Chet Atkins CGP Gibson on eBay

[BillB]

Just saw this on eBay. Not sure if it's as rare as they say, but you don't see them very often.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GIBSON-CHET-ATKINS-CGP-GUITAR-CUSTOM-SHOP-/170972033983?pt=Guitar&hash=item27ceba33bf

Bill B.

[David Elliott]

I think this was the forerunner to the Gibson "Phasar", and the only other one I'm aware of is owned by Stan Surman.

Yes, it's rare!

David

[guitarchuck]

Wow! This is one rare guitar. I need to look up the specs again to see for sure if it's a CGP or a Phasar. They were slightly different. This is the guitar that Gibson made and used Chet's Peaver as the prototype. http://www.ebay.com/sch/classic57guitars/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 This seller must have bought a collection from a really big Chet fan. He has at least 5 or 6 really nice or rare Chet Atkins models for sale on Ebay. I wish I could afford to collect guitars. These would be nice to have!

[David Elliott]

Wow, is right! This is quite a collection!

Chuck, I don't recall any mention (by Chet or Paul) of there being any difference between the Gibson "CGP" and the "Phasar" guitar, other than them changing the name of it (for some reason) which I think is covered in the MAMG book.

I'm wondering if this seller might be Stan Surman? Whoever it is, they certainly have good taste in Chet Atkins related collector guitars!

David

[David Elliott]

I got to thinking a little more about the "Phasar" guitar, and recalled that it (at least the one that Chet used) had what I believe was a Roland synth device installed on it. Whether or not this was incorporated into the final design or not, I'm not sure, and I don't have my MAMG book handy.

At any rate, the guitar was a resounding flop as I recall, and I think they only sold but a very few of them. Knowing Gibson, they were probably overpriced. I believe the initial reason for them even making them, was to try to cut into the Fender market at that time, which was the most popular guitar for rock musicians...

David

[pattie surman]

Gibson was not to happy that Chet was playing the Peavey Guitar on TV, so Hutch , who made all of Chet's prototype Gibson Guitars made the first few .From the add in Guitar Player MAG. "Chet Atkins CGP. A New design solid body guitar designed for the country picker. The CGP has a maghony body and a one-piece maple neck.The two pickups include a hot ML250 Gibson single coil in themiddle position and a Gibson HPAF inthe bridge position.Both with coil tap switches".The first ones were Wine Red.Mine is the one Waylon Jennings is playing in that ad. The one on EBay is the same as the one shown in the Gibson Catalog which is quite different than the ones made in Gibsons Custom Shop in TN.If any of you are ever in central FL.,look me up . Your more than welcome to come and play it. You will love this guitar. Ihad posted photos some time back and I think Chuck also posted a photo of mine when the Peavey was up for sale. I can still remember Chet saying to me when I had him sign that guitar. 'Hold on to that guitar It will be worth a lot of money some day'. I'm still wating Chet. Gibson was not happy that I had that guitar. Stan

[guitarchuck]

I can't find my info at the moment, but there was some changes between the time that Gibson called it "cgp" and "Phasar". I did notice that in the photo's of the one listed on Ebay: the headstock has Chet's signature logo with "cgp" inlayed after it. So, the Ebay guitar must be a "cgp" model. Although, I do believe that at first the cgp model had more than one switch and unbranded pickups. The Ebay guitar has only one switch and pickups with the just like the Peaver with the EMG brand on them. The Phasar was listed in Gibson's catalog as "Sunrise Orange". The Ebay gutiar appears to be red and as Stan pointed out, his original CGP is "Wine Red". I need to look at the "Me and My Guitars" book again, but I believe Chet's had the specs more like the orginal ad the featured Waylon Jennings, even though the book called it a "Phasar". The Roland synth thing was a add on device. It wasn't on the production guitars.

[bill park]

The text for this auction says that the guitar was "MADE AT THE CUSTOM SHOP IN CALIFORNIA ", and that the serial number is "SERIAL NO.05930096 MADE AROUND 2000". How can that be? The CGP (Phasar) is from around 1986, and all of them would have been built in Nashville.
Are we looking at a fake here, or am I missing something

[bill park]

...

Here's the spec sheet on the original Gibson "CGP" (Sunrise, Phasar) as handed out by Tim Shaw at the 1986 CAAS convention...

[guitarchuck]

Bill, I think the seller just don't have his facts right. They were made in a time period between 1986-maybe 89. They seemed to have a lot of changes. In fact, Chet's Peaver even went through several changes. Notice that the specs on the sheet that you posted are different from these in the catalog that also changes the name to Phasar. Here's the specs from the catalog for the Phasar from the 1988 catalog: