Eric Clapton Signed Limited Edition "Blackie" Tribute Guitar....

Description

Eric Clapton Signed Limited Edition "Blackie" Tribute Guitar. In 1970, Eric Clapton bought six vintage '50s-era Fender Stratocasters for $100 each from the Sho-Bud guitar shop in Memphis. After giving one each to George Harrison, Pete Townshend, and Steve Winwood, he took the best parts of the remaining three and assembled his now-legendary axe "Blackie", so named for its black finish.
The guitar made its stage debut at the Rainbow Concert on January 13, 1973, and Clapton played Blackie on stage and in the studio until 1985, it was retired due to issues with the neck (it made one last public appearance during the 1991 Royal Albert Hall shows, where it was brought out for one number).
In 2004, Blackie was sold at auction to benefit Clapton's Crossroads Centre. Music equipment dealers Guitar Center purchased the one-of-a-kind guitar for a (then) record-breaking $959,500. Blackie was exhaustively examined and measured by a team of master builders at the Fender Custom Shop in 2006, for a limited edition series of 275 reproductions (185 of which were made available for purchase in the US). They were released on November 24, 2006, and sold out within hours. The original retail price was $24,000.
Featured is one of those rare recreations (serial #GF515), a dead-ringer for the original Blackie with an attention to detail that not only includes the dents and dings to the body and the worn fretboard, but even the cigarette burns to the headstock and the neck that was ever-so-slightly reshaped by Clapton's relentless hands. This one has an added feature, however: Clapton's signature on the pickguard in black felt tip.
The guitar is in Excellent condition, and is accompanied by a reproduction of Blackie's road-weary flight case, signed certificates of authenticity from Fender and Clapton, sealed copies of the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD and Crossroads four-CD box set, a color 8" x 10" of Clapton performing with the prototype for the replica at a Royal Albert Hall concert in 2006, a copy of the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Auction catalog, and a pair of original 18" x 24" store advertisements posters for the replica series. Accompanied by James Spence Authentication auction LOA.

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