husker

I use the standard Gibson brite wires; 10-46; any other suggestions? My hands are average sized at best, but my fingers are skinny; needing more room isn't an issue; reach can be. I flat pick and fingerstyle; have lots of room for improvement with both styles. The thickness of the CG's neck can hinder me from wrapping my thumb around the top in certain chord positions. Its a little easier to do on my flattop. I've changed strings up on my flat top and tried all sorts of different stuff but have never been adventurous on the CG. I typically use a medium gauge D'addario bronze string on my Washburn flat top, as it sounds too tinny with the lighter gauge. And my CG definitely stays in the case as well when I'm not playing.

Searcy, I don't know whether you are referring to neck width or physical access at the cutaway regarding your comment on upper fret access. The slim taper neck gets wide (& thick) pretty quickly as you go up the fretboard. Of course, if my hands were as big as Chet's were, it wouldn't be a problem. For me, it isn't that much of an issue because I don't go that high on the neck very often. However, it is definitely not a guitar for shredders. I've never really thought of the weight as an issue; I guess it just feels more substantial to me which I take as a plus. Must be the maple center block that makes it heavier than many of the other hollow bodies. Thanks for posting your thoughts. I've been looking for any info on the CG that I could find. I really enjoy playing my CG. It has a great tone, particularly when paired with a little Fender reverb. If I had any complaints, it would be that I'm wearing the finish off the corner of my bridge because I rest the heel of my hand there playing fingerstyle (I guess it adds character). The other would be I'm always a little paranoid I'm going to gouge or mar the finish. I have a 2 year old to keep away from it as well.....she loves music and is always curious.

I bought a 1989 Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman earlier this year. I was really looking for a 335 or a 175 but once I played the neck on this guitar I knew it was for me. I'm not a finger style picker or anything but when it comes to tricky chord work and arpeggios I sometimes have trouble of a standard neck. For a guitar production that ran for 15 years it's surprising how tricky is can be finding information on this guitar. There's nothing out there with yearly changes. Some of the information I have found is just plain wrong from looking at my guitar. For example the center block is not "chromite" (balsa wood), it's maple. Anyway, Do you have one of these fantastic guitars? Searcy, I have a 2002 Country Gentleman which I ordered from Gibson. I looked and called everywhere I could think of to try to get one in my hands to play prior to ordering, but to no avail. Chet's music got me interested in playing, and I'll admit, I bought it primarily because of that. I was single then, and actually had money. They are difficult to find and there is very little info on them on the net compared to other more common guits. I have never seen one in a store. Mine is Sunrise Orange and I ordered it through a store in Minneapolis (10 hrs away from me but got a good enough price to justify the trip, and my brother lives there anyway). What is difficult to get through in a picture is the beautiful quilted maple; this along with the Sunrise Orange hue makes it really pop. I always get oohs and ahhs when I open the case. Waited 14 months to get it and it came with the standard Bigsby vs the Chet style Bigsby which I thought I had requested. Waited so long that I didn't mess with sending it back. I ordered it around the time they were switching the archtop production from the Nashville factory to the Memphis factory. They blamed the delay on that, but my guitar serial number indicates it was made in Nashville; however, my case says Gibson Memphis. Black lined case vs. the bright pink with the cover cloth like the older models came with. Great sounding guitar, but I have to admit the neck is probably a touch wide for my hands. I paired it with a 2002 Fender Pro Tube Pro Reverb. As far as the Gretsch vs Gibson CG arguments you always hear; a dear friend of my family has a '58 Gretsch 6120 original everything, in pristine condition. I've played it, and I'd pick it over my CG if I had the choice. Considering its worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x more if I had to venture a guess, I'm not sure anyone wouldn't. But I love my CG. Its a wonderful guitar. See below for pic of the CG. Edit: I'll post a pic of the Gretsch if I can find one.