A 1977 Gretsch Super Axe solid body electric guitar, serial #CA2RB001, in Ebony Stain, and signed by Chet Atkins himself. Owned and played by Randy Bachman, who has sold 40 million records worldwide as a member of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and as a solo artist.

After the 1976 theft of Randy’s prized orange 1957 Gretsch 6120, he received a call at his home that at first he wasn’t sure he wanted to take based on a misunderstanding of the name of the man on the other end of the phone.

“One of my kids said, ‘Dad, Chad’s on the phone.’ I said, ‘Chad? Chad Allen? Tell him I’ll call him back.’”

Thankfully, the phone rang a second time, and sure enough it wasn’t Chad –– it was “Mr. Guitar” himself, Chet Atkins. He’d heard about Randy’s stolen guitar and wanted to send him a gift. Some time later, a prototype Gretsch Super Axe showed up with a special serial number pressed onto the back of the headstock: CA2RB001, which stands for “Chet Atkins to Randy Bachman 001.”

This is one of three such guitars that existed at the time; one was in Atkins’ possession, while the other, a left-handed model, went to Paul McCartney.

Perhaps emblematic of Baldwin-era Gretsch, the Super Axe veers off-course from the usual Gretsch hallmarks –– a hollow body, Filter-Trons, a Bigsby. Instead, the guitar that would become the final collaboration between Gretsch and Atkins used a solid body construction, more traditional humbucker pickups, on-board effects, and an adjustable “Terminator” wrap-tail bridge.

The guitar features a 24 1/2” scale length laminated maple neck with a bound and block-inlaid ebony fingerboard and 21 frets. The maple body has chrome hardware, dual humbucking pickups, a control plate with knobs for volume, tone, phaser blend and rate, compression sustain, and on-off switches for each effect. Chet Atkins also personally signed the guitar on the pickguard just above the back painted Gretsch logo. Includes original black case with a blue plush interior. ?

PROVENANCE From The Collection of Randy Bachman

Guitars & Instruments, Randy Bachman