Speaking of Guitars

I've always loved guitars and some of my
best instruments have been used in some
very prominent books. Heres a sampling
of some of them, starting with the Gibson
100th Anniversary.

This was a special treat. There must be
a gazillion Les Pauls in the world but on
the page titled " The Birth of the Les
Paul ", Gibson used MY 1955 Gold Top
and even put my name beside

the neck with the photo.

George Gruhns Accoustic Guitars book

features the Warner Bros. Nashville

Mossman I had built in the mid 80s.

It has a painting on the front which looks

like its carved into the wood. Hidden

inside the painting are WB Cartoon

Characters Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and

Tweety Bird. It also features the WB shield

inlaid with a Rose on the headstock, and Bugs

inlaid at the 5th fret.

This is the guitar used in Travis Tritts first

Video " Country Club ".

The Guitar was used to begin a new chapter

in the book " The Guitar Steps Forward, 1930s

to Current times ". A real honor to be chosen

for this.

My thanks to George Gruhn and Walter Carter

for this.

George Gruhns Electric Guitars book hosts a couple more really neat retro looking " Rockabilly "
late 50s type early 60s guitars as well as the amps.

I sold the Fender BassMan to Travis but still have the two guitars pictured here.

This is my current and all time favorite
guitar. This is THE STRAT !!

This is my player. Its built from parts.

The body is a 1988 custom shop NAMM

show Strat body with a Very nice flame

top and Ash back. The Neck came from

Mike Morgans closet in Texas and is a

Killer 1962 D size Clay Dot Rosewood.
The pickguard is a 1964 Snot Green
original, the pickups are Joe Bardens
and it has chicken head knobs. It plays
fabulous, screams and it would be hard
to replace.

Arlen Roth, Robert Gorsky, Thorn
Custom Inlay, Warmouth, and Joe
Barden, all played a role in building this
Spectacular Strat.

Arlen put me in touch with Robert who
did the flame guitar paint jobs for the
famous Hot Licks / Arlen Roth guitars.
This is the only Strat Robert has done,
and he did a premier job including
sparkle blue "Ghost" flames which can
only be seen at certain angles. The
neck is simply a work of art, and
without a doubt, one of the nicest I've
ever seen. Hats off to Thorn Custom
Inlay ( they are on the web ). The
Dragon has numerous types of shell
used in various parts of the body and
the eye is a diamond chip. The back
spines and claws are stirling Silver and
the work is flawless. The board is
Ebony and the neck itself is the most
beautiful piece of birdseye Maple I've
ever seen on ANY guitar. Its hard to
imagine more figure than this.

It has Joe Bardens, and the hardware
and body came from Warmouth. The
body is ash and is one of the lightest
around, weighing a mere 3.8 pounds. It
was also painted black by Warmouth

before going to Robert for the flames.

firstake@bellsouth.net

Speaking of Guitars

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the express writen permission of

Firstake Enterprises

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Jimmy Thackery plays this one on the new Cate
Brothers Album we just recorded here at Firstake !!