Several variations of the Clapton Strat were made by the Fender Custom Shop throughout the years, including fancy versions with ash bodies, quilted or maple tops, abalone dot position inlays, matching headstocks, gold hardware and white pearloid pickguards, made by Senior Master Builder J. W. Black. Many of these guitars were sold for charity auctions for the Crossroads Centre of Antigua, the drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation facility founded on the small, idyllic Caribbean island in 1998. They include the Gold Leaf Stratocaster of 1996 (used during the Legends and Montserrat concerts in 1997) and the Crashocasters (signature model Stratocasters hand-painted by New York-based street artist John Matos, better known as Crash), used by Clapton from 2001 to 2004.
The Gold Leaf Stratocaster
The original Gold Leaf guitar was built by Fender Master Builder Mark Kendrick as a custom order for Eric Clapton at the time of the 50th Anniversary of the firm in 1996 and was Slowhand's main instrument of choice during the Legends period in 1997. Clapton used the guitar for the last time during his Japanese One More Car, One More Rider tour of 2001 before selling it to Christies for US $455,000.
The Fender Custom Shop reissued the Gold Leaf Stratocaster after 8 years of absence as a limited-edition run of 50 pieces. Each guitar was built to Eric's exacting specifications, with Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups and a standard tone control instead of the TBX tone circuit actually found on the original 1996 model.
Bacchus BST-GL
Japanese guitar manufacturer Bacchus Custom Guitars had popularized Clapton's Gold Leaf guitars with the BST-GL series since late 1998. These guitars were basically nearly close reproductions of the original Gold Leaf Stratocaster (using genuine USA electronics, Gold Fender Lace Sensor pickups and hardware), except for the "Bacchus Custom Guitars" decal on the headstock rather than the "Fender" spaghetti logo found on Clapton's gold-finished signature model. Since 2005 the Japanese guitar company stopped using its own decal on the guitar's headstock, after few customers requested to have the Fender logo put on for reasons of authenticity.
The Gold Leaf Stratocaster
The original Gold Leaf guitar was built by Fender Master Builder Mark Kendrick as a custom order for Eric Clapton at the time of the 50th Anniversary of the firm in 1996 and was Slowhand's main instrument of choice during the Legends period in 1997. Clapton used the guitar for the last time during his Japanese One More Car, One More Rider tour of 2001 before selling it to Christies for US $455,000.
The Fender Custom Shop reissued the Gold Leaf Stratocaster after 8 years of absence as a limited-edition run of 50 pieces. Each guitar was built to Eric's exacting specifications, with Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups and a standard tone control instead of the TBX tone circuit actually found on the original 1996 model.
Bacchus BST-GL
Japanese guitar manufacturer Bacchus Custom Guitars had popularized Clapton's Gold Leaf guitars with the BST-GL series since late 1998. These guitars were basically nearly close reproductions of the original Gold Leaf Stratocaster (using genuine USA electronics, Gold Fender Lace Sensor pickups and hardware), except for the "Bacchus Custom Guitars" decal on the headstock rather than the "Fender" spaghetti logo found on Clapton's gold-finished signature model. Since 2005 the Japanese guitar company stopped using its own decal on the guitar's headstock, after few customers requested to have the Fender logo put on for reasons of authenticity.
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