Near Mint Vintage Gibson Chet Atkins "Country Gentleman" Made in USA

Available for sale is a rarely played, 1992 Chet Atkins "Country Gentleman" Gibson guitar with a matching Bigsby tremolo.  This quarter-century old beauty was left in a closet for the past 24 years and can almost be classified as NOS.  The Country Gentleman features a tone-wood mahogany hollow body, flawless gold tuners, two gold humbuckers and a gold tune-o-matic bridge.  Add in the mother of pearl inlays in the headstock and this guitar becomes the jazz musician's dream and a great acquisition for any collector. This Country Gent also comes with a luxurious padded leather strap, strap locks, original paperwork, and a branded, fitted case that arrived with the guitar when it was purchased.

Features:

    1.  Select hardwood slim-body construction.

    2.  2 PAF Gibson Humbucker pickups with gold-plated covers.

    3.  Gold-Plated Bigsby tremolo with standard actuating arm plus a fixed wire arm in the case.

    4.  Gold-Plated Tune-O-Matic adjustable bridge.

    5.  Select Ebony fingerboard with “Thumb” position markers.

    6.  Gold-Pated tuning machines with foldout string winders.

    7.  Multiple-line binding on the body and pick guard.

    8.  Arm rest.

    9.  Chet Atkins signature truss rod cover and pearl inlay

Condition

It is completely unaltered from its original state. There are no cracks, bumps or scratches anywhere on this guitar (not in the wood and not in the finish).  Even the pick guard looks brand new.  If you took a magnifying glass to it, you could probably find hairline marks of use - the same as it would have, direct from the factory. 

The Chet Atkins Country Gentleman Story:

Chet Atkins played many different brands and types of guitars during his career. His go-to guitar was always one in which he collaborated in its design.  That design evolved into the famous Country Gentleman, first produced by the Fred Gretsch Guitar Company.

But Chet always strived to get the most tone and sustain from his guitars.  And this ever-reaching search for perfection resulted in small changes over the years in his guitars.  Because his name was on the guitars being sold, he managed to convince Fred Gretsch to incorporate his wishes.  That is until late in the production of the guitars.

There was one change that he wanted, late in the association with the Gretsch Company, that he could never convince the company to make.  In search of greater and greater sustain and tone, he wanted to incorporate a solid block of tone wood, reaching from the neck block to the tailback.  That block of wood would be similar to the block that can be found in the Gibson “Lucile” model.

In the late 1960s, the Gretsch Guitar Company was acquired by the Baldwin Piano Company.  Chet was never happy with the instruments they were making, bearing his name.  So, he began an association with Gibson. As luck would have it, Gibson listened to him and produced the guitar he wanted to see for his primary stage guitar and as is well known, he always played a guitar just like this one - a County Gentleman in sunrise orange.