Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster

Several variations of the Clapton Strat were made by th Fender Custom Shop throughout the years, including fancy versions with ash bodies, quilted or maple tops, abalone dot position inlays, matching headstocks, gold hardware and white pearloid pickguards, made by Senior Master Builder J. W. Black. Many of these guitars were
sold for charity auctions for the Crossroad Centre of Antigua, the drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation facility founded on the small, idyllic Caribbean island in 1998. They include the Gold Leaf Stratocaster of 1996 (used during the Legends and Monserrat concerts in 1997) and the Crashcasters (signature model Stratocasters hand-painted by New York based street artist John Matos, better known as Crash),
used by Clapton from 2001 to 2004 

The original Gold Leaf guitar was built by Fender Master Builder Mark Kendrick as a custom order for Eric Clapton at the time of the 50th Anniversary of the firm in 1996
and was Slowhand's main instrument of choice during the legends period in 1997
The Gold Leaf Stratocaster was later sold by Christiesfor US $455,000. The Fender Custom Shop reissued the Gold Leaf Stratocaster after 8 years of absence as a limited edition run of 50 pieces. Each Guitar was built to Eric's exacting specifications, with Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups and a standard tone control instead of the TBX tone circuit actually found on the original 1996 model.

Japanese guitar manufacturer Bacchus Custom Guitars ahad popularized Clapton's Gold Leaf guitars with the BST-GL series since late 1998. These guitars were basically nerly close reproductions of the orginal Gold Leaf Stratocasters (using genuine USA Electronics, Gold Fender Lace Sensor pickups and hardware), except for the "Bacchus Custom Guitars" decal on the headstock rather than the "Fender" spaghetti logo found on Clapton's Gold-Finished signature model Since 2005 the Japanese guitar company stopped using its own decal on the guitar's headstock, after few customers requested
to have the Fender logo put on for reasons of authenticity.