Chet Atkins Exhibit to open this weekend at The Country Music Hall of Fame

Wed, 10 Aug 2011

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will pay host and tribute to country music legend, Chet Atkins starting this weekend. The "Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player" Exhibit will open on Friday 12th August - and until June 11th 2012, at the Museum's East Gallery.

In a press release posted by Gretsch, who have made they confirm details of the exhibit:

Nearly 20 of Atkins’ guitars will be featured in the exhibit, including the following:

Chet’s first guitar, a Sears Silvertone he acquired at age 11 and upon which he taught himself to play
Chet’s 1938 Gibson L-10; the guitar was custom-designed for its original owner, Les Paul, and handed over to Atkins in 1945
A 1948 Gibson L-7 guitar used by Atkins in the recording studio, and onstage with Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, in the late 1940s
Four Gretsch Chet Atkins model guitars, including a 1976 fire-engine-red Gretsch Chet Atkins Super Axe

Other notable artifacts will include:
A recording contract with Bullet Recording Co., dated July 20, 1946, stating that for Atkins’ recording of “Pickin’ the Blues,” the artist would receive a “one-cent royalty for all records listed to sell at a retail price of more than 50 cents.”
Atkins’ 1954 guitar instruction manual, Chet Atkins Guitar Method
A meticulous re-construction of the work-bench and shelves in Chet’s basement home studio, including tools, meters and personal effects including photos of Jerry Reed, Ray Stevens and others
Atkins’ framed C.G.P. (“Certified Guitar Player”) diploma, which he bestowed on himself in 1997