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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | A Chet Atkins Gibson. Got this one on a trade and it just showed up tonight. It's a 1990, and is in 9.5 shape. Never seen one like this, classical solid body. Pretty nice though.
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | How'zitt sound?? . . . |
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Joined: November 2002 Posts: 3604
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Admittedly, being a member of "The Collective of the Clueless", are the thumbwheels for volume & tone? |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Jim,
It looks great!!! Plugged in I'll bet it has a very warm sound.
I would love to hear it plugged in to my Roland AC 60.
It has understated elegance to it. |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 558
Location: Denmark | Congrats. Looks very nice indeed. |
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Joined: March 2004 Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | Now that's something you don't see everyday. Piezo pick up, I presume? |
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Joined: January 2006 Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | A thin line acoustic with electrics? If this had steel strings, I'd be on it! Where's Dan Shafer and all of the other Viper lovers? |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by Joyful Noise:
Now that's something you don't see everyday. Piezo pick up, I presume? Yup, looks just like the Ovation saddle. And yes, the two wheels are volume and tone. I figured if nothing else, it should hold it's value very well.
( I wonder if it would hold steel strings?...hmmmm) |
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Joined: February 2002 Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | This Gibson Chet Atkins was a mass-produced version of a guitar custom-made for Chet by Kirk Sand of Laguna Beach. I used to have one, and there're pretty good, though I much prefer my nylon Viper. Later they did a Chet Atkins steel string version as well, which personally I didn't like at all, mostly because of the bland, generic piezo tone from the pickup and electronics
If I remember rightly, when these were first introduced Gibson were threatened with a lawsuit by Ovation over patent infringement on the pickup, which looked identical to the Ovation pickup. |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Paul, does this mean I have a "lawsuit" Gibson, like the Tak/Martin debacle? :eek: (and thanks for the info on the origin of this thing) |
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Not quite right. This guitar was inspired by an idea Chet had for a solid body nylon string. The original was built by Haskell Haille under Chet's direction.
The Kirk Sand guitar was the basis for the Studio Classic, a very narrow body acoustic nylon string. From the early 90's until he retired, Chet played one of these (with the marijuana leaf inlay).
If you take a look at this link, you'll learn about both guitars, the CE and the Studio Classic.
Chet\'s guitars
Scroll up slightly from the link to read about the CE..... |
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Joined: February 2002 Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I'll bow to Mr Moody's superior knowledge here. Paul (or Bill) I can't remember if I'm confusing the pickup patent infingement thing too, can you remember anything about that? |
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Joined: January 2002 Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Yes, we sued Gibson and made them change the pickup. The first go round it had 6 chrystals and 6 saddles. We made them change to a 1 piece saddle which got around the pattent. They've probably gone back to 6 by now.
This was in 83-84 timeframe. Pre Henry. |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | how heavy is that sucker? |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | The knowledge base on this forum continues to astound me! Not just Ovations and Adamas, but everything in between. Kudos gentlemen!! :D :D |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by alpep:
how heavy is that sucker? It's not light by any means, a bit heavier than my Tele. Hang it on a strap, and I'd bet you wouldn't want to do a long set with it. It's a sit down and play guitar. |
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Evidently, it's got a tone of sustain. One of the reasons Chet went to the Sand inspired guitar was that there was a lot less bass response when performing live..... |
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Joined: July 2005 Posts: 1609
Location: Colorado | The suckers are heavy...I have one...I have used it for years...when pit work called for nylon strings and there was not the budget or space to put a nice studio condensor in front of the "insert your favorite classical here" guitar. It shines because of its simplicity - volume and tone only (Hmmm slotheads and other Adami). The electronics on mine are stealthily quiet. You can get a pile of gain out of the guitar. I have a link to a clip below...of Chet playing his...notice just the pure nylon tone - and how gently he is playing the strings - but the guitar does not sound thin at all. I never was much for Chet's singing...but he plays this simple yarn very well...extra credit to those who name the other stars in the clip. OK - Alpep talked to me once about the nylon Viper - I'll bite - someone tell me how good they are - and why - and where on earth could I find one to play. Here's the clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8590o8A4iU8
Enjoy
Mark |
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Joined: October 2006 Posts: 5575
Location: big island | walk of life |
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill... who else? |
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Joined: July 2005 Posts: 1609
Location: Colorado | Two points to the PI from the left coast |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 713
Location: Alberta, Canada | Always a treat to watch a master of their craft.
No guesses, Moody pegged the 2 I recognized.
Ooops edit: Jim, nice guitar! Enjoy!
Dave |
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Joined: December 2003 Posts: 13984
Location: Upper Left USA | Someone needs to write all of this stuff down before we forget it again!
Nice grab TJ! |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | Very nice one Jim! Where are you gonna put the martin sticker? |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | There's a black one on ebay now. Minimum bid of $700. Looks like the 6 piece piezo pickup. |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by Designzilla:
Very nice one Jim! Where are you gonna put the martin sticker? Just saw that curly-Q stuff off the top of the headstock and stick it there. |
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Joined: November 2006 Posts: 3969
| I must say Jim, you come up with the most interesting grabs! Yours is probably the most apt moniker on the board. Always look forward to your posts to see what surprise you've managed to dig up. Nice guitar, BTW. (And I still hear that Thunderhead calling your name ;) ). |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I've put a couple of bids on that just to see how serious the others are. Apparently, someone IS. I really don't need that guitar anyway. (no matter how good it looks....no.....no... ugh.) |
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Joined: March 2005 Posts: 5563
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | I wonder if it would hold steel strings?...hmmmm uh............no!
:eek: |
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Joined: January 2002 Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | It might but the intonation would be off. |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Jim,
Now that you've had it for a few days,(A record for you!! ).
How do you like a nylon string??? |
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Joined: June 2006 Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | It's too easy on the fingers.... :D Actually, I haven't had that much time with it. I've been playing the FD, Martin, and the CA most of the time lately. I'll get around to it. I've got a VOX micro amp (AC30) on order. It's a small box that plugs into the guitar with a headphone jack that eliminates the need for an amp so you can play just through the headphones. Fairly cheap at only 39 bucks. It'll keep me from annoying the wife with my lame playing. :rolleyes:
"a record for you" . Now, THAT'S funny... :p |
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