I don't have any experience with FCS Strats, but I do have an FCS Jazzmaster I got used from the original owner.

Maybe it's confirmation bias, but it blows every other JM I've played since out of the water. It's lighter, more resonant, sounds better, plays better, feels better, and is in every way I can tell a better guitar. The only JMs I've played that come close have been heavily/thoroughly upgraded with aftermarket parts, and even then, the necks aren't comparable. The JM I stumbled into has the best Fender neck I've ever played.

Does it make me a better player? Depends on how you look at it. I want to play it all the time, so it's inspired me to play more often and for longer, so in that regard, it's helped me keep up and even improve my chops. I guess it's helping me make me a better player, simply because I want to play it all the time.

Specs are a weird thing. You can have two things that look exactly the same on paper, but in the real world, they're not the same at all. Guitars, amps, motorcycles, cars, you name it - anything. Maybe one was built on a Wednesday and the other on a Monday. Who knows.

I've got a couple of signature guitars, but other than the Guild Brian May, I didn't get them because of the person, but because the guitar was something I wanted. I tried an Eric Johnson Strat for a couple of years and ultimately decided the V carve isn't for me, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like a Clapton or any other guitar with a V-carve neck. Same thing with super-thin or -wide necks, or super fat necks, or Les Pauls or or or or. What guitars we love to play is often wholly subjective and hard to put into words.

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Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

Last edited: Aug 04, 2023 14:30:59

DeathTide wrote:

Samurai wrote:

OMG, I have just listened to the whole Cream album((( What have I done!

I agree that politics and religion are out of place here, but that dude came at me with Christian propaganda and Clapton is a right wing asshole. He hates democracy, thinks Trump won and that vaccinations cause autism - and all that wack-a-doo space lasers shit etc etc. If you can still enjoy his music, good for you. I've always hated his playing so it's not a big deal for me. I just think people should be informed!

Newsflash! Most people suck! Some suck harder than others , some suck hardly at all, but most everyone on planet earth , at their core, is a self centered weasel.
That’s why it’s a miracle when you actually encounter a selfless , genuine person.

If I judged the merit of the music I listened to off the personal beliefs of their creators I’d be miserable…. I bet that a lot of the musicians who created the first wave of Surf were Jock , Homophobe Right wingers who probably didn’t think segregation was a bad thing and were chompin at the bit to get over to Vietnam and kill some Vietcong ….

Im radically opposed to all that and yet the music they made is some of the greatest in human history….

I’ve owned on Custom Shop Fender, and I was quite disappointed. It was sold as a NOS Bass VI, but had finish flaws. I’ve owned MIM Fenders that sold in the $300 price range that appeared to have been of higher quality.

Let me contrast the “custom” Fender I owned with a Warwick Custom Shop bass I bought, circa 2010. The Warwick was made exactly to my specs. I designated the wood species for the body, neck and fingerboard. I chose the pickups, circuit design and the hardware color. My Warwick, is quite likely the only one of its exact kind, ever made.

I’ve heard Fender’s Custom Shop referred to as a custom paint shop, and while that may be a bit harsh, my experience was pretty close to that. The Bass VI was poorly setup and the OEM bridge didn’t have adequate adjustment range to properly intonate the low E string. I put more than a few dollars into making it a playable instrument, not to mention a lot of west equity. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I eventually sold it, although it was at least playable by that time.

I actually asked a Fender employee about it, while at a NAMM show, and was told that I should order a Masterbuilt. Ok, so if I really want something custom built, I need to bypass the nominal Custom Shop, spend thousands more and hope against hope that a Masterbuilt instrument would be of at least equivalent quality to a production MIM Fender that I could buy for 1/10 the price. Fender’s CS will never get a dime from me.

I recently acquired a custom instrument. The body and neck came from Warmoth, and are exactly to my specifications. The quality is as good as any I’ve ever seen. It has a StayTrem bridge, Grover machine heads, an AVRI tremolo and the pickups I selected. The cost is roughly that of a new US made Fender, but the quality is off-scale to the good, and the available options for finish were quite extensive. I can’t imagine paying Fender’s CS more money for something not half as good.

Speaking only for myself, I have no interest in resale value, BTW. I buy them to play, not to sell.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:32:12

Im really after just a loaded EC pick-guard to put on my Elite. But I just can’t seem to find one.
So my next choice is a whole guitar. I looked on sweet water because I’ve had good luck with them. I saw two EC guitars and wondered why there could be a $2000.00 difference in similar listed guitars.
So I ask here.

I see one or two Clapton loaded pickguards around. There's one of the noiseless pickup versions on reverb here - https://reverb.com/p/920d-custom-shop-162-11-10-ec-fender-clapton-vintage-noiseless-loaded-prewired-strat-pickguard - I saw another earlier, but can't seem to find it now.

I usually look for this kind of stuff at stratosphereparts.com. They had one just a week or two ago on ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/364343509046 - but it apparently sold on July 25. The link to a descending-price list of loaded pickguards is - https://stratosphereparts.com/loaded-pickguards/?sort=pricedesc&page=1 - I did descending price because the custom shop loaded pickgards are usually among, if not the most, expensive they have. You can see that right now they have custom shop '57, '60, Robin Trower, Robert Cray, and Eric Johnson loaded pickguards right on the first page. My bet is that if you're patient, they'll have some more Clapton loaded pickguards. They still have some CS Clapton necks and bodies, but must have sold the loaded pickguards first. They specialize in these types of parts. I don't honestly know if they just part out whole guitars or if they get the parts that way. But I have gotten a few things from them, they were very good.

As I said before, I have a '60 custom shop Strat, and the pickups on it are great. I also have a '57 custom shop Strat, same deal, excellent. But they're not noiseless, which I assume is one of your parameters since you specifically want a Clapton set.

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DaveMudgett wrote:

BTW - I don't really know the fine differences between the factory and custom shop Clapton Strats. The ones I hjave played over the years were factory Claptons - years ago with the Lace Sensors, and in recent years, with the noiseless pickups. The guitars themselves were just fine. I'm not exactly sure what they would do to improve them, the specs really look pretty much the same to me. And, I mean, the Fender Noiseless Strat pickups are - um - Fender Noiseless Strat pickups, I think.

Dave, my Fender Elite HSS Strat has noiseless pickups. I like them a lot.
The guitar itself is wonderful. I’m just looking for a different sound.
Joel

Joelman wrote:

I have a custom made Stratocaster that I watched being made. The body cut the neck cut. Everything along the way was not done until I decided I liked or wanted it. The neck was carved to my liking. Even the head was cut in a style of my liking. Now, it’s not a ‘Fender’ Stratocaster. But it is a Stratocaster. It impressed Dave W. When he played it once. Or so he said.

Im really after just a loaded EC pick-guard to put on my Elite. But I just can’t seem to find one.
So my next choice is a whole guitar. I looked on sweet water because I’ve had good luck with them. I saw two EC guitars and wondered why there could be a $2000.00 difference in similar listed guitars.
So I ask here.

That’s an actual custom guitar, and I have plenty of respect for a truly custom-made instruments. What gets me is that Fender’s Custom Shop claims cachet for instruments which, in many cases, are little more than production instruments with a custom paint job. If you go back in time, such instruments were considered “special orders”, which, IMO, is a much more forthright description.

At one time, I worked for a public utility. When they ordered trucks, no matter which manufacturer, they all came in the same bright yellow color, which involved having a special ordering code. These were not custom vehicles, in any sense of the word, but they are special orders, in the sense that a non-standard, but well known, color was applied.

Now, I would contrast that with Wes Montgomery’s custom L-5s. Wes wanted a single pickup L-5 and Gibson built two guitars for him based upon the acoustic L-5C, which was braced differently from the L-CES. So Wes’ single pickup L-5s were unique among L-5s, at least in their time. I would consider those to be truly custom instruments, because the construction process differed from normal production. This is a far different matter than placing a non-standard finish on an otherwise stock instrument.

If someone had the bad taste to want a Gibson L-5C with a bright purple finish, it would still play and function like any L-5C. It is functionally unchanged from any other sunburst L-5C. I would not consider this a custom instrument, any more than I would consider my pickup to be “custom” were I to take it to a body shop and have it repainted in another color.

My point is that FMIC stretches, if not abuses the meaning of the word “custom” by selling essentially production instruments as “custom”, just because they change one feature, such as finish type, but leave the basic instrument indistinguishable from production, and raising their profit margins significantly in the process.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.