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Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman
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Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman
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heads on fire heads on fire

« Great guitar, weighs a ton! »

Published on 11/18/11 at 11:41
Made in Nashville, TN, USA
Maple top, back, sides, neck, and center block
Ebony Fretboard, with 22 frets
Chet Atkins Half Circle offset inlays
Tuneamatic bridge
Bigsby tailpiece
2 Gibson humbuckers
1 master volume, 2 individual pickup volumes, 1 tone
1 3-way switch
Gold Hardware
Gibson easy-winding tuners!

UTILIZATION

The Country Gentleman may be the classiest guitar on this Earth. It screams "genteel", in such a way that one would want to have a mint julep on the side table while strumming this on a rocking chair on the front porch. The guitar was dreamed up for/by Chet Atkins, after he left the Gretsch corporation. This instrument plays, looks, and sounds utterly fantastic, and the Bigsby vibrato bar helps it achieve some nice subtle bends. But, I will say without question that this is the heaviest guitar I have ever played, bar none. This weighs more than really old Les Pauls, and that's saying something! I measured mine at over 13 pounds, and with my pain problems, I had to sell it unfortunately.

SOUNDS

For the styles of music that will undoubtedly be conjured up on this fine guitar, it sounds perfect. Rockabilly, fingerstyle country, blues, jazz - this excels at all of those styles. I'm a fan of the master volume, at this can allow the two pickups to be blended to taste while still allowing overall control to be had with just one knob. The pickups are fantastically detailed, yet still warm enough to build a fire with.

OVERALL OPINION

Best feature, other than the neck and the sounds - the tuners! These tuners have a flip-out "wing" that acts as a winder crank upon string changes. This makes said changes incredibly quick and painless. I don't know why Gibson doesn't offer these tuning machines for sale today, but if they did, I'd buy more sets in a heartbeat to retrofit my current Gibson axes. The worst part of this guitar, at least for me, is the excessive weight. I know people that it doesn't bother, but for me it was way too much. Overall a great instrument if you can stand the mass.