Chet Atkins signed Vantage VTC-40 1996 - Honey Gold/Red “A piece of history”

Up for sale is a Vantage VTC-40 solid body Nylon with a lot of history, in mint condition (it looks new) with tiny imperfections. This one is # 660 of only one thousand, made in South Korea by Samick. It has 21 frets, 1.75” neck width, 43” total lenght. Everything works as it should. Unfortunately I‘m downsizing and unable to keep all guitars I have.

I bought this guitar in 1996 in New York City, where I lived at the time, just a few days prior moving to Nashville, TN where I thought it would be easier to find work. And it was… There, every day, after my gig, I used to go to the “Exit In”, a local restaurant/ night club, sometimes to hear music while eating, sometimes only to listen, even playing on occasions.,

One night I saw Chet Atkins entering the club. At that time, his performances were rare… After acknowledging him, the manager, who was also a guitar player, asked if he could play, at least one song, as he put it. On that day, which was rare, there were no guitar at stage. When I heard: “there is no guitar here!”, I approached handling my guitar to him. ”At least one song”, as the manager mentioned, lasted for over half an hour, when he even played “Star and Stripes Forever”, making three voices out of only one guitar, which caused an standing ovation from the delighted presents. When finished, he asked if it was okay to autograph my guitar. We talked for some time, on most of which he kept apologizing for the little ding made (showed on one of the pictures) when, handling the guitar back to me, it hit a chair.

We met several times thereafter…. As far as I know, that was one of the few last times Chet Atkins performed in public before passing away in 2001, leaving to guitars players, and music, in general, an enormous legacy.