Eric Johnson Discusses Why Vintage Guitars Aren’t Always Superior]

This month in Bought & Sold, the venerable Eric Johnson pops in for a chat about all things guitars – the ones that got away, that he regretted selling, and then the bargains that have stood the test of time.

Spoilers: there might be a certain Fender Stratocaster somewhere down the line. And you will definitely get a considered answer to that age-old conundrum: humbuckers or single-coils?

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money?

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It probably would be a ’63 ES-335 like the one Clapton used at the Albert Hall [for Cream’s Farewell gig in November 1968]. I found it in a music store for, like, $300 many, many years ago.

I had a ’66 335 that my father helped me get when I was 12, but I found this other one when I was about 18 or 19. At the time, I didn’t know that Clapton had played a 335. I remember always thinking he played that painted-up SG [’64 ‘The Fool’] or a Les Paul.

I always loved 335s and I fell in love with them before I knew that he played one. Then I was surprised to find out years later that he did. I was listening to The Ventures and learned to play from Nokie Edwards and Brian Jones.

Then I got into Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and that led me into going back and learning from B.B. King, Freddie King and Albert King and that kind of stuff. And then I just got interested in some jazz players, like Wes Montgomery and John McLaughlin – people like that.

Eric Johnson – Another One Like You (Official Video) – YouTube
Eric Johnson - Another One Like You (Official Video) - YouTube

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What was the last guitar you bought, and why?

The last guitar I bought was just a few months ago. I found this reissue Fender ’54 Strat. I think they made it in the early 2000s and it was just a really nice guitar. So I got that and I’ve been enjoying playing it. It’s an American Vintage Reissue: I guess it would have been the 50th anniversary of the ’54 Strat.

I think it was probably made in 2004. On a Strat, the bridge pickup is usually too weak for me, so I usually put a DiMarzio HS-2 in that position, or sometimes I’ll just put a higher-output single-coil pickup in. Then I take the tone control of the middle pickup, unhook it and put it on the bridge pickup and put a five-way switch in and have bigger frets put on the neck.

What’s the most incredible find or bargain you’ve had when buying gear?

Well, you know, probably my original [1954] ‘Virginia’ Strat. I think I paid $175 for it, but that was many years ago, when they really were going for a few hundred bucks back in the late ’70s.

I mean, in today’s money, it was still a good deal, but, yeah, you could just get them pretty cheap. Back in those days, I remember you could go into a music store and there’d be several old ’50s Strats. You just took your pick, you know? They’d be under $500.

Have you ever sold a guitar that you now intensely regret letting go?

Yeah, a number of them [laughs]. I had a ’54 Strat and, unfortunately, I sold it because the electronics got damaged and I had it rewired, but it never quite sounded the same. It was a wonderful guitar. I wish I had just kind of gone, ‘Okay, just put it in the closet and someday you’ll run into an old pickguard. Just don’t freak out.’ But I was like, ‘Ah, it’s no good any more. I’ve got to find another one.’

Since then, I’d buy a ’54 Strat and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it… Just keep trading them off. And I’ve been disappointed in some of those. I don’t think that every single old guitar necessarily means you’re going to get the perfect guitar just because it’s old and cool and original and worth money.

I have bought vintage guitars before and you think they’re okay, but once you start playing songs and playing with a band and doing what you do, you realise they’re not really going with you like you need them to.

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(Image credit: Photograph by Max Crace)

I’m not as picky about the originality of a guitar any more because I think that sometimes guitars that are all original and real collectible might not be the most magical instruments, so I try to just let go of that. And I don’t really own a lot of those guitars any more. I don’t own as much gear as I used to; I try to just use what really works.

Also, I remember once I had a 1960 Sunburst Les Paul, amazing guitar, and I found this ’58 black Strat and I wanted it so bad and I didn’t have the money to buy it, so I sold the Les Paul so I could get this Strat… That was not the best idea in the world.

What’s your best guitar-buying tip?

Don’t be swayed by the pedigree. I think I spent a lot of years collecting stuff: ‘Oh, this thing’s cool. It’s all original. It’s in great shape.’ But I didn’t really enjoy playing it because when I play it, I feel like I’m fighting it. I mean, if you’re going to do it for investment, that’s cool. That makes total sense.

But I think if you’re trying to make music, you want something that’s not an impediment. You want it more like wind to your back. That’s where the most inspiration is going to come from. Otherwise, it’s kind of a mental thing. You can go, ‘Wow, I got this cool thing,’ which is fine if it’s just investment. But if it’s about music, that can actually be more of a hang-up.

Eric Johnson

(Image credit: Max Crace)

Do you go window shopping for gear, either online or in music stores?

Yeah, sometimes I just kind of look and see what’s out there because you always wonder if there’s something that sounds better. I don’t really collect a lot of guitars that I don’t use.

A friend of mine has this old ’55 Strat that I’m borrowing to see whether I want to trade one of mine and get it. If you just looked at the guitar you would never want it because it’s in terrible shape. So my mind goes, ‘I don’t want this thing.’

But then you pick it up and plug it in and it just sounds great, it’s amazing. So you have to make a choice: what’s most important to you for what you’re going to do?

If forced to make a choice, would you rather buy a really good guitar and a cheap guitar amp or a cheap electric guitar and a top-notch amp?

I think that the importance of a great amp is really underestimated

That’s a great question because I think that the importance of a great amp is really underestimated. Of course, it depends on what you call great. I don’t really use complicated amps that have a lot of channels and controls and stuff because I feel that it’s wonderful to have all those options, but you pay too high a price for the sound.

So I normally just go for a straight-ahead amp. Having said that, they vary so much. So I’d almost rather have a cheap guitar and a really good amp.

If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would it be and why?

Probably the single coils, although I sure like humbuckers for a lead line. But I would probably choose single coils because I think you have a little more versatility. If you have the right kind of overdrive, you can get pretty close to a humbucker sound with a single coil.

But the other way around? You can get a nice jazz clean tone with a humbucker, but I’ve never been able to get some twangy country or Hendrix-type clean rhythm sounds with a humbucker.

Eric Johnson – Stratagem – YouTube
Eric Johnson - Stratagem - YouTube

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Eric’s go-to rig

I use a number of amps. They don’t all run at the same time, I have an A/B switching system. So right now I’m using a couple of old black-panel Deluxe Reverbs for a clean tone with an Echoplex and a TC [Electronic] Chorus.

Then I can switch over to a Bandmaster Reverb that Bill Webb has modified – kind of Dumble-ised – and I run that into a 4×12 Marshall cabinet with an old Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Tube Screamer for dirty rhythm. Then the third sound is either a 100- or a 50-watt Marshall into a 4×12 cabinet with a BK Butler Tube Driver.

For guitars, I have one of my [Fender] signature models, but I’ve been using that 2004 ’54 reissue a lot lately, and I have a ’63 or ’64 SG. I also have a Martin D-35 and a Maton acoustic.