FEATURE
with something else, maybe a little more trim
or abalone, and he’d say, “Yeah—I’d like to
have one of those!” So I’d make him anoth-
er one, and then I’d trade him. Now I’ve
got two guitars that Chet Atkins used to
own and play, and I’ve got lots of pictures
of him playing them, so they’re kind of my
retirement. Probably my kids will sell them
at my funeral.
That must have been a huge boost for
your business.
Chet Atkins was the biggest boost to my
career—it was unbelievable. You know,
when somebody’s interested in your guitars, they’re not going to order one over the
phone if they’ve never played one. But when
you have Chet Atkins playing your guitar, people call you from all over the world and they
want one. I was kind of taken aback, because
they were so insistent on ordering
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