Eric Johnson Signature Stratocaster!

[Redbell]

Does anyone here own one?
What's Good?
What's not so good?
what did you pay (if you don't mind)?
Would you recommend one tother musicians?
Any other info we should know?
Thanks.

 

[AD]

Check this thread


https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/97757&highlight=johnson+strat

 

[Rama]

Got it. like it. $1600.

It's just a great strat with the features I like.

Lightweight

Fine, fine pickups

Fat V-ish neck

It's a resonant "light" sounding strat.

 

[Jason Carter]

I played one yesterday at GC. Overall it is a great strat, I want one!

 

[Rama]

One caveat...the fret wire is on the low side. Wide and low. I like it but you might not.

 

[Mark Kane]

I think it's the best product they've put out in over 35 years.

 

[pfrischmann]

I tried one and was pretty disappointed. I'm a huge EJ fan. I liked all of the relics I played much better.

 

[DonW]

September Tonequest Report w/Johnny A on the cover did a review.

 

[Rama]

I have a couple of Custom Shop Strats and the EJ is every bit as good. To me.

 

[Supasso]

I noticed that the EJ Start used to have flame maple neck, but now it does not. What's the story?

 

[ducmike]

It's not a flame, but a quarter sawn neck. The grain runs across the neck giving the illusion of flame on some. The one I have looks pretty flamey. It's light weight, and sounds great. I like it for the vintage vibe with modern features like a 12" radius and bigger frets.

 

[Supasso]

Well, if it has the illusion of flame, it's flame, isn't it?

 

[RickC]

Tried one for the first time last week at GC. Overall thumbs up.

What I liked best - the neck. Perhaps my favorite neck profile ever on a Fender; stock, Custom Shop, whatever. Feels like a "real one".

What I liked least - the finish. Two-tone sunburst was dull and lifeless and kinda ugly, and the neck was too tinted. At least on this particular one. But as they say, you don't play the paint.

/rick

 

[KLB]

I like mine.

I had to scrape the lacquer from the sides of the frets. They installed the frets, then sprayed the neck. Mine is an early one. More recent ones may be done differently.

I am used to the fret height. Now that the neck finish is no longer sticky, it is comfortable to play. I played one recently that had slightly taller frets, so Fender may have responded to complaints about fret height.

The pickups are wonderful.

- Ken

 

[Redbell]

Thanks everybody. I'm kinda still wondering about how noisy the pups are? I hear good things about their tone, though.

 

[Rama]

2 and 4 are humbucking...reverse wound middle pickup ya know.

 

[Rama]

I had to scrape the laquer off my frets, too. Much nicer afterwards.

 

[buddastrat]

I could've got one for $1250. Yep, basically cost, but I passed. It was thin sounding even for a strat. I tried # 59 from Musician's Friend as well and it too was very thin sounding. I compare these mostly acoustically and listen to the tone of the instrument itself. I actually like the pickups and the fat neck. Don't like the gunky thick nitro finished neck though.

I compared both EJ's to a 69 maple neck'd relic strat and a real '66 strat. The EJ's were very thin and scooped sounding. No balls at all compared to those other strats. They sounded much bigger.

 

[pfrischmann]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with that experience buddastrat. I tried a SRV, Mayer and two or three relics. The EJ just seemed somewhat..strident to me.

 

[ducmike]

Originally posted by Rama
I had to scrape the laquer off my frets, too. Much nicer afterwards.

How do guys scrape the laquer of the frets? This is the first time I have experienced this.