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John Mayer Strat vs Eric Clapton Strat


theaxeripper

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All feeling about the artists aside, these are two very nice guitars.

 

On one hand, the Mayer give a big c-shape neck with the "Big Dipper" pickups, and other other other hand with the Clapton you get VN's with the TBX tone circuit and the mid range boost.

 

 

What do you guys think between the two?

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Two totally different animals.

 

Mayer:

The Fat C is more like a Tele neck. Pretty subtle change from a regular C.

The Big Dipper pickups are very scooped, vintage-sounding, and have a fat compressed attack to them. (Overwound V60s cop this sound very well, BTW)

The lack of truss rod cover is ballsy and appealing, and the trem is not blocked.

 

Eric Clapton

The Soft V bugs me. I don't like the feel personally, and Eric's own personal guitar is a hard V, but this is a challenge to play, so Fender toned it down for the masses. :rolleyes: Maple fretboard vs. Rosewood.

Vintage Noiseless pickups are pretty good but lack the sparkle of real strat pickups

The Mid boost is the opposite of the Mayer sound and was requested by Clapton because he wanted his guitar to sound more like it had humbuckers. And that makes sense. . . because after all Clapton's best work was on Gibson.

 

Both great guitars, and both great guitarists IMO.

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I don't think either of them have features you'll really notice more than the sound of a normal MIA Strat

 

Its not like its a swiss army knife or a car, at the end of the day they're still strats. You can't really look at them as having extra "features" if you get what I'm saying.

 

I guess I don't really see how you can improve a strat

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Between the two, I definitely prefer the Mayer for pretty much every reason Ryan listed. Sounds better (or at least a lot more like a traditional strat) and I prefer the neck.

 

If I was going to drop that kind of coin of a signature strat, it would absolutely be an earlier John Mayer strat.

 

Actually, if you can live without it saying 'Made In U.S.A.' on the headstock, and if you like rosewood fretboards, the 60s Classic Players is a great guitar and used, they usually go for around $500 used.

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I'm not a fan of VN's, so I'd have to opt for the Mayer, plus I prefer a thicker neck. But I don't really like the scooped sound of the Mayer pup's either. In the end, I'd rather have a Mexi with a set of Fralins, Kinman's, or a set from an EJ Strat.

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Love the sound of those big dippers!!


Anyone ever listen to gravity?

 

 

Funny you should mention that song. At first I hated that song. Then I saw a show of his in January 07 in Miami. The 9 minute version of Gravity converted me. The Youtube of it really doesn't even do it justice. It was a Strat Tone Tour de Force.

 

Recently I contacted Bryan about pickups for my Strat. As a point of reference I told Bryan I wanted the John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix sound. I gave him the Youtube of the Mayer Trio doing Bold as Love. He recommended an overwound set of his V60's.

 

Let me tell you, I got them about a month ago and installed them a week ago. I could not be happier with them. At first, I didn't hear them as being that much better than the GFS's. Then, I popped it into position 4 and played Gravity. I don't think Big Dipper pickups could've gotten me ANY closer to the sound than my BG Pups do.

 

Honestly, for Mayer's tone, tweed fender cleans and quality vintage late '60s style pickups are all you need. I play through a Vibro Champ modded to tweed specs, and I can easily nail Mayer's tone from Gravity in position 4, and position 4 is pure Vultures territory.

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Actually now that I did some reading I'm not sure he uses a hard V anymore, but the mid-50's hard V is
I think
what was on Blackie.

shapeszi3.jpg

 

Blackie had a '57 neck, but remember that the Fender necks from the 50's weren't particularly consistent, so the year of production wouldn't have guaranteed a hard V. Ironically, the neck on the modern Clapton Strat is actually based on a Martin neck.

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I just tried the Mayer strat today. Very smooth and sweet cleans. However I did not really like the neck, it was just as thin as an American Standard neck and similar profile. I prefer bigger necks.

 

I like soft V style necks, it's chunky, but the contour gives you better access to the fretboard because it doesn't fill your whole hand up (look at the diagram a few posts above).

 

You could try both out and pick the one you like the feel of the best (also remember rosewood will be warmer and maple will be brighter) and then if you don't like the pickups just replace them.

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Fender must have real headaches while designing Eric Johnson signatures. The wrong brush stroke on the body will send EJ off the rails.

 

Ha! I like that!

I went for the EC Strat..never really considered the Mayer Strat. I'm playing the heck out of it. Vintage frets and the V-neck + the '54 style body. More like a sports car than a guitar. ;)

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Ha! I like that!

I went for the EC Strat..never really considered the Mayer Strat. I'm playing the heck out of it. Vintage frets and the V-neck + the '54 style body. More like a sports car than a guitar.
;)

 

 

 

Good decision :thu:

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I don't think either of them have features you'll really notice more than the sound of a normal MIA Strat


Its not like its a swiss army knife or a car, at the end of the day they're still strats. You can't really look at them as having extra "features" if you get what I'm saying.


I guess I don't really see how you can improve a strat

 

 

This is total bull{censored}. The midboost circuit can mke the clapton strat sound like it's sporting some serious humbuckers. I owned one for a long time. It will take you VERY far from strat tones if you want.

 

Yes it can sound like a strat, and it's pretty good at doing that. But to say you won't notice any difference between it and a normal MIA start is total bull{censored}.

 

It's fairly obvious you haven't spent much time with one if you make comments like that.

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Actually now that I did some reading I'm not sure he uses a hard V anymore, but the mid-50's hard V is
I think
what was on Blackie.

shapeszi3.jpg

 

The hard V at the first fret is often called a "boat neck" because it rounds off and flattens out as you move up the fretboard. It's amazingly comfortable. You don't ever really feel the sharp V. The boat neck shape compensates for the angle of your fretting hand as you are moving up and down the neck. Near the first fret, you hand is most perpendicular like the graphic below.

 

neckshapes.jpg

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My preference would be the Mayer neck on the EC body/electronics. If I *had* to play one unmodified, I'd go with the EC - I figure I could adapt to neck more easily than could adapt to the classic sound of the Mayer. As much as I love the sound in other people's hand, the classic strat sound isn't the sound I like to make

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