The family of one of my close childhood friends is moving out of their home next month. My friend's father had sadly passed a few years ago - he was a guitar enthusiast, and much of his collection had been left untouched in the basement since his passing. Given the need to clean out the house, the family elected to give his guitars to "people who would play them", as he would have wanted. I was lucky enough to make the list.
I was presented with four cases, the guitars inside unknown. One would be mine. After inspecting the guitars, we had the following: a black American Standard Strat, an Epi Sheraton, a '52 RI Tele, and a red Clapton Strat. I had been informed that a prior player had plugged in the Clapton, and it "hadn't made any sound".
As I own a Heritage H-535, the Sheraton was out on sheer redundancy. While I LOVE Teles and an ash/maple board '50s Tele would be a great complement to my alder/rosewood '60s style K-Line, I really couldn't vibe with the 7.5" radius and narrow nut on the '52 RI. That left the Strats.
While I preferred the look of the black/mint guard American Standard, the Clapton immediately stood out. The neck is amazing - soft-V neck, satin finish, and 9.5" radius. Despite having what were at least two year old strings, the guitar had the best unplugged sound - nice snap and pop on the wound strings, no dead spots, and balance across the fretboard. It seemed to have been barely played; frets were perfect, strings were shockingly fresh, and the plastic was still on the pickguard! Here she is:
Now to the interesting part. Knowing the EC Strat has active electronics, I figured there was a decent chance the "electronics issue" was a dead battery. Upon popping open the backplate, I found a Duracell with a use-by date of March 1997! It seems this guitar was barely played over the last 20 years.
I'm going to give the Lace Sensors a spin (I won't be home to my rig until the New Year), but I've never been a fan of active electronics and I'm guessing I'll end up gutting them. Here's the fun part: I was thinking about placing an order for a '54 2-tone Danocaster this year. What cool pickup ideas would you suggest? Anyone know if these ECs are swimming pool route?
In any case, generous gift, great guitar, and a fun pickup project ahead!
I was presented with four cases, the guitars inside unknown. One would be mine. After inspecting the guitars, we had the following: a black American Standard Strat, an Epi Sheraton, a '52 RI Tele, and a red Clapton Strat. I had been informed that a prior player had plugged in the Clapton, and it "hadn't made any sound".
As I own a Heritage H-535, the Sheraton was out on sheer redundancy. While I LOVE Teles and an ash/maple board '50s Tele would be a great complement to my alder/rosewood '60s style K-Line, I really couldn't vibe with the 7.5" radius and narrow nut on the '52 RI. That left the Strats.
While I preferred the look of the black/mint guard American Standard, the Clapton immediately stood out. The neck is amazing - soft-V neck, satin finish, and 9.5" radius. Despite having what were at least two year old strings, the guitar had the best unplugged sound - nice snap and pop on the wound strings, no dead spots, and balance across the fretboard. It seemed to have been barely played; frets were perfect, strings were shockingly fresh, and the plastic was still on the pickguard! Here she is:
Now to the interesting part. Knowing the EC Strat has active electronics, I figured there was a decent chance the "electronics issue" was a dead battery. Upon popping open the backplate, I found a Duracell with a use-by date of March 1997! It seems this guitar was barely played over the last 20 years.
I'm going to give the Lace Sensors a spin (I won't be home to my rig until the New Year), but I've never been a fan of active electronics and I'm guessing I'll end up gutting them. Here's the fun part: I was thinking about placing an order for a '54 2-tone Danocaster this year. What cool pickup ideas would you suggest? Anyone know if these ECs are swimming pool route?
In any case, generous gift, great guitar, and a fun pickup project ahead!
