Six-String Stories Eric Clapton GENESIS PUBLICATIONS
What at first glance looks like a coffee-table catalogue of all the guitars – well over 100 of them – that Eric Clapton has auctioned off in aid of his Crossroads addiction treatment centre turns out to provide some revealing insights into Clapton’s relationship with his guitars.
Clapton is not a loquacious man, so you won’t find torrents of florid prose about his favourite guitars. Instead there’s an intermittent running commentary – sometimes just a sentence, sometimes a few paragraphs–in between the glossy catalogue shots, the technical specifications and well-researched historical pictures showing Clapton playing or holding a particular guitar.
Although the sales of these guitars have raised millions for his Crossroads centre, Clapton is aware that his collection is like art – “It’s valueless until there’s an interest in it,” as he points out in the foreword. He also knows that not all guitarists share his obsession with makes and models, relating how he movie in 1986 but Berry didn’t even notice it.
