Chet's guitar at the Smithsonian

[Norm]

I doubt much could be gained looking at a Haille guitar in a glass case. It will look pretty much like 'just another classical guitar'
As I understood it Chet got the guitars free or perhaps on loan might be a better way of putting it. He would use one for a while, go visit Haskell, drop off the old one, pick up one of the new ones and use that.
Haskell could sell the one used by Chet as a "Chet owned" guitar and most likely get a bit more money for it in the process.
Pretty good deal for all concerned. I think Segovia had a similar deal worked out with Ramirez. Every year he'd swap "last year's guitar" for a new one to take on tour.

At least the 59 and D'Angelico have some visually informative alterations made by Chet that make them different from other guitars of a similar stripe. And he kept those, giving away most of the others he got from Gretsch or Gibson. Too bad the original solid top Gretsch (the CGP prototype) got away from him else we could see that on display too.

[bill raymond]

There's some truth to what you say, Norm, but that's not the whole story: Not all classical guitar look alike; each maker has his own plantilla (body shape), headstock shape, et c., don't you know. Viewing a guitar in a glass case, it's true, has limitations, but you can get an idea of the makers "style" and some details on how it's finished, e.g. chamfering of the edges, sculpting of the heel. When we were in Paris a number of years back, I had the chance to visit the Musee de la Musique where I saw Django's Selmer in a glass case, and could pick up a number of interesting (to me) details that I couldn't from just photos.