Eric Clapton played a range of different Fender and Gibson models while playing in The Yardbirds and Cream. In 1970, for his landmark "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" with Derek and the Dominos, Clapton started using a sunburst 1956 Stratocaster which he later nicknamed "Brownie" that he had bought in May 1967 while in Cream. While on tour with the Dominos, Clapton visited Sho-Bud Music in Nashville where he bought a further six mid-50s Stratocasters for around $100 each. On his return to the UK he gave one to George Harrison, one to Pete Townshend and a third to Steve Winwood. The remaining three each had attractive qualities that Clapton combined in a single instrument. He took the body from a black 1956 Stratocaster he liked the look of, the neck from a 1957 Stratocaster he liked the feel of and the electronics loaded pickguard from another Stratocaster that sounded better than the others, constructing "Blackie" that was to be his main instrument from 1970 until its retirement from active service in 1985.