge difference, but the ones after the mid-90s always feel a bit different than the earlies ones, and I'm not sure when that change might have happened.

Surf green - not on a production Clapton. They did have the metallic green finish (called "7-Up green" originally and later just "candy green" - I think the 7-Up people wanted some kind of compensation for the use of their name). If there are any surf green ones it would have to be some kind of one-off from the Custom Shop - although the CS did a Limited Edition run of Claptons in Daphne blue a few years ago.

The trem is blocked but they do come with the arm incase you wish to unblock it.

Discontinued since 2011.



They also did the same LTD runs in EC Grey (a darker variant of Pewter).

Thanks, this all helps. Too bad about no Surf Green. When I saw EC last year, he played one for a large part of the show. It's my favorite color, so I was hoping they had used it at some point for his production guitars.

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Eric never played a Surf Green Strat. His Daphne Blue axe looked a bit greenish because of the stage projector lights.

Jeff Beck is the guitarist which is associated with the Surf Green finish for years.

Okay, I was pretty sure I was looking at Surf Green, but I could have been mistaken. The photo on the cover of last months Guitar Player magazine has a collage with EC in it. Is that a Daphne Blue in that photo?

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Certainly.