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tjon901 « Old school Strat with modern playability »
Published on 07/11/11 at 17:38I think the Eric Johnson Stratocaster is what the modern standard Strat should be. Eric Johnson got Fender to make him a guitar with all the old features that effect the tone but with new modern features that improve playability. Starting up top at the headstock the tuners are staggered to eliminate the need for string trees. This greatly increases the tuning stability. The neck itself is a 1 piece quartersawn piece of maple with a nitro lacquer. The fretboard has a flatter radius that you would find on any vintage Stratocaster and the frets are larger. The neck profile has a soft V shape which blends well with your hand. On the back of the body there is no spring cover plate because you dont really need one. It has 3 special Eric Johnson single coils with a 5 way switch. The controls are a Master Volume with a tone control for the neck pickup and a tone control for the bridge pickup instead of the middle pickup.
UTILIZATION
These guitars play very nicely. With the flatter fretboard and the larger frets you can get a very low action on these guitars. The back of the neck is sanded and super fast. With the staggered tuners you do not need string trees and this stops the strings from hanging up on them and makes your tuning stability a lot better. Everyone takes off the trem plate anyway so why bother having one thats just extra screws to lose and some people including Eric says it sounds better without them.
SOUNDS
The Eric Johnson pickups in this guitar are pretty hot but have a super smooth tone. The tone control on the bridge pickup is something I think every strat should come with. You need a tone control on the bridge position of a strat most of all because it can be so trebely at times. With the tone control you can dial off some of the high end so it doesnt bite your head off and get a really smooth tone. The neck position is buttery smooth as you would expect with this kind of out put. They Eric Johnson pickups ring out well and have lots of bite but with a smooth edge.
OVERALL OPINION
The Eric Johnson Stratocaster is a great mix of vintage and modern. Eric did not limit himself to vintage concepts when coming up with this guitar. He took the good Stratconcepts from all eras and put them together. This guitar is helping to evolve the stratocaster. There is no reason for a guitar in this day and age to come with string trees of all things. Staggered tuners have been around since the 70s. With this guitar you get the best of the best with great playability and great tone. If you are looking for a strat that comes with neat features top to bottom but still looks the part the Eric Johnson strat is a good deal.
UTILIZATION
These guitars play very nicely. With the flatter fretboard and the larger frets you can get a very low action on these guitars. The back of the neck is sanded and super fast. With the staggered tuners you do not need string trees and this stops the strings from hanging up on them and makes your tuning stability a lot better. Everyone takes off the trem plate anyway so why bother having one thats just extra screws to lose and some people including Eric says it sounds better without them.
SOUNDS
The Eric Johnson pickups in this guitar are pretty hot but have a super smooth tone. The tone control on the bridge pickup is something I think every strat should come with. You need a tone control on the bridge position of a strat most of all because it can be so trebely at times. With the tone control you can dial off some of the high end so it doesnt bite your head off and get a really smooth tone. The neck position is buttery smooth as you would expect with this kind of out put. They Eric Johnson pickups ring out well and have lots of bite but with a smooth edge.
OVERALL OPINION
The Eric Johnson Stratocaster is a great mix of vintage and modern. Eric did not limit himself to vintage concepts when coming up with this guitar. He took the good Stratconcepts from all eras and put them together. This guitar is helping to evolve the stratocaster. There is no reason for a guitar in this day and age to come with string trees of all things. Staggered tuners have been around since the 70s. With this guitar you get the best of the best with great playability and great tone. If you are looking for a strat that comes with neat features top to bottom but still looks the part the Eric Johnson strat is a good deal.