Gibson Chet Atkins SST 12 String, natural finish, made in USA 1989, signed by Kirk Pengilly of INXS. Here's a little slice of history for you! This one is stamped 'not for resale' on the headstock, as was the case with many guitars made for Gibson's artist roster. It's a little tricky to piece together the exact backstory, but here's what we have pieced together with the help of the previous owner. This was a non-production one-off 12-string version of the Chet Atkins SST, which most likely was made for post punk behemoths The Cult. INXS and The Cult toured together in 1993, when this was acquired by INXS saxman and sometimes-guitarist Kirk Pengilly. It later turned up at auction, signed by Kirk, and was snapped up by the current owner who kept it for several years; we are selling it on his behalf. The SST model is a pretty interesting construction: it's not an acoustic guitar, the sides are chambered solid mahogany like a Les Paul The top is solid spruce, which paired with a bridge based transducer pickup delivers a steel string acoustic style tone plugged in. The benefit of this construction is that even at high stage volumes, you get very minimal feedback. Noted SST players, aside from His Chetliness, include Mark Knopfler, Dave Gilmour, Robert Smith and more... they're a great live performance guitar. It's got a very manageable fairly slim neck and plays very easily; plus it really does deliver a tonne of rich, warm jangly goodness plugged in. It's certainly unusual, but given this guitar's rich backstory and super limited status, it's surely a worthy collector piece. 

Model: Gibson Chet Atkins SST 12-String 
Made: 1989, USA (serial 83419548)
Finish: natural gloss
Body: solid spruce top, mahogany back/sides
Neck: mahogany, 25.5" scale, 44mm nut width, D-shape profile
Weight: 3.870kg
Mods: none
Pickup: bridge mounted transducer style, active pre-amp
Case: original Gibson brown oversize deluxe hard case

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. Neck and headstock are pretty clean, very minor dimples only. The back has a little bit of rub wear on the top horn and some widespread light surface scratches; no major marks. The sides have a few dimples in the elbow area and bottom horn, again very clean. The front has some checking lines and dimples on both horns, as well as the signature on the bottom side as noted. Overall: very good condition (8/10)

Playing condition notes: action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good. Frets are in great shape with minor wear only, 8/10 for fret life left. Strings aren't brand new but have heaps of life in them.