The Chetboard

On p68 of the latest ed. of Guitar Aficionado magazine there is a picture
of this guitar which I was not previously aware of - the accompanying
description says that it "may be one of a kind". Has anyone heard of it ?

Rumor has it that up to 5 were made and maybe 3 of them are left? I know that Rick Nielsen (who is a avid guitar collector) owns one. I have seen a picture of Townsend with one, but it could have been a photo op.

If that's that fancy Guild with the soundhole and all the inlay I think the actual number was three. Merle had one then did Something Stupid to the neck on it so they built him another. After the third one they figured it was too expensive to build and scrapped it.

I heard him live with it once.

It sounded pretty good but it was no Super 400 with P-90 pickups.

Very pretty, gaudy, looking guitar under stage lights...

It is certainly a very ornate instrument. It is a good quality
photo. Also to anyone who plays lefty like me - there are
some good quality photos of Eliot Eastons guitars in the same mag.

Merle's Solomaster is on display at the Merle Travis Music Center in Muhlenberg Co. It is owned by Pat Eatherly's husband Gene. I never played it, and althought it is a unique guitar I sure like the 400 better. Maybe some of you can come to some of the picking events over there this year and see it. EP

I have only been able to account for three Solomasters: Merle's, which, as Eddie said, is in Kentucky; the one owned by Rick Nielsen of "Cheap Trick", & a third one which surfaced in the early '80's, but I've been unable to track it down. It's certainly a mystery.

Randy

Thom Bresh somewhere, somehow, mentioned what a chore it was to have a Truly Unique guitar, particularly if it had Star provenance. At the time he was referring to the Bigsby necked Martin he was in control of for so many years. He implied he had it in a bank vault.

There is always the worry about dedicated thieves so when you have one of the iconic instruments you have to take special (and sometimes expensive) measures to protect it.

Reviving this old thread to add some info:

I was reading Pete Townshend's biography today, and in one section he states that in 1989, he purchased a 49 ft sailboat. He said that he sold a bunch of precious guitars to finance the deal, including two D'Angelicos, and original Flying V, and the Guild Merle Travis Solo Master. From the look of the photo of Pete with the guild, it was taken in the mid 1970's....so he would have had that guitar in his possession for 15 years or so.

Here is a Burpee Museum Twitter photo of the Solomaster

https://twitter.com/BurpeeMuseum/status ... to/1/large