A Gibson Chet Atkins Super 4000 on Ebay

[Norm]

I can't remember what the carved top 6120 went for when Jimmy Atkins auctioned it but I seem to have 450 K in my mind. Whatever it was I was stunned how cheaply the bidder got it for.

Norm,
Just for clarification sake, is that number you've quoted as in FOUR HUNDRED and FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?

Yeah, but, again, I didn't write it down and that's what I think it was. On the other hand, it may have been what Jimmy had hoped to get and it sold for less. Paul commented on two of the Travis guitars that got sold

You know when I saw what they brought (The Martin with Bigsby neck sold for $264,000 and the Super 400 sold for $36,000 ) it brought tears to my eyes it was almost like a good friend had died. but for some reason I didn't catch the price of the original CGP.
Paul Yandell cgp

Whoops!! I just saw smokymtguitar's note. That actually sounds more down to earth. The 450K may have been what pundits had speculated it would bring,

I know some of you guys have saved some of Paul's comments so if anyone knows for sure I'd appreciate a note about the price it went for. "Less than 50K" is a lot of money but again, disappointing.

[smokymtguitar09]

Norm,
Jimmy's wife said "they had expected more because at the time it was appraised for $100,000". That was 2002 a year after Chet passed away. Chet had given it to them as a wedding present in 1962, and they are soon to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

[Norm]

That guitar's life was so strange...

Here it was, a one of a kind and one of his best sounding instruments, so special in so many ways, yet rather than keep it Chet had to give it away twice to get rid of it. As I understand, brother Lowell got it first then Jimmy

[guitarchuck]

Back to the Gibson Chet Atkins Super 4000, I dug out the Musicians Friend catalog that I saved from fall 1997. They did a 2 page spread, "Private Reserve" ad. Gibson gave the guitar a retail list price of $40,000.00 when it was new. They said in this particular ad that "Only 20 Available Worldwide...Musician's Friend Offers Two Hand-Signed Models".
The color is unique on the guitar offered on Ebay. Most that I've seen have been the cherry sunburst color.

[Eddie Estes]

John D'Angelico made some of the finest guitars ever made.

Maybe the Lloyd Loar Gibson instruments were that good but nothing
Gibson made in the last 30 years deserves to be mentioned in the same breath
as a D'Angelico.

I won't even get started on Gibson's sorry excuse for customer service
or the shabby way they treated Chet's endorsement after he died.

[smokymtguitar09]

According to Jimmy Atkins his uncle Chet did give his original solid top 6120 to his brother Lowell, Jimmy's father. However; Chet requested it back for some reason, kept it for awhile, and eventually gave it to Jimmy as a wedding gift. Jimmy said Chet did that with another guitar he gave him. Chet would ask for it back, install a new device or modify it, then send it back for Jimmy to try out. At the time Jimmy was playing in various groups in Atlanta while giving lessons and working at several music stores in the area. He said that guitar went back and forth several times. He added that Gretsch wanted Chet not to play the solid top 6120 in public because the carved solid top would cost too much to make a production model, and priced out of range for most guitar players. Paul Yandell mentioned that as well when he and Gretsch later developed the 6120 CGP, which is a fantastic guitar even without a carved solid top.

A few years ago I saw a custom 6120 advertised that had a carved solid top with a price tag of well over $4,000. Does anyone know if the Gibson 4000 have a carved top?

[Norm]

I'm sure the Super 4000 has a solid top which is a large part of why it cost so much. Allegedly the finest spruce hand carved (by someone who knows how). Super 400's are carved tops too and I think Byrdlands and L series also get carved tops

[David Elliott]

John D'Angelico made some of the finest guitars ever made.
No argument or question about that...

Maybe the Lloyd Loar Gibson instruments were that good but nothing
Gibson made in the last 30 years deserves to be mentioned in the same breath
as a D'Angelico.

I think that might be a bit of a stretch...

Again, I would not in any way denigrate John D'Angelico's skills as a guitar builder, but we were discussing "value", and I'd have to seriously question ANY monetary value that is based on either a builder's reputation, or the reputation of an artist who endorses the end product. This is, as I said, an "artificial" value which is based not on the product itself, but rather on who built it, or who played it.

Naturally, all of us Chet Atkins fans would love to have a guitar owned (and played) by him, but that would not necessarily mean that the guitar he played was great, only the guitarist!

"Value" is a relative term, and what is that old expression..."one man's trash is another man's treasure?"

Here is a perfect illustration of that, in an old tune recorded by the great John Denver years ago, where he "reminisces" about an old Gibson guitar given to him by his grandmother when he was a boy. The "value" of that guitar would probably not be that much in today's dollars, but I happen to know that it was "priceless" to him, because he told me so once. As an addendum to this, this old Gibson was not "lost" as John mentions in this video, but was stolen, (after a performance), and I understand he paid a substantial reward to get it back (no questions asked!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIlOPTG69i4

By the way, many people are probably unaware that this particular guitar was cremated, (along with John's remains, as was his wish), and the ashes were scattered from an airplane over the Rockies in the Aspen, Colorado area.

David

[Norm]

Just a quick.02

There's something to be said about a product made by a guy who essentially makes one guitar at a time over any factory output. John D. grew up in a musical instrument making family and shop. That's all he knew how to do. Hving said that, it bugs me that the D'Angelico estate either sold or licensed the name for japanes manufacture. They're made by Terada and as such are probably pretty good guitars... but they're no D'Angelicos no matter what it says on the peghead.

I'm sure the gibson solid/carved guitars are fine instruments but I also think they're priced too high.

...and get them kids offa my lawn!

[Ray Bohlken]

I'm sure the Super 4000 has a solid top which is a large part of why it cost so much. Allegedly the finest spruce hand carved (by someone who knows how). Super 400's are carved tops too and I think Byrdlands and L series also get carved tops

I saw a Super 4000 at one of the C.A.A.S. conventions and I had an acoustic Super 400 once and I could see they had a solid top - no lamination. Do the electric Super 400s and the electric L-5s have solid tops? In one of my books, the author implied that the electric ones were laminated. I've never seen one of those up close so I don't have a clue.
Ray