Eric Johnson Strat?

[borge]

thats a good point/idea

having so many choices sure can be confusing

especially comparing prices of different models with actual differences

as for "limiting prices to a moderate number"

im sure G & F would rather keep offering you a huge array of basicaly identical guitars and charge more

barstards

[Jester700]

There are lots of people who believe they can hear things they really can't. Unless one goes through the rigors of good double blind testing, you never really know, at least on the subtle stuff that nobody else is hearing. Maybe Eric is superhuman or maybe he's just unaware of how fallible the hearing mechanism is; I have no way of knowing. But I know which type I've seen a lot more of.

I'm with Frank on his whole spiel; good post.

As for guitars, I never understand why people are so horny for Fender or Gibson. These companies are totally different from the people who invented the stuff. Both are now owned by large corporations, and none of the old timers who designed the stuff are there. So what does loyalty have to do with it, and who says their versions are the best? And for that matter, why are musicians (who are so often trying to be *different*) going for these 50 yr old designs? IMO, Steinberger and Parker should have taken over by now.

[KitDean]

Having seen Eric identify batteries in a series of Fuzzfaces at random while I stood with his bemused guitar tech a couple of years ago, I can testify to the fact that he can hear the difference.

That being said, he is a little crazy. I heard him play through a Pod into a desk at the same venue just to try it out and it sounded like Eric Johnson playing thru his very large pedalboard into his multi amp assembly.

I agree that sometimes his tone is hard to get into, but for everyone who "gets" Vai's tone there is someone who thinks Buddy Guy's is better and for everyone who digs Fripp or the Edge, there are people who think that Big Bad Brad or the guys from Slipknot have something to offer (go figure).