Barrington/ Gruhn Signature Series AT-1 1980s - Blonde

In the 1980's, George Gruhn designed a series of guitars, The Gruhn Signature Series, that were built in Japan, and this one was the top of the line, the AT-1. It features a solid carved spruce top, highly flamed/ deluxe matched laminate back and sides, a 3 piece maple neck, ebony fretboard, binding everywhere, and really nice inlays on the fretboard and headstock.

The body is 16" x 2.75, which is a big reason I bought it. I was looking for a carved top, long scale (25.5") guitar with a floating pickup, and this was it. The body dimensions are notably more comfortable than a traditional 17" x 3" archtop. I changed out the pickup for a Kent Armstrong handmade in US PAF with adjustable pole pieces, and added a "stealth" thumbwheel tone pot. I like that arrangement much better than having both tone and volume knobs, as I often adjust volume during tunes, but once I get the tone set that's it.

The guitar plays effortlessly with very low action on a real straight neck. The frets are polished and smooth. It has amazing acoustic volume and is very resonant- quite a lively instrument. Nut width is 1-11/16". Currently set up with a new set of D'Addario Chrome flat wounds 12-54.

Here are the buts: the guitar was taken to a tech (prior to my getting it) who did some bad things. He put two wood screws into the top to support the floating pickup. I removed them and filled the holes, which are hidden beneath the Armstrong pickup. The tech also put a screw through the bottom inside corner of the pickguard into the top, to "stabilize" the pickguard, I guess. That hole is also filled; you can see it if you look under the pickguard. Someone put an additional screw hole into the top at the top inside corner of the pickguard (can't see it), also filled. The good news is that none of these holes are visible unless you go digging.

There are also a couple of very fine grain line cracks in the top. One has been repaired, the others have been inspected- they are not ope at all, are very difficult to see and the don't move, even when heavy pressure is applied. My tech looked inside and said he could not see them from the inside, and he thinks they do not go all the way through.

None of these "buts" were disclosed to me when I bought the guitar, and I paid quite a bit more for it. It is an excellent instrument in gig-ready condition, but not a collector's piece.

Ships in an excellent Martin hard shell case that fits well.