Up for sale, a 2006 Fender Custom Shop Tribute Series Chris Fleming Masterbuilt Eric Clapton “Blackie” Stratocaster in mint condition with its “Duck Bros.” flight case, Fender COA, hand-signed certificate from Eric Clapton, and all hangtags/case candy. This one-owner instrument has been carefully stored unplayed for nearly two decades, complete with the original shipping box and paperwork from Guitar Center.

Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” Stratocaster is easily one of the most famous guitars in history: his #1 guitar from 1973 to 1985, the story of Blackie’s origin has been told and retold countless times over the years. In 1970, Clapton discovered a store selling Strats and Teles for just $100 each, so he purchased six and gave away three to George Harrison, Pete Townsend, and Steve Winwood. With the remaining three Strats, Clapton decided to combine his favorite components from each into one ideal instrument, pairing a ‘56 Black-finished alder body with a ‘57 maple neck. He dubbed the resultant instrument “Blackie,” and the rest is history, with Clapton using Blackie to record some of his most iconic tracks ever, including “Cocaine,” “I Shot The Sheriff,” “Lay Down Sally,” and countless live recordings.

The original Blackie sold at auction in 2004 (to Guitar Center) for a then record-setting $959,500. In 2006, Guitar Center and the Fender Custom Shop, with Clapton’s permission and support, teamed up to produce an extremely limited run of hyper-accurate Blackie recreation (essentially beginning the trend of incredibly accurate, limited run Custom Shop recreations of various Fender and Gibson instruments), with a portion of each sale going to the Clapton’s Crossroads Centre in Antigua. The handcrafted Masterbuilt Clapton “Blackie” Strats are the most faithful recreations ever produced, with each and every inch of the original captured in full, down to the smallest nicks, cigarette burns, and even areas where the finish was touched up with black ink. Once the prototype had received Clapton’s approval, just 275 Tribute Series Blackie Strats were produced for sale to the general public, each painstakingly crafted by the master builders of the Fender Custom Shop team. Fender Master Builder Chris Fleming crafted this particular Blackie Tribute, and Fleming has made instruments for bonafide Strat icons including Ronnie Wood, David Gilmour, and John Mayer. This Blackie Tribute weighs only 7lbs 7oz, benefitting from a professional setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with fresh 10-46 strings, low action and accurate intonation.

Neck Specs:

-Wood: Maple
-Shape: Special Soft V, measuring .845” 1st fret, .970” 12th fret
-Fretboard: Maple, 9 1/2” radius
-Frets: Slender, no wear
-Scale Length: 25 1/2”
-Nut: 1.650", bone
-Tuners: Kluson-style, High E is gold-plated
-Headstock: Chris Fleming signature and Fender Custom Shop chevron
-Serialization: Neck plate "-" prefix

Body Specs:

-Wood: Alder
-Pickups: Staggered pole, custom-wound single coil x3
-Controls: Volume, Tone x2, Five-way pickup selector
-Hardware: Six-point vibrato (aged)
-Plastics: Three-ply white pickguard, knobs/pickup covers

This Masterbuilt Blackie Tribute shows no wear beyond the surgically accurate aging from Fender to meticulously match every mark and scrape on Clapton's Blackie.

The guitar comes complete with its aged Duck Bros Anvil flight case, COA, certificate hand-signed by Eric Clapton, and all hangtags and case candy. The original Fender shipping box and shipping paperwork is also included.