Now, I do like stratocasters.
I used to believe that strats are too clean and glassy for me. I like the twang of telecasters. I love the bite of les pauls, especially the P90s. But the sounds of strats just never appealed to me.
Until I started paying attention to a certain Mr Eric Clapton. I knew he played other guitars, but his signature is the strat and his sound with her. In fact, the first time I was ‘wowed’ by Clapton’s strat sound was that solo in “Autumn Leaves”. And I learned much later that that solo could be what many people had referred to as the ‘woman tone’ of Clapton he played when he was with Cream. And so I began listening to Eric Clapton on Spotify, his solos, Cream, the Yardbirds, etc.
Then, I developed this fascination for the Fender Eric Clapton Artist Series Stratocaster, aka Blackie. I went to a store last week to try her out, she and her active circuit with 25db boost. She felt great in my arms and hands and she sounded fantastic. I was swayed to buy her on the spot but I didn’t. I thought about Blackie and wanted to buy her yesterday. Again, I didn’t.
These few days, I played my AVRI 56 strat and I discovered that I could get the sound close to Clapton’s which I like with my 56 by simply adjusting the tone. I am still pondering if I should keep my 56 and still get Blackie. I will definitely sell my Cutlass and Thinline ‘cos they both cannot come close to the Clapton tone even with the tones adjusted.
For now, I love 2 tones: the P90s and the Clapton. So I keep the R6 and the 56. And I most likely will acquire Blackie.