Gibson Chet Atkins CE, natural finish, made in USA 1991. CE stands for 'classical electric', the brainchild of everyone's favourite Uncle Chet during his years as a Gibson guy. It's not made like a regular acoustic: it's a solid, chambered mahogany body, more akin to a Les Paul, capped with a solid spruce top and equipped with a high quality transducer pickup. The idea of the solid body is that you can play it on loud stages in full band settings without any feedback issues. These didn't find a lot of favour with the traditional classic crowd, but found a home in the hands of stadium-fillers like Sting, Gilmour, Knopfler and Jack Johnson owing to their pragmatic usefulness. There was a couple of nut width options, this being the slimmer 47mm model. This example was in the care of a full time touring folk player for the last few years, so it's got a few marks around the edges from consistent play but is in great functional shape. Plugged in, it's a crisp and clear tone, especially if you roll the bass off a whisker via the tone control. It's not a guitar for the classical purists, but heck... Chet is probably your favourite guitarist's favourite guitarist, and he sure knew a thing a two.

Model: Gibson Chet Atkins CE
Made: 1991, USA (serial 92491392)
Finish: natural gloss
Body: solid spruce top, solid mahogany back/sides (not hollow, but chambered), 47mm thinline depth, 365mm across
Neck: mahogany, 25.5" scale, 47mm nut width, D-shape profile
Weight: 3.740kg
Mods: none
Pickup: bridge mounted transducer style, active pre-amp
Case: basic non-original 335-style hard case, good fit and condition

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some scuffs on the end, some dimples on the back and some fading on the front, no major marks though. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples on the back only. The back has a decent scratch on the bottom horn about 100mm long, as well as a patch of rub wear on and near the belly carve, dimples on the top horn and back edge and some scuffs in the elbow area. The sides have a decent couple of chips on the top horn, as well as light scuffs and dimples around the whole body. The front has checking lines and minor dimples around the whole body, as well as some dents on the lower horn, dents on the top horn and bottom corner and a decent patch of rub wear in the elbow area. Overall: good condition (7/10)

Playing condition notes: action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good. The frets are in great shape with minor wear only, 8/10 for fret life left. Wearing fresh high tension classical strings.