Citation:
In 2001, Lee Dickson, Eric’s guitar technician of more than 25 years said, “Blackie is still around and 100% playable, contrary to all rumors otherwise. It’s the nature of those old Fenders that the neck can eventually loosen in the neck pocket,
even with the bolts tightened. It had been refretted a couple of times and there was a lot of wear on the edge of the neck, which made it difficult to get E string vibrato easily. We tossed around the idea to have a new neck made for it, but eventually the decision was made to just retire Blackie.”