Chet Atkins

Seen on cover of "Me and my guitars", Gibson made the Country Gentleman for Chet Atkins in 1987.

The 6120 was designed by Gretsch and endorsed by Chet, himself. This guitar was the original "Country Gentleman" and in a well-documented presentation of Chet's gear, Premier Guitar stated this:

"All aesthetic extravagances on the 6120 were eliminated on the Country Gentleman, which came along in 1959. Chet’s personal edition is surely one of the most beautiful electric guitars ever built, even if the f-holes are decals."

"...this is the guitar heard on most of those dazzling records"

In this clip from Pop Goes The Country 1980, Chet plays "Hiwaiian Wedding Song" on a Del Vecchio Dinamico resonator.

According to Premier Guitar, Chet Atkins ordered the very first electric D'Angelico guitar. He soon modified the custom Excel model he had purchased, adding a P-90 pickup. Chet used this guitar performing with the world-famous Carter sisters.

On Atkins' official website, colleague and friend, Paul Yendell discussed one of the more unique pieces of gear in Chet's guitar arsenal which Chet called, "The Peaver".

From the official FAQ:

‘The Peaver’ was a guitar I built for Chet to record with. I had made myself one and he liked it. He had a Peavey T-60 so I took the body and put a wide type Strat neck on it. I then put 2 EMG pickups in it. He used it quite a bit. “ Sunrise” was one tune, “Laughing at Life” was another. It wasn't very pretty as guitars go, but sounded great.

Fellow guitar player and close friend, Paul Yendell, stated on Chet's official page that Atkins used a stock Standel 25L15 on 98% of his recordings.

In 1982 Gibson came out with the Chet Atkins CE. According to Premier Guitar:

California luthier Kirk Sand approached Chet with further improvements in body chambers and pickup design. Chet connected him with Gibson and the result was perhaps the most elegant of the series, this Studio Classic, with a mahogany fleur-de-lis and vintage-style Gibson slotted peghead.

In this photo, we can see Atkins with Gretsch Nashville Amplifier.

Premier Guitar did a piece detailing a small (but important) bit of gear used by Chet Atkins. The following is part of the article detailing his first guitar.

"Sears Roebuck Silvertone Miraculously, Chet’s first guitar survives. His stepfather brought it home, where it was first used by older brother Lowell (the initials carved in the top are his doing—a girlfriend, apparently). A motivated Chet traded a year’s worth of early morning milking duty for the box, whose neck had been broken and crudely repaired with a screw. The action was stratospherically high and difficult."

According to Premier Guitar, this Gibson was a gift from his half-brother, Jim. He acquired it from noted guitarist, Les Paul. The following is an excerpt from PG:

“When (Jim) saw how much I liked it, he surprised me by giving it to me,” wrote Chet in his memoir, Me and My Guitars. “Riding back to Knoxville on the train, I was so happy I didn’t know what to do. Every little while I would open the case just to look at that guitar. I loved the way it looked and the way it smelled.”

As he would with nearly every guitar he’d own, Chet modified this instrument, installing a Vibrola tailpiece and a floating DeArmond pickup. The former gave him the tremulous vibrato effect that earned him the “talking guitar” tagline, and the latter gave him the volume and nuanced control he’d been looking for. Chet’s first serious radio work and his earliest recordings were made on the L-10.

Sadly, the promising career of this young guitar was cut short when Chet, standing on a chair to reach a radio microphone that nobody could be bothered to lower, slipped and fell. He did a chest-plant on the guitar, severely damaging the body. It was repaired but never the same, Chet said.

On the cover of the "Picks On the Beatles" album, you can see a G6122-12 on the cover

Chet Atkins & Jerry Reed "Baby's Coming Home" where both are playing Fender Telecaster, amazingly of course

Chet Atkins collaborated with Gretsch to design the Gretsch 6163 Chet Atkins Piggyback Tremolo & Reverb amplifier, as featured in the 1968 Gretsch Guitars and Amplifiers Catalogue.

YouTube video from 1987 - Chet Atkins & Friends television show (American). At 2:34 of the video Chet Atkins is playing a Gibson Chet Atkins CE in a duet of “I’ll see you in my dreams” with Mark Knopfler. At 6:19, Chet Atkins plays the Gibson Chet Atkins CE on “Walk of Life”. Chet is seen on several additional instances playing the Gibson Chet Atkins CE during the hour long video.

The Super 4000 was created for Atkins at his request, with only two being made for him. A third was made later for Randy Bachman when he requested it at a Summer NAMM. Bachman featured his Super 4000 in this December 1, 2020 Facebook post and it was ultimately auctioned via Julien's on May 30, 2024.

Facebook, Randy Bachman, December 1, 2020

My Gibson Super 4000 custom made and only the 3rd one in the world. Chet Atkins had Gibson make him 2 copies of Merle Travis' Gibson Super 400 but with narrower sides like a Byrdland. The guitar is much easier on the right arm when playing because of the shallower depth.

Julien's listing

Years later, Randy’s personal friend Chet Atkins had Gibson fashion two Super 4000s –– a Super 400 model, but with a much thinner body to save wear and tear on the shoulder from reaching your strumming arm across a deep jazz box guitar. A short while later, Gibson invited Randy to Summer NAMM and offered to make him whatever he wanted, and his request was a thin-bodied Super 4000 just like Chet’s. Sure enough, upon arrival this guitar was waiting for him courtesy of Gibson’s famous and now defunct Memphis factory.

Chet Atkins is confirmed to have used The Ray Butts EchoSonic amplifier, as noted in an article by Dave Hunter in Vintage Guitar® magazine. The EchoSonic, with fewer than 70 units ever made, was a key component in shaping the sound of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, attracting notable artists such as Luther Perkins, Roy Orbison, Paul Yandell, Carl Perkins, and Scotty Moore.