Ah via musicom changed my way of thinking about guitar and guitarists. Prior to hearing Cliffs of Dover, I was all about shred. Eric Johnson broadened my musical horizons, and I am eternally grateful.
Great interview, as always. Mitch has the skill to ask really interesting questions. Specially to a unique musician and human being like Eric Johnson. I really liked it!
Mitch is always such a class act, but I think this interview was one of his best yet. Excellent questions and you could tell he had a deep knowledge of the gear and Eric. Very nice work Mitch and Sweetwater!
I Just played it today. A really beautiful guitar. One of the most fattest and most comfortable necks I've played. I thought my carvin Holdsworth neck was fat. It really felt good after playing It after a few minutes. I wish the frets were a bit bigger, but that could also be me with string height set low. A very cool guitar that adds some nice resonance. The pickups sounded great in every position.
7:31, Thanks Eric. I really needed to hear that. I've been obsessed lately with technicality and speed and ventured off into totally changing my right hand position and technique. You're right, the change sounds different, and it's still something I fight sometimes even without acknowledging it. I think I'll go back to what I had before.
I have hand written letters from Eric Johnson from years ago when I used to see him for $3.00 in bmt. tx. Still the same humble gentleman,and was just as good then as he is today. Some artists have to wait until the rest of the world catches up to them. Oh and I was told Prince hipped Warner bros. to Eric back in the day.
The awsome Eric....like written below, world needs more guys like Eric it's really true...I love the artist and the human being...I love this new model, I'ts really original this choice to make a semi-hollow....In the Eric' s new album she sounds awsome !!! But It's Eric on guitar !!!
Well, this kinda settles the whole tonewood thing for me...if a master like Eric can tell the difference then all the naysayers can go take a sabbatical...
FWI Casino Guitars has a video is of Eric Playing this guitar so do not worry about the fact this video is a talking interview only-no laying. Just look over to the right sidebar and you shall see that music video.
"Its amazing how little difference it makes in the gear..." I bet Fender loves that statement! So I don't need a high-dollar guitar to get good tone? Poor Fender, Eric is too honest.
Hi Tong Zou. Correct, the batteries are selected, not by brand, but by how far they are already depleted, and how those partially depleted batteries respond to a load. Thanks for watching!
Yep! When I used to play on the NYC subway platforms (1980s), a fresh alkaline 9v would run my RV-3 reverb/delay for about 2 and a half hours. After that it wouldn't even light up a digital pedal, but was ~perfect~ for my little EH 'MuffFuzz' (which NEVER sounded right with a fresh battery). This is why VoodooLab gives 2 'outs' on their power supplys little trim-pots to bring the voltage down as far as 3vDC: dirt pedals sound their best with a 'dying' battery.....
I got tickets to see Eric in a couple months. I was kinda looking forward to seeing his iconic vintage Strats and Gibsons, but I guess the show is now gonna be a 2 hour long commercial for this thing, huh? Dammit.
i played cliffs of dove about 95 when i was in my 30's my classical guitar professor which i don't even like said want to go to college that was macon be back there in april tell me when he is there and mark magdich i played cliffs of dover back in the day even he said he had to relearn it next time he is there i will fly to sweetwater in indianna all i have to do is see him in the store this was 2018 namm of course he was there !!!!!!!!!!
Anyone know if his pickups use enamel coated or formvar coated wire? He talks about how it makes such a big difference, and in my experience it most certainly does, but I can't find this detail anywhere.
LOL....it's already effectively over, but, if I was standing there at the time, I'd have just kept my mouth shut about it; EJ seemed pretty happy with his sig-strat (plus, I'm sure he was expected by FMC, in whose booth he was Promoting it at the time, to allude to ~tone-wood~ for the True Believers whether he believes it himself or not...he did speak of hollow-body 'resonance' and subdued pick attack vs solid bodies, instead of specifically gushing on the body wood itself). Whether or not he believes it himself, the Fender booth at NAMM is probably not the place to bring it up (EJ may know better than 'tone-wood', but I doubt he's in the position to say so there and then).....
People who don't understand how sound works deny that wood affects tone. Now, whether or not any individual can *genuinely* tell the difference between two different woods, or whether or not one wood sounds *better* is up for debate, but it definitely changes the sound.
Like that *cardboard* -bodied Strat they made at the Fender Custom Shop; it sounded exactly like an American Standard......so, cardboard seems to be the new alder. Good to know, huh?
Tallthinkev Yes, but that's my point, that it *does* make a difference, because people are arguing that it literally makes zero difference at all, which is simply not true. Also, Hippiekarl7, it doesn't sound exactly like an American standard. You just can't hear the difference because you haven't trained your ears to hear the little changes. I'd say that wood affects the feel of an instrument more than the sound, as well, as it changes how the resonance feeds vibration back into the strings. You seem to be thinking that I'm saying that the *first* process to establishing good guitar tone is to worry about what material your guitar is, which is simply not true. Amp first, pedals second, guitar last, in rough order. A terrible guitar will sound amazing with a $5000 two rock or whatever, and ultimately, if you're trying to fine tune your guitar tone to the most minute detail (And if you're the kind of person who can listen to an orchestra and pick out literally exactly which instrument is playing out of tune, etc), worrying about tone wood is completely legit. Eric Johnson probably *does* hear these things, and most of us don't, simply because we don't worry about it.
I played an EJ recently and I was very impressed at how well the frets were done. However, I noticed the same thing on that neck as this one, too. To not have an accessible truss rod adjustment point (w/o taking the neck off) in lieu of looks is really not well thought out. Form over function makes a pain in the hole for the consumer. Full stop.
I do not say this lightly... In a world of stunning guitarists - ERIC JOHNSON is the best and most tasteful guitarist the USA has produced in the last 50 years. REPLY
That's not what I get when I post his videos in Fb guitar Fender strat group, I don't like him , he's boring, too fast blah blah blah I guess not everyone is that tasteful lol
Kam Chuen So I heard some say the neck pickup can be placed forward a little more, also maybe I think in the 60s they where only 21 fret? This guitar looks to be only that why?
I once bought a 59 strat my 2nd real one and it was that Yellow snot color a refin.. the first thing I did was get a cabinet scrapper and scrape that sickly color off and I painted it Dakota Red... While I was scrapping that body down in my back yard in Austin Tx I noted Id called Deer up thinking I was a male deer Rutting... they were just staring at me like what are you doing ? No animals were harmed in this story..
Sunburst and Yellow are the two colors... The translucent Red one is Eric's personal instrument which wont be available to the public. Anyone requesting a custom color will be black bagged and whisked away in Van... Beaten with Rubber hoses within inches of your miserable lives and dumped off naked at guitar center and not one of the good ones the small ones with not alot of selection the ones where you gotta wait so they can get that ordered for you ... So dont.... Just dont do it...
It's trivial, i know, but i can't stand single ply scratch plates. I'd rip that off immediately. I bought his solid body strat and yanked it off first.
I'd have preferred a 'Rickenbacker-esue' shaped one, myself. Like on those Trini Lopez ES-335s I used to see Johnny Rivers with. As for 'chambered w/o the hole', it might not have made sufficient difference: my Warmoth/Fender Strat body is black korina (beautiful but ~very~ heavy!), and the whole thing is chambered out in herring-bone rows, with a korina cap. It doesn't ~sound~ chambered/'semi-hollow' at all. Even with the weight-relief it's as heavy as a LP, but sounds Absolut Stratocaster. My Blueshawk, on the other hand, sounds all resonant and 'sponge-y' (semi-hollow w/ 2 f-holes and center-block) compared to it's 'non-identical twin' Nighthawk (same mahogany body, but solid).
Yeah sure, trini lopez style might work. you need some straight lines against the liquid strat lines. by "chambered" I mean exactly as is without the f hole; hollow with a centre block, not just including holes, as they do to relieve weight. i doubt the f hole makes much actual difference to the body vibration
Eric is one of the best guitar player of all times,he is WAY above the boring useless shredders like Vai Petrucci Malmsteen etc... He has soul and class!
blave549 I just saw him last night for the first time i was blown away. In the preshow I saw his tech with a sunburst thinline I thought no way he's gunna use that (it be a dream come true I'm a HUGE fan of 72 thinline telecaster) but he used his normal strat, I'm more than sure he did this to match tones with the album. During steve's boogie he even pulled out a sexy red telecaster. P.S. There is no other person on the face of this planet who i'd rather have than Eric Johnson to perfect and give justice to what a thinline strat should sound like.
i could play note for note cliffs of dover on a regular strat iit won me a ton of dead man money that the 5th member of rem taught me to read music he said play something that was 95 if i knew how to embed a video of me doing it in 95 i would but i really don't care !!!!!!!
Do you really not think having a semi-hollow body with F-holes would impact the sound in a significant way? Have you not played an ES-Les Paul? Do you consider those 'marketing bs' too...? God you're dumb
Not the semi hollow bit. The justification of using Alder for example - ''When you back off of it, it gives you that head room kind of clean tone''. I think the fact that he's Eric Johnson does that, not the wood. Or ''If the middle pick up is too high, I ''Feel'' the pickup there. In other words, it gets in the way! Great guitar, great player and some great marketing talk. Oh, hollow under the pick guard too, yep....oh so like every strat then... That's just a 3 piece body with the upper part being the only difference (the f hole bit)
![Rig Rundown - Eric Johnson [2018]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nx6cUuH7QGw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Rig Rundown - Eric Johnson [2018]](/img/tr.png)
Eric is like the Mr Rodgers of guitar players! Both of these guys are top notch... Wonderful interview!
🙂👊
Eric Johnson is such a humble, down to earth guy for being such a huge talented player.
👍
What an awesome person, the world needs more Eric's.
👍
That's what I keep telling people.
😄
Check Jordan Peterson
And the humble award goes to Eric!
Yeah, best players are also most modest. Satriani, Vai, J.J.Cale, Clapton and list goes on...
First time ive ever watched an interview with Eric. Seems like such a nice, humble dude! Love Mitch's interview style too!
That, ladies and gents, is how an interview should be done. Great job Mitch!
Great interview thanks... and I’m loving my new EJ Thinline strat in 2 tone sunburst!
Ah via musicom changed my way of thinking about guitar and guitarists. Prior to hearing Cliffs of Dover, I was all about shred. Eric Johnson broadened my musical horizons, and I am eternally grateful.
Great interview, as always. Mitch has the skill to ask really interesting questions. Specially to a unique musician and human being like Eric Johnson. I really liked it!
Thanks for the kind words, Javier! We're glad you enjoyed the video. 😊
Mitch is always such a class act, but I think this interview was one of his best yet. Excellent questions and you could tell he had a deep knowledge of the gear and Eric. Very nice work Mitch and Sweetwater!
Hi, Ryan! Thanks for checking out the video, and for the kind words! 😊👍
I Just played it today. A really beautiful guitar. One of the most fattest and most comfortable necks I've played. I thought my carvin Holdsworth neck was fat. It really felt good after playing It after a few minutes. I wish the frets were a bit bigger, but that could also be me with string height set low. A very cool guitar that adds some nice resonance. The pickups sounded great in every position.
What a great little interview.
Lucky guy Mitch!!!
Eric is amazing!!
Hope he came to your house to hang out and talk gear
You musta been geeked!
The most professional channel out there, wonderful & constantly stellar work from Mitch and the guys. Keep up the great work! :)
Pete Hawthorne Thank you for the kind words, Pete!
7:31, Thanks Eric. I really needed to hear that. I've been obsessed lately with technicality and speed and ventured off into totally changing my right hand position and technique. You're right, the change sounds different, and it's still something I fight sometimes even without acknowledging it. I think I'll go back to what I had before.
Just saw him last week. His new signature model sounds amazing.
Eric is pure class!
I have hand written letters from Eric Johnson from years ago when I used to see him for $3.00 in bmt. tx. Still the same humble gentleman,and was just as good then as he is today. Some artists have to wait until the rest of the world catches up to them. Oh and I was told Prince hipped Warner bros. to Eric back in the day.
I'm speechless!
any tones with that preview?
Love this man! My idol
What are the specs on that shirt Mitch is wearing?
nurse's scrubs
big and bigger
Don't mess with me!
eric at this point is more important for his vibes and lessons, than his playing in interviews now you want to hear him shred watch trail of tears
not. a. single. note.
God, I know.........would love to have heard him play it.
@G. V. Q , same here. I'm still listen to him ramble but I'm looking for the guitar online on another tab page.
themodularmodular I turn off this video as soon as I saw this comment
Funny listening to EJ talk about hollow body tone, without referencing a gibby ES335
Why would he (at the ~Fender~ booth)?! He didn't even refer to the more-similar Thinline Teles, either........
a national treasure
The awsome Eric....like written below, world needs more guys like Eric it's really true...I love the artist and the human being...I love this new model, I'ts really original this choice to make a semi-hollow....In the Eric' s new album she sounds awsome !!!
But It's Eric on guitar !!!
Hand the man a cable, Mitch!!!
YES!!
7:22 SO MUCH TRUTH! THANK YOU ERIC!
Mitch...so professional
This guy Knows how to conduct an interview ! Kudos
Well, this kinda settles the whole tonewood thing for me...if a master like Eric can tell the difference then all the naysayers can go take a sabbatical...
FWI Casino Guitars has a video is of Eric Playing this guitar so do not worry about the fact this video is a talking interview only-no laying. Just look over to the right sidebar and you shall see that music video.
We need more talking in ✌️all these demonstrations...
"Its amazing how little difference it makes in the gear..." I bet Fender loves that statement! So I don't need a high-dollar guitar to get good tone? Poor Fender, Eric is too honest.
Hi Tong Zou. Correct, the batteries are selected, not by brand, but by how far they are already depleted, and how those partially depleted batteries respond to a load. Thanks for watching!
Yep! When I used to play on the NYC subway platforms (1980s), a fresh alkaline 9v would run my RV-3 reverb/delay for about 2 and a half hours. After that it wouldn't even light up a digital pedal, but was ~perfect~ for my little EH 'MuffFuzz' (which NEVER sounded right with a fresh battery). This is why VoodooLab gives 2 'outs' on their power supplys little trim-pots to bring the voltage down as far as 3vDC: dirt pedals sound their best with a 'dying' battery.....
Mitch! Where did you get your shirt? It is way cool!!!
MEGAMIGA looks like a Robert Graham, and if that is the case, then you can get them at Nordstrom
Wow! Thank you for your answer! :D
I got tickets to see Eric in a couple months. I was kinda looking forward to seeing his iconic vintage Strats and Gibsons, but I guess the show is now gonna be a 2 hour long commercial for this thing, huh?
Dammit.
And he doesn't play it the entire video!? C'mon guys! :-(
i played cliffs of dove about 95 when i was in my 30's my classical guitar professor which i don't even like said want to go to college that was macon be back there in april tell me when he is there and mark magdich i played cliffs of dover back in the day even he said he had to relearn it next time he is there i will fly to sweetwater in indianna all i have to do is see him in the store this was 2018 namm of course he was there !!!!!!!!!!
joe livingston what were you trying to say??
Anyone know if his pickups use enamel coated or formvar coated wire?
He talks about how it makes such a big difference, and in my experience it most certainly does, but I can't find this detail anywhere.
If he thinks its better, I can almost guarantee that's what they used.
Wonder if one can get it without an f hole?
The man knows tone.
That would be sweet with a stereo piezo/mag system.
Mitch has a voice for the movie trailers
😃👍
Let the tone wood debate begin :D
LOL....it's already effectively over, but, if I was standing there at the time, I'd have just kept my mouth shut about it; EJ seemed pretty happy with his sig-strat (plus, I'm sure he was expected by FMC, in whose booth he was Promoting it at the time, to allude to ~tone-wood~ for the True Believers whether he believes it himself or not...he did speak of hollow-body 'resonance' and subdued pick attack vs solid bodies, instead of specifically gushing on the body wood itself).
Whether or not he believes it himself, the Fender booth at NAMM is probably not the place to bring it up (EJ may know better than 'tone-wood', but I doubt he's in the position to say so there and then).....
People who don't understand how sound works deny that wood affects tone. Now, whether or not any individual can *genuinely* tell the difference between two different woods, or whether or not one wood sounds *better* is up for debate, but it definitely changes the sound.
Yes, everything does change the sound. However it makes so little difference compared to all the other things that go it to getting 'your' sound.
Like that *cardboard* -bodied Strat they made at the Fender Custom Shop; it sounded exactly like an American Standard......so, cardboard seems to be the new alder. Good to know, huh?
Tallthinkev Yes, but that's my point, that it *does* make a difference, because people are arguing that it literally makes zero difference at all, which is simply not true. Also, Hippiekarl7, it doesn't sound exactly like an American standard. You just can't hear the difference because you haven't trained your ears to hear the little changes. I'd say that wood affects the feel of an instrument more than the sound, as well, as it changes how the resonance feeds vibration back into the strings. You seem to be thinking that I'm saying that the *first* process to establishing good guitar tone is to worry about what material your guitar is, which is simply not true. Amp first, pedals second, guitar last, in rough order. A terrible guitar will sound amazing with a $5000 two rock or whatever, and ultimately, if you're trying to fine tune your guitar tone to the most minute detail (And if you're the kind of person who can listen to an orchestra and pick out literally exactly which instrument is playing out of tune, etc), worrying about tone wood is completely legit. Eric Johnson probably *does* hear these things, and most of us don't, simply because we don't worry about it.
Would have been nice to a least hear the guitar. Good interview otherwise
If he wasn’t going to play, You could have just interviewed me!
You obviously weren't available......
Eric Johnson prefers Plastic Nuts vs Bone Nuts?
Eric has been a vegetarian for a very long time
LOL - Good one mate!
When Eric talks, I always listen. Always. Even though I might not always agree with the man. Then again, I ain't EJ...
I played an EJ recently and I was very impressed at how well the frets were done. However, I noticed the same thing on that neck as this one, too. To not have an accessible truss rod adjustment point (w/o taking the neck off) in lieu of looks is really not well thought out. Form over function makes a pain in the hole for the consumer. Full stop.
9-minute interview. Time spent listening to the guitar: 0:00.
It reminds me of some kind of Chill Pickle or something.
What he wants out of this guitar is the same of what I want. If only I had the cash
He doesnt play it?!?!
I do not say this lightly... In a world of stunning guitarists - ERIC JOHNSON is the best and most tasteful guitarist the USA has produced in the last 50 years.
REPLY
That's not what I get when I post his videos in Fb guitar Fender strat group, I don't like him , he's boring, too fast blah blah blah I guess not everyone is that tasteful lol
Does anyone know why only 21 frets and not the standard 22 frets?
Why do they still make guitars only 21 frets????
CONVENTIONAL STUFF
Kam Chuen So I heard some say the neck pickup can be placed forward a little more, also maybe I think in the 60s they where only 21 fret?
This guitar looks to be only that why?
it is up to eric to choose a 21 fret on his signature ........i am open to 21 or 22 if it is a artist model!
Why not 22, there must be a real reason?
Why would anyone want 1 less fret if there is no reason why not?
why not 24 frets then? 30?
is that Dr Epiphone???
WOW! RICH GALLEGER IS THE BEST.....HE GOT EVERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFO....NO ONE EVER DOES THAT
1:10 acoustical is a big boy word
semi-hollow strat. a steal at only $9999.99.
lol
I once bought a 59 strat my 2nd real one and it was that Yellow snot color
a refin.. the first thing I did was get a cabinet scrapper and scrape that sickly color off
and I painted it Dakota Red... While I was scrapping that body down in my back yard in Austin Tx I noted Id called Deer up thinking I was a male deer Rutting... they were just staring at me like what are you doing ? No animals were harmed in this story..
Is this new thinline Mexican?
5:34 Mk ultra mind programming blip lol
Make it mystic Seafoam green ala jazz master and damn
Preview would imply a demo. He just talks about it...
Alder*****
Why? Couldn’t Eric play some melodic music 🎵 etc - 😨😰😰
Listen to his new album, then you will know how it sounds!
UltimateRaven41 no!, whilst he was being interviewed 😰
th-cam.com/video/bE0mwiA_JpM/w-d-xo.html
Sunburst and Yellow are the two colors...
The translucent Red one is Eric's personal instrument which wont be available to the public.
Anyone requesting a custom color will be black bagged and whisked away in Van...
Beaten with Rubber hoses within inches of your miserable lives and dumped off naked
at guitar center and not one of the good ones the small ones with not alot of selection the ones where you gotta wait so they can get that ordered for you ... So dont....
Just dont do it...
his wife must be looking for her curtain!
It's trivial, i know, but i can't stand single ply scratch plates. I'd rip that off immediately. I bought his solid body strat and yanked it off first.
Really? Doesn't even play it?
The F hole looks terrible in a Strat. curve over curves. If they just chambered it without the hole, that would be interesting.
I'd have preferred a 'Rickenbacker-esue' shaped one, myself. Like on those Trini Lopez ES-335s I used to see Johnny Rivers with.
As for 'chambered w/o the hole', it might not have made sufficient difference: my Warmoth/Fender Strat body is black korina (beautiful but ~very~ heavy!), and the whole thing is chambered out in herring-bone rows, with a korina cap. It doesn't ~sound~ chambered/'semi-hollow' at all. Even with the weight-relief it's as heavy as a LP, but sounds Absolut Stratocaster.
My Blueshawk, on the other hand, sounds all resonant and 'sponge-y' (semi-hollow w/ 2 f-holes and center-block) compared to it's 'non-identical twin' Nighthawk (same mahogany body, but solid).
Yeah sure, trini lopez style might work. you need some straight lines against the liquid strat lines. by "chambered" I mean exactly as is without the f hole; hollow with a centre block, not just including holes, as they do to relieve weight. i doubt the f hole makes much actual difference to the body vibration
Eric is one of the best guitar player of all times,he is WAY above the boring useless shredders like Vai Petrucci Malmsteen etc...
He has soul and class!
That's unfair... all those players are great. Respect
We saw him last week in Santa Cruz, and AFAIK this guitar never came out. I think I would've noticed the f-hole. So maybe this guitar is Not All That?
blave549 I just saw him last night for the first time i was blown away. In the preshow I saw his tech with a sunburst thinline I thought no way he's gunna use that (it be a dream come true I'm a HUGE fan of 72 thinline telecaster) but he used his normal strat, I'm more than sure he did this to match tones with the album. During steve's boogie he even pulled out a sexy red telecaster. P.S. There is no other person on the face of this planet who i'd rather have than Eric Johnson to perfect and give justice to what a thinline strat should sound like.
Never even played the damned thing.
How does one talk with Eric Johnson for 9 minutes with a guitar in his hand, and not let him play a single note? SMH...
gibson was able to make a chambered semi-hollow body without adding holes to the exterior
i could play note for note cliffs of dover on a regular strat iit won me a ton of dead man money that the 5th member of rem taught me to read music he said play something that was 95 if i knew how to embed a video of me doing it in 95 i would but i really don't care !!!!!!!
Beautiful axe, and one of the greatest players of our generation...shame we NEVER GET TO HEAR IT. MASSIVE fail Sweetwater!
Guitarists love talking about the instrument. Play the god damn thing so we can hear what it sounds like.
I have to dislike this video. You have one of the greatest guitarists ever no playing.
can you get it without the f-hole[s]
Why did they paint all that gear white? What a waste.
Watchman4u probably plastic
for display reasons, why the hell does it bother you so much, its namm they will do crazy shit here
Most likely cheap seconds, twisted necks and so on, with no electronics. As for the amps, just the cabs and control knobs.
For yngwie copy reasons
#acoustical lolol
sounds like a load of marketing bs
totally!
Do you really not think having a semi-hollow body with F-holes would impact the sound in a significant way? Have you not played an ES-Les Paul? Do you consider those 'marketing bs' too...? God you're dumb
Not the semi hollow bit. The justification of using Alder for example - ''When you back off of it, it gives you that head room kind of clean tone''. I think the fact that he's Eric Johnson does that, not the wood. Or ''If the middle pick up is too high, I ''Feel'' the pickup there. In other words, it gets in the way! Great guitar, great player and some great marketing talk. Oh, hollow under the pick guard too, yep....oh so like every strat then...
That's just a 3 piece body with the upper part being the only difference (the f hole bit)
this guy can't play at all ! sucks ! , not ! he is great,
This is pure lying for marketing! Poor Eric! This wood is more forgiving? My god!
Put the F hole in the back. It's ugly