Clapton with his red 1964 Gibson ES-335 during the Blind Faith era
1964 - Eric Clapton bought his cherry red Gibson "dot neck" ES-335 in 1964 and used it throughout his career until it was sold by him at auction in 2004. It became known as the "Cream Guitar" as during his tenure with the band, a roadle stencilled the word "Cream" In large letters on its flightcase.
"It was the second electric guitar I ever bought, " Clapton remembered. "The Kay got me into the Yardbirds, and then when we started making money I found I had nothing else to spend it on but guitars, a cherry red Gibson ES-335, which was the instrument of my dreams. The Kay had been just a poor imitation."
"I just was very focused on a guitar and would play that exclusively for a year, two years and then for some reason I'd go somewhere else. The only one I held on to was the ES-335; It was the oldest guitar in my collection. Well, not the oldest ...but the one I had the longest."
"I think the cherry Gibson ES-335 was really acceptable on every front. It was a rock guitar, a blues guitar, the real thing."
While with the Yardbirds, Clapton's bandmate Chris Dreja was more often seen playing it: Eric used it more frequently from late 1968 and used it often during Cream's farewell tour of America. It also featured prominently in Cream's farewell concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall in november 1968. Clapton used the guitar when Cream recorded Badge and other tracks on the band's Goodbye album and during the filming of the Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus in december 1968, and also extensively while in Blind Faith 1969.
Eric Clapton auctioned it in 2004 to ralse funds for his addiction rehabilitation facility, Crossroads Centre at Antigua, Its $847,500 price, paid by the US retalier Guitar Center, is the highest recorded for any ES-335.
