In an interview during the farewell gig at the Royal Albert Hall, Eric said “It’s more like a human voice than a guitar."
Aclam guitars, proudly announces the launch of The Woman Tone for this 2022 summer, a new addition to the family of effects pedals, strengthening its main goal of capturing emotions rather than offering things others had done before, as well as seeking particular sounds, from specific eras and distinctive bands.
The Woman Tone effect pedal recreates the tone Eric Clapton was known for during his Cream days. Slowhand, a nickname that can be quickly recognizable by guitarists, described it as a “Sweet sound” in an interview during the farewell gig at the Royal Albert Hall, he said “It’s more like a human voice than a guitar. You wouldn’t think it was a guitar for the first few passages.
The Woman Tone pedal is available for $339 at retailers in the US and 359€ (VAT included in the EU). You can also get yours at Aclam's online store: www.aclamguitars.com/store/the-woman-tone.html
In February Eric Clapton shown a new dreadnought 12-string guitar. Sharp-eyed fans who have watched Eric Clapton’s new release, “The Lady In The Balcony: Lockdown Sessions,” spotted EC playing a beautiful new dreadnought 12-string guitar. It turns out that Eric had it specially commissioned for the project.
Editor Tony Edser spoke with Dan Dearnley, who has been Eric’s guitar technician since 2009 and part of his road crew from 1998 to get all of the details.(whereseric)
Dan Dearnley: Around July of last year (2020), I think Eric was thinking ahead to this acoustic kind of show and he asked for his 12-string guitars, but he didn’t have a Dreadnought 12-string, which is the big body size, but I did. I had one that I had made at college when I was 17. So, I went over with his guitars and also left mine with him for a week. Then the next time I saw him he said, “can you make me one then, how long will it take?” I said “yes” and went shopping for tools, a band saw and a pillar drill and set up a workshop here at the warehouse, with a proper Swedish woodwork bench.
Within a couple of weeks though we got sent a 12-string from Martin, a standard HD-12, and Eric just loved it, so that was my benchmark, to match that guitar. I sourced the wood from a friend of mine called Vince (Hockey), down in Southampton, who, for quite a long time now has built guitars and done Martin repairs, and he dug out some 25-year-old Rosewood that he had been keeping, and some Sitka Spruce. The spruce had some staining around the edges from being so old, which I thought would come out with sanding, but it didn’t, so the guitar looks a bit old already!
I started making a 6-string as a prototype because I wanted to make sure I had all the specialist tools I needed, to do the binding and the rosette for example. So, I worked with them side by side, practicing on the 6-string then making the 12-string. I did the lacquering around Christmas (2020), then hung it up to dry.
Before we started the rehearsals for Cowdray House, I was able to take it to Eric’s house and give it to him but it was only there that I saw the 2 guitars together at the same time. It was a crucial moment to see how they compared.
We had rehearsals in the Walled Garden, which is part of Cowdray Park, a bright sounding room next to the Old Ruins. So, I was then really able to compare the two guitars, but they didn’t quite match up – my one wasn’t as good, sound-wise as the Martin, it didn’t have the same bottom-end. I realised the problem was when I’d put the struts on the belly of the guitar, I’d beefed them up a little bit and made them a bit too heavy (thinking about the string tension). So, the answer was to take some wood off basically, take all the strings off, reach inside and plane away by feel. It’s quite a drastic and risky thing to do but I thought if I don’t do this Eric’s not going to use it. To reaad the full interview click HERE
