Update: Fender Custom Shop Clapton Blackie Strat

Fender's calling November 24, 2006, Black Friday. It's the day their Custom Shop will release the Eric Clapton Blackie Stratocaster replica to the public exclusively through the Guitar Center chain. 185 of the guitars will be sold in the United States and carry a suggested retail price of $24,000 USD (a portion of the proceeds will go to the Crossroads Centre, Antigua). The Custom Shop Blackie is part of what Fender calls its Tribute Series, but the instrument is more than just a tribute, it's as acurate a replica of the original Blackie (now owned by Guitar Center) as the Custom Shop could make it, "...from the worn-to-the-wood body, to the neck re-shaped by Ericʼs hand as he played a thousand heartfelt solos, to the unmistakable cigarette burns on the headstock," according to a recent Fender press release.

Photos of the Fender Custom Shop Tribute Series Eric Clapton Blackie