Eric Clapton’s Electric Guitars
Published on 07 March 2025
Eric Clapton is a bona fide guitar hero. From his early days with John Mayall to being a member of some seminal 60s rock bands and then onto a solo career that eclipsed all of his previous endeavours, Clapton has enjoyed success at an unprecedented level.
Being a guitar hero, his choices of axe are heavily scrutinised by fans, and the various eras of his artistry are all marked by different instruments. Some fans love the Cream days when he used a successive collection of Gibson guitars, and others prefer his ‘Slowhand’ days with his famous ‘Blackie’ Stratocaster.
I’ll check the main ones out today, in the form of reissues that you can buy now. Clapton has owned and performed with loads of guitars over the years, so what I really mean is ‘most notable and revered’. For example, I believe his first electric guitar was a Kay, but I’m not covering that one today since it’s not really something that’s overly associated with him. Also, he’s played a bunch of Les Paul models, so I’ll look at the most famous examples and maybe mention some others. Make sense?
What can be better for a Clapton fan than owning a replica or reissue of one of his guitars? There’s a lot of choice in today’s market, so whichever iteration of Clapton you love best, there’s a guitar for you! I’ll approach this in a generally chronological manner, starting from his earliest Yardbirds days. In reality, though, Eric came and went with his guitars, so things he owned for years may have shown up only later in his career. I’ll touch on all of the major guitars though, and talk about current, modern day versions that will get you close to that vibe.
Clapton’s Guitars At a Glance
Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster
1963 Telecaster
Eric was still technically a teenager when he began playing for the Yardbirds. The band’s management owned the guitar he played, which was a red 1963 Telecaster with a rosewood fingerboard. This was his main guitar for his entire stint with the Yardbirds, and his successor - a certain Jeff Beck - ‘inherited’ the Tele when Eric moved on.
Fun trivia: at this stage in his career, whenever he’d break a string at a gig, Eric would remain on stage to change it and tune back up. This earned him a ‘slow hand clap’ from his impatient audience…which of course soon morphed into Clapton’s nickname ‘Slowhand’! It’s nothing to do with his playing at all!
Claptomaniacs have their pick when it comes to red 60s reissue Teles. The Fender Vintera II 60s Telecaster will get you remarkably close for the price, with an early 60s neck carve and vintage-voiced pickups.
The Fender American Vintage II collection doesn’t feature a red 60s Tele, but their Sunburst one ticks every other box. The top choice would currently be the Fender Custom Shop 1964 Relic Telecaster in Aged Fiesta Red. Though based on a model from a year or two after Clappo’s, it’s still a prime mid 60s Tele with an ash body and a great oval neck. The relic work is subtle and gorgeous, making this a guitar to prize.
Clapton later played an unusual Sunburst Tele that had a Strat neck. This was seen during Blind Faith’s debut gig, and online Clapton fans reckon that the neck is from ‘Brownie’, a Strat that I’ll mention soon!
1959/60 Gibson Les Paul
Is the ‘Beano’ guitar a ‘59 or a ‘60? Did Clapton have a few of these just lying around? Sources definitely disagree on this one, so I’ll just tackle them as a general ‘late fifties Sunburst Les Paul’ and you can go from there!
Now, I hardly need to mention too much about the legendary status of the ‘59 Les Paul Standard, do I? It’s the most revered and lusted-after guitar on the planet, with original examples selling for the same amount as Italian sportscars.
Back in the 60s, though, ‘59 Les Pauls were just old, out of date guitars. Everybody wanted Fender, to the point where Gibson had actually stopped production on the Les Paul. Clapton - and his British Invasion pals - were the main reason the guitar was resurrected in the latter part of the decade!
So, we talk about the ‘Beano’ Les Paul because, by this point, Eric was playing with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and the album he appears on shows him on the front cover reading a copy of the Beano comic. The tones on this record are arguably the start of the Clapton legend, and fans are always keen to seek out instruments that can appropriate the look and sound of this era.
As I mentioned, it’s hardly realistic to consider an actual vintage 1950s Gibson: they are scarce and terrifyingly expensive. Closer to reality - but still a significant spend - would be a Gibson Custom Shop ‘59 Les Paul Standard. We have a good selection of these incredible guitars in stock, and we photograph every single one so that they can be listed online individually. This means that you see the exact guitar you buy, and since every figured maple top on a Les Paul is going to look a bit different, we think that’s important.
As a slight sideways detour - and this isn’t a direct Clapton reference - I would also recommend players check out the Gibson Les Paul Greeny and Epiphone Les Paul Greeny guitars too. These are more affordable instruments that are still based on a famous British Invasion ‘59 Les Paul, and I think they could really fit the bill for a lot of Clapton & Bluesbreaker fans.
If the Beano LP was indeed a 1960 model then you may want to try a few 60s reissue Les Paul Standards. The Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60s is also a very worthy choice for those on a tighter budget. Please remember: all Les Pauls share a lot of the same character: we’re talking about a preference of neck carve here more than anything else, so go with what works best for YOU, rather than how close it gets to ol’ Slowhand’s guitars. He’d do the same thing!
Cream-Era Guitars
Cream weren’t around for a long time, but they certainly left a significant mark on the world of music. Clapton aficionados will perhaps berate me for generalising somewhat here, but I’m going to talk about three main guitars: the ‘64 SG, the ‘64 ES335, and the pretty excellent 3 pickup Les Paul Custom from 1958.
1964 Gibson SG
The SG is of course the one painted by the art collective later known as The Fool.
Clapton’s SG was already painted spectacularly by the time the public got to see it at Cream gigs. My mind boggles as to why Gibson haven’t reissued this one, but in the meantime there are many great SG reissues out there with slightly more sober finishes!
Clapton’s 1964 SG would have the slimmer ‘61 neck (it wasn’t called that at the time, of course) so today’s Gibson SG Standard 61 is an excellent choice. You can have it with or without the vibrola tremolo, and from looking at pics of the original in action, it seems to me that Clapton had a vibrola on it for a while. Aside from that, today’s 61 reissue has the correct smaller pickguard and slim, narrow neck, so it’s a worthy choice.
1964 Gibson ES-335
As for the ES-335, Eric’s 1964 model had small block inlays instead of the usual dots. This won't of course change the sound, but if you grew up idolising Clapton then I fully understand that you need those little blocks on there! Thankfully, Gibson understands this too, since you can buy a Gibson ES-335 Figured Sixties Cherry guitar that is an excellent match to Eric’s. This one also has some figuring on the top, which I’d say is an added bonus! It just adds a touch of movement and drama to the top of an already beautiful guitar. Also, the Sixties Cherry finish is a little different to the regular Heritage Cherry, and whilst it’s easier to see the difference in person, I’d say that Cream fans will feel instant kinship to this amazing guitar.
Again, for players looking to spend less, Epiphone have your back with an excellent Inspired By Gibson ES-335, which doesn’t have the block inlays but does pack a ton of vibe and playability into a very affordable package.
Gibson 1958 Les Paul Custom
Now, this guitar is the first of today’s actual Clapton signature models, and it’s just a little bit special!
Eric bought his 3-pickup Custom in 1967 and used it in the recording sessions for Cream’s landmark Disraeli Gears album. To mark the occasion, Gibson Custom Shop have just released a very limited edition replica of this instrument. The Gibson Custom Shop Eric Clapton 1958 Les Paul Custom is an astounding recreation of Eric’s beautiful guitar, with an almost forensic level of attention paid to the details. The original guitar (now owned by Albert Lee) was 3D scanned to ensure that every surface and curve of the replicas were absolutely perfect. Unpotted Custombuckers are wound to exacting specs (with the middle pickup mounted in reverse, as per the original) and the pots are 500k to offer more bite against all of that mahogany!
There is minutely detailed Murphy Lab ageing too, to recreate the exact patina of the original. As we know, nobody can age a guitar like Tom Murphy and his team!
This 3-pickup Les Paul Custom is a true collector’s piece, complete with astounding case candy that includes a second pickguard hand-signed by Clapton himself and Albert Lee!
Does it get any better than that? There are only 150 of these masterpieces available worldwide.
Eric’s Stratocasters
Brownie
‘Brownie’ is a 1956 Stratocaster, according to its serial number (12073). A two-tone sunburst Strat with a maple neck, this was Eric’s main Strat from 1967 until 1970 (including on the Layla album), when he built ‘Blackie’.
Brownie’s neck is assumed by many Claptomaniacs to be the very neck used on his Sunburst Tele, which I mentioned earlier. It’s certainly plausible, given how he seemed to enjoy tinkering with his Strats, as we’ll see now…
Blackie
‘Blackie’ is perhaps Eric’s most-associated guitar, particularly for his solo career. Truly, when you think of Eric Clapton, do you not instantly think of a bearded white guy with an Armani suit (sleeves rolled back a bit) playing a black and white Strat? I certainly do!
Anyway, Blackie is what we call a ‘bitsa’ guitar, or a ‘Frankenstein’ guitar. This means that it has been put together using parts from more than one instrument. The internet will give you pages on this subject, but to wrap it up concisely, there seem to have been four or six 1950s Stratocasters bought by Clapton in Nashville, along with some hardware and parts.
Upon returning home to the UK, Eric selected his favourite neck, body, pickups and so on, and had his dream Strat put together. The rest of the parts were used to build further Strats, which were given to George Harrison and Pete Townshend.
Clapton used Blackie as his main Strat on the 461 Ocean Boulevard record, and every subsequent album until 1985, when he’d worn it out so much that it wouldn’t take another refret!
Interesting fact: Blackie’s pickups are actually really low in output. We’re talking about 5.5k - 5.7k in terms of DC resistance, here! Bear that in mind when checking out Strats for a Clapton tone. I was surprised about this! Also, alnico V is the way to go.
Back to Blackie, though: Eric eventually auctioned it for his Crossroads charity and Guitar Center bought it for not far-off a million dollars ($959,500, I believe) back in 2004.
Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster
Fender actually only began making signature guitars in 1988, believe it or not. It’s such an indelible part of today’s guitar culture that it's odd for us now to consider a time when signature guitars simply didn’t exist.
For their first models, Fender went with the two most visible Strat artists of the time, and I love how far apart they sit, musically: it was Eric Clapton and Yngwie Malmsteen!
Two obvious choices and two great choices, though today we’re only looking at Eric, of course. The Fender Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster is available today, meaning that it has actually been on sale for an uninterrupted 37 years!
After the original Blackie guitar had effectively given up the ghost, Eric had luthier Roger Griffin build him two replicas, one in blue and the other in green. Later on, Fender approached Clapton about a signature Strat. Eric wanted a similar v-shaped neck to his Martin 000 (the Tears in Heaven guitar) and a ‘compressed’ tone.
Now, at this point, we could slide into some very deep rabbit holes around the making of this instrument, so let me climb out and simply cover the basics…
The original release did indeed feature the v-neck profile, and that compressed sound was achieved using Lace Sensor pickups, which found their way into lots of Fenders from that period. Additionally - and presumably in order to generate slightly more ‘Cream-era’ tones, the Strat had an active mid-boost circuit installed. This operated via the second tone control and required a 9v battery in order to work.
In addition, the tremolo was blocked off by the Fender factory with a piece of wood, because Eric preferred the tone of a tremolo bridge on a strat over a hardtail model, but never actually used the whammy bar. Crucially, this was reversible by the owner: simply remove the wood block and one could set up the Clapton Strat to have a functioning tremolo.
The guitar was a huge hit. In catering specifically to Clapton’s preferences, Fender had unintentionally created an extremely versatile Strat, and one that visually looked pretty normal, and so could find its way into a wide range of musical situations.
The guitar has remained largely in this form ever since, with only the pickups changing (to Fender Noiseless single coils) and colour options differing now and then. Fender’s first Artist Signature guitar is also its longest-running, a testament not only to Clapton’s sizable fan base but to the good design ideas evidenced in the guitar itself. I’m sure there are plenty of non-Claptomaniacs out there who swear by the Clapton Strat for its own merits.
The Guitars of Eric Clapton
So, there is a fairly subjective overview of Eric Clapton’s main electric guitars. He has enjoyed a long and variable career that has seen his sound and approach shift around a lot, and this is reflected in his guitar choices. I’d be tempted to see a slow slide from Gibsons to Fenders here, but that’s maybe a little simplistic.
What’s great is that companies like Fender and Gibson have gotten behind his many career aspects, allowing his fanbase the chance to get closer to their favourite parts of his music.
I’ll shout out some other well-known Clapton guitars here too, for fans who might be disappointed at their exclusion earlier:
- Gibson 1958 Explorer with the back fin chopped off!
- Gibson 1963/65 Firebird Reverse with a single pickup
- Gibson 1957 Les Paul Standard nicknamed Lucy and resprayed in Cherry Red.
There will be more out there, but hopefully today’s blog has contained enough of his famous axes to inspire you to go back to Eric’s music afresh, and to maybe even consider which of his guitars might be missing from your own collection! Have fun, and please, let me tell you…You Look Wonderful Tonight.
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