I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

J Moose

J Moose

New member
Pulled the trigger on Wednesday night…

:banana:

I'm short on time at the moment but I realize that some of ya'll are living vicariously through me so I wanted to get something up. :laugh2:

In one simple word...




WOW!!!



Man…this guitar could quite possibly turn me into a Strat player. And it's totally a player too. After peeling the plastic off it took less then 24 hours to put a ding in it! :headbang:

I don't know if I picked a good one or if they're all like this but it would be a shame to stick this paddle into a closet for the sake of collectibles. I'll come back when I have more time to type out the initial impressions…but I'll leave 'ya with some teaser pics for now!

EJ_case.jpg
EJ_case_open2.jpg
EJ_case_candy.jpg
EJ_strat_01.jpg
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Wow man, looks great! Glad your pleased with it. Can you get some more shots of the quarter sewn neck?
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Nice axe....Best of making great music and being inspired by it...EJ is one of my favorite players also....I'm lefty and I'm very jelous of ya! ;o)
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Moose, your sequence of pictures should be f@#king X-Rated! What a tease you are! I got pretty turned on, slowly scrolling down to that las photo...

Have you considered a side-career in male exotic dancing? Those dudes makes some serious $$.

Thanks for letting us know! Feels good, livign through you vicariously for a little while. Congratulations!

May your first ding not be your last... (and that's a blessing, not a curse!)

Cheers
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

very cool ... the prominent grain looks more like ash than alder

the burst looks vintage-cool

I'm kinda curious about how light they are, since they're spec'ed "lightweight". Also, I'll be interested to hear how you like the pickups .. I expect them to be terrific though.

enjoy!
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Oops, did I blow some GAS your way, with the 'Jonesing HARD on the EJ Strat' thread??? Another unsuspecting victim of a 'silent but costly.' hahaha
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

let me seeeee!!!!

so you went with the deal.. didnt read the thread yet, but congrats!!!!

nice. even I like the color.

shame it doesnt have a humbucker... and a floyd .. yea. LOL, but it aint mine :D


have fun with it
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Ok, I'm back now & in for the night so I can finish what I started this afternoon. I took a bunch of pics the other night, not just for here but for insurance and the collect-ability of it. I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna play this one until either it falls apart, or I’m so old that I’m crapping my pants and can’t play anymore. If that happens and I haven’t given it to one of my kids (don’t have any yet!) I’ll sell it and go on a nice vacation! Besides, it’s like the only guitar besides my PRS that I have all the tags & case candy for. Might as well document it now right?!

Like I said in the other thread, I wasn’t looking to buy an EJ…nor a ‘burst, and not EVEN another guitar…but seeing it hanging there I just had to play it and welll…there ‘ya go! The first thing that struck me about it was the liveliness. It’s totally alive acoustically and gave back whatever I threw at it, I would got for a lick or run, complex chords or whatever and they were there. The spectral balance is really even, from the low notes to the very top of the range it’s a really balanced instrument with no dead or hot spots. It’s LOUD too with a piano like clarity, chords ring & shimmer and harmonics effortlessly leap out…picked, open string or pinched. It’s not the lightest Strat I’ve ever picked up but it’s not heavy either, it just feels “right”. The neck is pretty big, bigger then a PRS wide fat or the Gibson ’59 profile but it’s fairly comfortable. I hang my thumb over the top most of the time and it feels good, but people who play with their thumb in the middle of the back are probably going to hate it. Actually it borders on too thick for my taste in the first couple of frets. It’s also a bit wider then a regular reissue neck and quite a bit flatter. Moving from the EJ to the ’62 makes the ’62 feel small and the American Std feels like an Ibanez or Jackson…it’s like the old Wendy’s commercial, “Where’s the beef?” LOL The other thing that I need to mention is how straight the grain on the maple neck is…it’s not my first quarter-sawn neck but really…this is almost too perfect if that could happen.

EJ_strat_02.jpg
EJ_strat_03.jpg
EJ_strat_04.jpg
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

I’ve gotta mention the pickups too because they’re a part of the reason I added it to the stable. Before I pulled the trigger I went through all the old posts on here and the Harmony Central reviews (which I take with two HUGE blocks of salt) and saw comments like “it would sound great with ______” and man…I don’t know if I can agree with that. I’ve been through tons of Strat pickups over the years…most of the Duncans, Fenders (new & vintage), DiMarzios, Fralin, blah blah blee blee and man, this is the most balanced set I’ve EVER heard & played. One of the things that’s always bugged me about Strats is that the pickups are never really balanced to each other. I’ll get the bridge pickup sounding nice & meaty but then the neck is mud…or the neck sounds great, nice & clear and then the bridge pickup sounds like a broken radio, real thin & scratchy. These so balanced it’s scary...top to bottom & output wise I can flip from the neck to the bridge and over to the middle and the tone changes the way it should but without being overly dramatic. And FWIW, I’ve never been a fan of the bridge/middle combo on Strats because it always sounds too thin, scratchy & phasey with no real meat but this has plenty of meat and is totally usable. One of the interesting things about the pickups is that the magnets are all staggered differently. The neck is pretty flat, actually if it weren’t for the “B” polepiece being level to slightly below the cover I’d be hard pressed to tell that it’s staggered at all! The middle is slightly more staggered and the bridge has the highest degree. If someone out there buys an EJ and decides to sell the pickups drop a note my way, but really…spend some time with them before you pull ‘em out!

So far I’ve played it through an AC30, DSL 50, a tiny old Silvertone combo & a Rivera Rake Reverb with 2x12 Greenback loaded cab and it slays though all of them. It’s amazing how responsive it is…if you play lightly the tone is nice & round but still bright & chimey. But dig in a little to a lot and it opens up and sings without getting edgy. Between the big neck & heavy strings this is a real mans guitar that begs to be thrashed and it rewards with great sounds and gives back everything I throw at it. If you’re used to skinny necks & light strings this probably isn’t the guitar for ‘ya. I normally play an LP with the ’59 neck & .11’s and lemme tell ‘ya, this one requires some work to get the most out of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not overly hard to play but it’s not buttery smooth like the swamp ash PRS or even the ’62.

Now the question is which one of the other two Strats do I sell, or do I launch both???

EJ_strat_06.jpg
EJ_strat_09.jpg
EJ_strat_08.jpg
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

That looks like an amazing axe man, enjoy it. If i were ever to get another strat, that would most definetely be the one.
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

awwwww..crap....

I don't need anymore Strat GAS...I can't play the damn things....CUT IT OUT!

:laugh2:

VERY pretty piece of wood on that axe!...is the neck Nitro?
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

Dammit, I think I have just read about and seen my perfect Strat. I love beefy necks. Heck, my homemade has the Warmoth Boat contour, 1" thick the full length.

BAHHH!!! :laugh2:

Can't afford it anyway.......at least not now.....lol. Got some other plans first.
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

I made a comment that the Eric Johnson strat, particularly the neck, is the most perfect guitar Fender has, or every will, make.

And now I hear you say the word 'perfect.' That guitar is so baddass, it's even more badass than EJ, himself!!! :chairfall :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

I'm already scheming of things to sell, so I can get the exact same one! Eric Johnson knows a thing or two about guitars, and thankfully, he taught it to Fender.
 
Re: I bought the Eric Johnson Strat!

I've been resisting the massive EJ gas for a while....
 
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