Merlin Arthur Smith Country Squire 1967 - Walnut gloss

PERFECT CONDITION AND EXTREMELY RARE 1967 ARTHUR SMITH COUNTRY SQUIRE. ARTHUR WAS THE COUNTRY/BLUEGRASS LEGEND WHO WROTE THE DUELING BANJOS TUNE. ARTHURS MIDDLE NAME WAS MERLIN AND THAT IS WHERE THE HEADSTOCK NAME CAME FROM.

*DOUBLE CUTAWAY, FLORENTINE THINLINE HOLLOW BODY, MULTI BOUND

*ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD, PEARL INLAYS

*THREE SIN-COIL PICKUPS IN CHROME SURROUNDS

*3 ON/OFF SLIDER SWITCHES, 3 VOLUME CONTROLS AND 1 MASTER TONE

FULLY ADJUSTABLE BRIDGE WITH VIBRATO/TREMELO.

This is an incredibly rare piece of 1960s guitar history. THIS is a 1967 Merlin "Arthur Smith Country Squire" thinline hollow-body electric guitar.

It features a fascinating backstory that bridges mid-century American country music fame with the boom of vintage Japanese guitar manufacturing.

The Backstory: Sold in a Hardware Store?

While most vintage guitars from this era were sold in dedicated music shops, the "Merlin" brand has a unique North Carolina provenance. In 1967, the Lowe's Home Improvement hardware chain commissioned a limited run of these guitars to sell in their storefronts.

Lowe’s was a primary sponsor for Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith—a legendary country music instrumentalist, TV host, and the brilliant mind who originally composed the hit "Feudin' Banjos" (later famous as "Dueling Banjos" in the movie Deliverance). Lowe's used his regional star power to market the guitar to families walking down the hardware aisles. Fun fact: "Merlin" wasn't a random mystical name choice—it was actually Arthur Smith's real middle name!

Specs & Japanese Origins

Despite the American endorsement, the guitar itself is a product of the golden age of Japanese "lawsuit era" manufacturing.

 The Manufacturer: It was sourced by the Kanda Shoka Company of Japan and manufactured as a badge-engineered variant of the Greco Model 921.

 The Body: it features a double-cutaway thinline hollow body beautifully faced in laminated rosewood veneer with elegant bound F-holes.

 The Electronics: It sports a multi-pickup array consisting of three single-coil pickups in prominent chrome surrounds. Above the pickguard sits a control panel featuring three individual on/off rocker slide switches for choosing your pickups, paired with heavy-duty chrome "hi-fi" style volume knobs for each pickup and a master tone control.

 The Hardware: It includes a stylized chrome vibrato/tremolo arm and a unique spring-loaded mechanical flip-up string mute located just behind the adjustable roller bridge.

Rarity and Rarity Value

Because these were only sold briefly through a specific hardware chain, very few were ever produced. Less than a dozen distinct models ever bore the "Merlin" brand name.

While Arthur Smith famously preferred high-end Gibsons and Fenders on stage and likely never played a Merlin in concert, this specific signature model has become a highly prized, eccentric holy grail for collectors of rare 1960s Japanese imports.

COMES WITH A HARDSHELL CASE