I've been on a Clapton kick recently; nothing really new about that for me, anyway. But the recent thread of his amazing version of Double Trouble in '85 and the searing tone he had on that, and the incredible quack tone he gets all over Just One Night got me to thinking about EC's Blackie strat.
I revisited this video when the Fender Custom Shop received Blackie before it built the Blackie Tributes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d0Du6RqdTs
I found it interesting how there was surprise when they flipped the pickguard over and found grey bottom pups.
Much has been made of the story how in 1970 Clapton bought a bunch of vintage strats for a song at Sho Bud in Nashville, gave one to George Harrison, one to Steve Winwood, and one to Pete Townshend. With the remaining strats, EC took what he considered the best parts and assembled Blackie.
Lore has it Blackie's body is a '56 and the neck is a '57. Obviously, strats of that era did not have grey bottom pups. If you watch the video closely, I think you can even hear Mike Eldred say something to the effect that (the pups) must have been changed at some point.
I'm not trying to cop the tone of Blackie. As a geezer, I'm just interested in this period, and how pups like this surprisingly ended up in this most famous of strats. There isn't much info about this out there on the web. Does anyone know anything about this?
I revisited this video when the Fender Custom Shop received Blackie before it built the Blackie Tributes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d0Du6RqdTs
I found it interesting how there was surprise when they flipped the pickguard over and found grey bottom pups.
Much has been made of the story how in 1970 Clapton bought a bunch of vintage strats for a song at Sho Bud in Nashville, gave one to George Harrison, one to Steve Winwood, and one to Pete Townshend. With the remaining strats, EC took what he considered the best parts and assembled Blackie.
Lore has it Blackie's body is a '56 and the neck is a '57. Obviously, strats of that era did not have grey bottom pups. If you watch the video closely, I think you can even hear Mike Eldred say something to the effect that (the pups) must have been changed at some point.
I'm not trying to cop the tone of Blackie. As a geezer, I'm just interested in this period, and how pups like this surprisingly ended up in this most famous of strats. There isn't much info about this out there on the web. Does anyone know anything about this?