Limited quantities — act fast and score

Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster - Black with Maple Fingerboard

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Alder Body, Maple Neck, Maple Fingerboard, and 3 Vintage Noiseless Strat Pickups - Black
Share
Item ID: StratECBLK
Building your custom Guitar Gallery
Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster - Black with Maple Fingerboard
Price:$2,299 and 99 cents
Special Financing - Last Day. $96/month with 24 month financing*

In Stock!

Add to Cart
Sales engineer photo
Ask An Expert

Our expertly trained Sales Engineers are ready to help!

What is a Sales Engineer?
Sweetwater Gear Exchange

Have one to sell?
Check out Sweetwater's Gear Exchange!
Learn More

Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster - Black with Maple Fingerboard
In Stock!
Price:$2,299 and 99 cents
Add to Cart
Add to list
Skip to Description
Most Popular Accessories & Related Items
Certified Fit

Cases and Gig Bags

No more guesswork! Cases with this logo are hand-tested and guaranteed to fit this Fender Eric Clapton Stratocaster. See how we do it | Visit the Guitar Case and Gig Bag Buying Guide

Back to navigation

This article was Written By

Our Product Research Team

Get to know them!

Yes, Now You Can Own and Play Slowhand's Guitar

There's no bigger name in the entire guitar world than Eric Clapton! The man is a legend with a career that spans over 40 years! So, as you can imagine, this is one musician that can play any instrument he chooses - and he chooses the Fender Eric Clapton Artist Series Strat. That's right, the same guitar you can own (though his comes with a custom paint job these days).

First introduced in the 1980s, today's Eric Clapton Strat has been updated with three Vintage Noiseless pickups, which work in conjunction with both a powerful active midrange boost and Fender TBX tone circuitry to create on of the most versatile guitars in the Fender catalog.

Eric Clapton Artist Series Stratocaster at a Glance:
  • Just like Eric's own guitar
  • Vintage tones plus midrange boost
  • Fast-playing maple neck with soft V shape
Just like Eric's own guitar

You might think that a famous guitarist like Eric Clapton would pick some amazingly figured maple and ash, but in truth, other than the custom paint jobs, this is Eric's guitar. And once you play it, you'll see why he never asked for anything more. You start with a lightweight alder body with a black polyurethane finish and single-ply white pickguard (the same as Clapton's famed Blackie guitar). Thanks to the active 25dB midrange boost and TBX circuitry, you can go from crystal clear tone to a full-throated growl with the simple spin of a knob. Combine that with three of the latest versions of fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups and Eric's personal choice of a blocked American vintage synchronized tremolo, and you have the makings of a truly soulful instrument that sounds as great in the studio as it does onstage!

Vintage tones plus midrange boost

The original Strat had three single-coil pickups, so it was able to produce sounds that no other guitar could deliver - particularly once players discovered they could lodge the 3-position blade switch in those in between positions to access different pickup combinations. These were often erroneously referred to as the out-of-phase settings. The Eric Clapton Strat comes standard with a modern 5-way blade switch, making it easy to access all the pickup combinations. But then it adds a special active 25dB midrange boost on one tone control to give this guitar the extra meat you might expect from a humbucker. In addition, the second tone knob functions as a standard Fender TBX master tone control, which can smoothly go from bright and glossy to dark and smoky by rolling off the highs!

Fast-playing maple neck with soft V shape

Leo Fender wasn't afraid to think outside the box when it came to guitar designs - after all, he was an engineer, not a guitar player. In the 1950s and well into the 1970s, the blonde natural maple neck became almost synonymous with Fender guitars. The Eric Clapton Stratocaster comes with a 1-piece maple neck and fingerboard with 22 vintage-style frets and Eric's personal favorite soft V shape. In keeping with contemporary player preferences, the fast-playing neck is finished in a smooth satin polyurethane.

Fender Eric Capton Strat Features:
  • Black color with polyurethane finish
  • Maple neck with soft V shape and 9.5" radius
  • Solid alder body
  • Fender/Gotoh vintage-style tuners
  • Maple fingerboard
  • 22 frets
  • Dot inlays
  • 3 Vintage Noiseless Strat pickups
  • Blocked vintage-style synchronized tremolo
  • 5-position blade for pickup switching
  • Chrome hardware
  • Vintage Tweed case included
  • 25.5" scale length

NOTE: This product is available in the United States only - no international sales.

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

Resources

Warranty Info

Sweetwater's FREE 2-Year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty

Extra peace of mind at no extra cost.

  • Save money with FREE parts and labor
  • Get back to making music with the industry's fastest turnaround time
  • Fix it the first time with our award-winning, factory-certified Service Department
Learn More about Total Confidence Coverage
Back to navigation

Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Right-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Eric Clapton Stratocaster
  • Body Material Alder
  • Body Finish Gloss Polyurethane
  • Color Black
  • Neck
  • Neck Material Maple
  • Neck Shape Soft V
  • Neck Joint Bolt-on
  • Radius 9.5"
  • Fingerboard Material Maple
  • Fingerboard Inlay Black Dots
  • Number of Frets 22, Vintage
  • Scale Length 25.5"
  • Nut Width 1.650"
  • Nut Material Synthetic Bone
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece 6-Saddle Synchronized Tremolo
  • Tuners Vintage Style
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup Vintage Noiseless Single-coil
  • Middle Pickup Vintage Noiseless Single-coil
  • Bridge Pickup Vintage Noiseless Single-coil
  • Controls 1 x master volume, 2 x tone
  • Switching 5-way blade pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings Fender, .010-.046
  • Case/Gig Bag Hardshell Case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: 0117602806

What Makes Our Sales Engineers Great?

Sweetwater Sales Engineers are a world-class team of experts dedicated to you. Hand selected from across the globe, each brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the world of music gear to provide you with unparalleled service completely free of charge. Friendly relationships, real trust, and the right gear are only a call or a click away!

Back to navigation

Reviews

The Real Deal!
I have other Strats, including a PRS Silver Sky, and a 2003 MIM Strat. This one blows them away. The boost is great, I have mine going into a Deluxe Reverb amp. Adding some treble and cranking the boost gives creamy Strat tones, ideal for blues and blues rock. This guitar is a game changer. This is my new go to single coil blues machine!
Very Nice guitar but the absolut loudest guitar I have ever heard
Very nice guitar but I thought it sounded way too loud, so I took Sciloscop and Db reader and measured it. 80 Db boost with mid boost and 71 Db boost without mid boost. Fender must have forgotten to mention something in their specs. They have not mentioned that Vintage Noiceless is stacked Humbuckers either which they are. As 80 Db boost gives an output of 1 500 volts I could only use all of the boost on the Clean channel. On the distorted channel of my HUGHES & Kettner amp the amp immidiately shut the volume down to normal volume. What came out though was amazing, the fattest tone by far I have ever heard In a guitar. Sustain much longer than in any other guitar, controlled Feed back. An incredible distortion when volume knob hit 7. If Had a very distorted sound before that but at 7 it just explosed. Something related to the extreme output I guess. I saw The active cuircuit to the Clapton signature Stratocaster and realised immidiately how it could come up to 1 500 volt output. It uses transistor voltage boost. Like the Fly killer that has a 3 volt battery but has an output of 30 000 volts. Only 2 different ways to do it. The Clapton Signature Stratocaster has 3 cascaded 2N6429 TO 92 transistors, with the perfect resistors and condensators after each transistor so they wont overheat. Then it has an discrete op amp topology and after that The 2N6429 transistor that takes care of the smallest boost, the mid boost. So you have 5 boosts, 4 of them you have to use the fifth is opional. With cascaded transistors you can in effect have a much bigger Transistor voltage boost than that. You can have 1 volt and if the HFE is 100 it Will be 100x100x100=1 000 000 volts. Thats not the case here off course as it uses 1 500 volt in The Stock Clapton signature Stratocaster. But a very nice guitar. Dearly recommend it.
Extremely hot from its active electronics
This is an extremely and I really mean extremely powerful guitar. To explain how its constructed you have to remember its active with active electronics. You need a battery to play it. Inside its active cuircuit it has a preamp called PN 014418 that boost the guitar a first step. Then it has 3 cascading 2N6429 transistors and 1 2N 5807 Transistor that boosts the guitar in 3 stages more ( 4 boost stages in total ). From the Start the Clapton signature Stratocaster is 50 decibel louder than a passive Stratocaster. That means it has 50 Db boost from the beginning. The 4 the boosts step ads another 17,5 Db boosts, which makes it 67,5 Db boost. What moost people dont know is that a 50 decibel louder guitar actually is 32 times louder to the ear than the other guitar. A 67,5 decibel louder guitar than the other is 144 times louder. So its extremely loud and the output is so incredibly high it cant be played on the distorted channel. The amp shuts down immidiately because of the extremely High output. But what you get on the Clean channel is the fattest sound you Will ever hear in your life, a 45 second sustain without moving you finger and controlled Feed back. You Will however never get even close to the Stratocaster sound. The active electrinics and the incredibly high Db boost colours the sound and the Stacked Humbuckers makes it physicslly impossible to make it even remotly close to single coils. If youre after the most powerful and loudest guitar this is for you. If youre after a tradional Stratocaster this is as far away from that you can ever come.
Music background: Musician
Most powerful Humbucker guitar I have ever played but a very Nice guitar
The Clapton signature Stratocaster of which I own 2 is the most powerul Humbucker guitar I have ever played. Even with the boost Off its a lot more powerful than my Gibson Les Paul. With the boost on it gets scarry. Its incredible powerful. But the sound is awesome ( unless you want a vintage Stratocaster sound because that you wont get from this guitar). With its stacked Humbuckers ( Vintage noice less), active circutry Run by a battery and incredible 25 DB mid boost I had never before I got my Clapton signature Stratocasters been close to this power. The guitar is extremely loud which Suits Me fine. As long as you treat it like it should be treated you have an Edge against all other guitar players unless They also happen to have a Clapton signature Stratocaster.
Easily the mist powerful Humbucker Guitar I have ever played
Wow,
This guitar was a lot more powerful Tham my Gibson Les Paul even With the boost off. Sitt the boost off its too much Humbucker power if you go up to 5. At 3 you can easily be heard hos loud the noices are from other indtruments like drums etc. I give it the highest grade because of its incredible Humbucker power. I have never played a even remotly close to this Humbucker power. At mid boost button at 5 it felt 20 times more powerful than my Gibson Les Paul. If you are looking for an extremely powerful guitar this is it. If you are looking for a regular Stratocaster this is deffinitely wrong guitar for you. You wont find Abu of the Stratocsster sound in it, but it was a really awesome guitar that has to have the best graders.

It’s impossible to imagine a world without Fender guitars, and if you’re like many of the guitarists at Sweetwater, then Fender not only made the first guitar you ever bought " they made the last one too! From building the first mass-produced solidbody electric guitars and basses in the 1950s to creating some of the most influential amplifier designs in history, it’s no wonder why Fender is one of the biggest names in the business. As one of the world’s largest Fender dealers, we have countless guitars, basses, amps, effects pedals, and accessories in stock and ready to ship, whenever you need them. We’re always getting our hands on their latest creations, and there’s nothing we love more than to tell our customers all about them! So, whether you’re looking for your first axe or a Custom Shop creation, make sure to give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700.

Don't trust your guitar purchase to anyone else.

Everything we do is focused on delivering the best possible service and experience to you.

Other Retailers

Free 55-point Inspection

Don't get stuck with imperfections, defects, or blemishes that the manufacturer didn't catch. Learn More

Sweetwater Sound Has it

Other Retailers

Do not
Has it Do not
Pick Your Guitar Don't get just any guitar or bass — get yours. We photograph every serial number - allowing you to pick the perfect finish, weight, and woodgrain.
Sweetwater Sound Has it

Other Retailers

Do not
Has it Do not

Free 2-year Warranty

Have extra peace of mind with above-and-beyond coverage to ensure you're protected in the long run. Learn More

Sweetwater Sound Has it

Other Retailers

Have a Limited Warranty
Has it Have a Limited Warranty

Free Shipping

Buy what you need — don't worry about meeting restrictive minimums. Learn More

Has it

Minimums may apply

Extra Protective Packing

Making sure your precious purchase arrives safe and sound.

Has it Do not

More Options

Your rig is unique. Complement your new guitar or bass with whatever amp, pedal, picks, and more ... that you could want from hundreds of top manufacturers. Learn More

Has it Do not

Sales Engineers

Your very own gear expert. Personalized advice, exclusive call-in savings, and so much more. Learn More

Has it Do not

Easy Customization

Plek, setup, and more. Before it even leaves our building, have our pros modify your new guitar or bass exactly to your liking. Learn More

Has it Are Limited