“I’d buy a ‘54 Strat, and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it… I just kept trading them off. I’ve been disappointed in some of those”: Eric Johnson on why a guitar's age, value, and cool factor don't necessarily make it a better instrument

For some, vintage guitars are the Holy Grail; relics from a time gone by that sound far better than anything built today. Eric Johnson, though, doesn’t affiliate himself with that belief. In fact, he argues that a guitar’s age and value don’t always mean a vintage guitar is going to be a cracker.

David Gilmour once claimed that vintage guitars sound better than their modern counterparts because of what happens to the glue holding them together over time. Joe Satriani, meanwhile, has long since been “disillusioned” by ancient electric guitars and has since trodden a modern-minded gear path. The Cliffs of Dover shredder is more aligned with the latter camp.

Eric Johnson says he spent years chasing Stratocasters from 1954 after a really positive experience with one. But he could never catch the proverbial dragon.

“I had a ’54 Strat and, unfortunately, I sold it because the electronics got damaged,” he tells Guitarist. “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,’ but I was like, ‘Ah, it’s no good anymore. I’ve got to find another one.’”

That sent him down a slippery slope of collecting.

“I’d buy a ’54 Strat, and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it... I just kept trading them off,” he expands. “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 realize they’re not really going with you like you need them to.”

There are others, too, who fail to buy into the vintage hype, with Adrian Smith deriding old Les Pauls, and Cory Wong being less than smitten by old-school Klons – although it’s a different story when it comes to six-strings.

Yet, while seeing Johnson strutting on his stuff on a ‘50s Strat is something of a rarity, he has been caught playing Dave Mustaine's Dean V, in a rather strange turn of events.

Read Eric Johnson's new interview in full in the latest issue of Guitarist, alongside a huge feature on the Telecaster as it celebrates its 75th birthday.

Issues can be bought from Magazines Direct.