This is my second review. I’ve owned three Clapton Stratocasters. I’ve been gigging quite a bit with them. I play classic rock, country, some heavier stuff GNR and stuff like that. I tried to use this guitar for these extensive cover bands. I’ve done maybe 50 shows with the Clapton Stratocaster. I’ve learned a few important things. Here’s some pros and cons: The mid boost really pushes an amp. I mean it pushes. This guitar comes in hotter than my Gibson Les Paul classic and my 2016 standard. You need almost no gain to get break up with this guitar. This is very important to know if you are considering this guitar. The mid boost is always active even when turned down, so the guitar is really hot. That being said, the mid boost compliments certain drives and distortions amazingly well. I’d have to say that’s my favorite thing about the guitar. The mid boost makes most gain channels sound really amazing. I was so hooked on this guitars overdriven sound that I initially bought 3 of these guitars and dropped all my old gear. You could almost use it for Van Halen type sounds. Just be careful because it will push it until it gets muddy depending on your rig. Here’s some real important cons:The mid boost is 25 decibels. That’s a lot. I find that if I have it all the way up the rhythm sounds awesome , but then I cant go any higher in volume for leads without a boost and then you’re getting way too much break up. Of course you call roll off the mid boost for your rhythm… read more but that causes so many inconsistencies in your volume during a show that it gets cumbersome. I mean you cant tell if your knob is at 3, 5 or 7 when on stage in the lights and All that. On top of that, if you don’t roll that mid boost down before you go back to your clean channel, you better watch out because you’ll blast everyone with so much volume it ain’t funny. You can’t get a good clean sound without turning the mid boost down. Basically you have to think that Clapton does not use pedals or clean/ dirty channels. He is using a dimed amp and just this mid boost knob. For most of us pedal users and channel switchers this doesn’t really fit our needs. Be aware ! Here’s my biggest complaint:The volume pot on two of my three Strats went to complete crap within the first 6 months. I mean the volume pot is junk. Do not overturn it or even try to use use it. It will start popping and cracking and no amount of cleaning will fix it. Trust me this is a serious issue that has seriously made me not want to play this guitar anymore. Again if you watch Clapton you’ll see that he doesn’t really use the volume knob so he probably doesn’t notice. The high strings above the 12th fret area can’t be bent very much without fretting out. Especially the first string. If you watch current Clapton live enough just look when he bends really high, you’ll see that it won’t sustain. This is probably due to vintage small fret wire combined with the radius. Similarly the high E string is likely to break if bent to a full bend. On top of that, the high E string is so close to the edge it slips off the neck a lot , and you’ll find your self pushing the saddle in as far as you can. Seriously the high E string is almost useless on this guitar.

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