Vintage Grammer Johnny Cash Signature G50 Model Acoustic Guitar 1969 Sunburst

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This vintage 1969 Grammer Johnny Cash Signature G50 Model acoustic is truly a very rare find! Built in Nashville, Tennesse the guitar was made with a sitka spruce top, maple back and sides, maple neck with an ebony fingerboard, Grover tuners and a real cool headstock engraved with the “Grammer” logo and “Johnny Cash”. We got this guitar off the original owner who’s dad bought it for him in 1970. Comes with the original Grammer case. Less than 100 of these guitars were ever built. It sounds and plays great! Below are the factory specs that were published in the Grammer promotional pamphlet as well as a brief history about the Grammer guitar company.

Check out what Joe Bonamassa has to say about this rare model that he also owns!

"1969 Grammer Johnny Cash model. This is the rarest guitar I own. I bought this guitar from Rumbleseat Music before (store owner) Eliot had the opportunity to even see it. There were only about 100 made in total. This guitar played a prominent role on the “Driving Towards the Daylight” CD and the “An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House” DVD (where you can see it in all of its glory). Anyone that plays the guitar says they want to buy it but it’s NOT for sale… Ever!!" - Joe Bonamassa

Description and Specifications:

• Guitar Top - Select Sitka Spruce
• Back & Sides - Select hard maple. Various color schemes
• Neck - Laminated hard maple & adjustable truss rod joined to the body by precision dovetail
• Fingerboard - Finest African ebony, or rosewood, inlaid, our own unique design
• Keys - The finest Grover machine heads. Others if quality standards meet our specifications
• Bridge - African ebony or beautiful choice rosewood
• Cases - Finest professional leatherette covered, plush lined
• Neck Strap Buttons - Already installed on instruments
• Lifetime Guarantee - Against defect in materials and workmanship to original owner
• Specifications
• Body Width - Upper 12", Lower 15&1/2"
• Body Length - 20," Total length of Guitar 40"
• Thickness - Butt end 5," Neck end 4"
• Neck Scale - 24&1/2 corrected
• Neck Sizes - 3 standard: Slim, Medium, & Wide plus custom fitting at the factory

Description and Specifications are taken from the original Grammer Guitar promotional pamphlet.

About Grammer Guitars

Grammer guitars, made in Nashville in the ’60s, are easily recognizable by their oversized pegheads, pickguards and bridges – not to mention the typical blue, yellow, or green sunburst finishes – and they seem a perfect complement for the gaudy stage clothing worn by country artists of the era. However, underneath the cosmetic excesses was a serious guitar. Moreover, the Grammer name transcended country music, and it was the only guitar of the era (with the arguable exception of Sho-Bud pedal steels) named after – and designed by – a bona fide star guitarist.

Billy Grammer was born in southern Illinois in 1925. After serving in the Army during World War II, he worked as an apprentice toolmaker at the Washington Naval gun factory, acquiring skills that he would later put to good use designing guitar-production equipment. He began playing professionally in 1947, when legendary country music promoter Connie B. Gay hired him at WARL in Arlington, Virginia. Through the early ’50s, he backed up such country artists as Hawkshaw Hawkins, T. Texas Tyler, Clyde Moody and Grandpa Jones. His career took a giant step up in 1955, when he replaced the chronically tardy Roy Clark on WARL’s “Town and Country Time.” Hosted by Jimmy Dean (who would later have the pop hit “Big John”), the show was aired nationally on CBS.

In 1964, with demand growing for acoustic guitars, Grammer decided to make his own. He put up $18,000 for a controlling interest and teamed up with Nashville music store owner Clyde Reid and Nashville guitar builder J.W. Gower to form the RG&G guitar company. To unlock the secrets of fine guitars, Grammer took his personal Martin D-18 and Gibson J-45 and sawed them in half so they could be inspected inside and out.

Grammer settled on a dreadnought body style, 151/2″ wide, with a 241/2″ scale. Necks would be available in three widths. Although labels had a blank space for a model number, there were none. With the help of Fred Hedges, Grammer drew up the design features and also designed the production equipment. The first Grammer guitar didn’t meet Grammer’s standards, so he sawed it up. Finally, in March, 1965, the first Grammer guitar made it past Grammer’s quality control saw, with a wholesale price of $127 and list of $395.

Serial numbers started at 1000, and in the three years Billy Grammer ran the company, they did not reach 2000. This month’s feature is #1264, which places it in the company’s first year. The wide points on the lower corners of the peghead also identify an early example. It has maple back and sides (Brazilian rosewood and ribbon-grain mahogany were also offered). The two vertical lines of inlay on the fingerboard became one of Grammer’s signature features.

Grammer’s recording success proved a double-edged sword, as it left little time for the problems facing his company – particularly the difficulty of getting good materials. So, in ’68, he sold the company to Ampeg. The contract included a royalty on every guitar and a reversion clause in the event Ampeg stopped building Grammers.

With Ampeg’s ownership, the G in the Grammer logo was changed from upper-case to lower-case. And that wasn’t the only aspect that went “down.” Although Ampeg was in good financial shape, the needed money and materials never made it to the Grammer factory in Nashville. In the meantime, the company began giving away Grammer guitars – something Billy had never done, not even to fellow recording artists.