Fender Stratocaster Formerly Owned by Eric Clapton, 1956

British guitarist and songwriter Eric Clapton (b. 1945) purchased this 1956 Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, which he named “Brownie,” in 1967 when he was still in the Psychedelic band Cream. He played it through the early 1970s, most prominently with the bands Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, and as a solo artist. 

“Brownie” was featured on the cover of Clapton’s eponymous 1970 debut solo album, and most famously heard on the Derek and the Dominoes’ 1970 hit “Layla,” which was Clapton's then-unrequited plea of love to best friend George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd. 

Eric Clapton emerged from his time with the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers as the 1960s’ first British guitar hero. In the summer of 1966, he formed Cream, the first rock supergroup. Clapton's much-imitated sound was then a Gibson guitar through a cranked Marshall amplifier, but by the late 1960s he wanted a more nuanced sound. Clapton admired Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and rising star Jimi Hendrix—all Fender Stratocaster players. On May 7, 1967, days before heading to New York to record Cream's Disraeli Gears, Clapton bought this well-loved guitar at London's Sound City for £150 (then about $400), nicknaming it “Brownie” for its tobacco sunburst finish.