“There was even mud in it when I first bought it”: Chris Stapleton reveals how he once bought a ’50s Gibson for $380
Chris Stapleton may have shelves of Grammys and a guitar collection any music lover would drool over, but one particular six-string holds a special place in his heart: a weathered acoustic 1950s Gibson LG-2 steel string he bought for just $380.
During a visit to his Nashville rehearsal space – a converted warehouse now filled with instruments, memorabilia and music history – the country legend gave a rare glimpse into the guitar that started it all.
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“This is the first guitar I ever bought after I got to Nashville,” he says [via Billboard], pulling out the well-worn six-string from a sea of cases. “I bought it for $380.”
Stapleton says he purchased the instrument from Chambers, a local guitar store that’s long since shut its doors.
“There is nothing about it that is precious to anybody else,” says the musician. “It’s got a million crack repairs. There was even mud in it when I first bought it, I think.”
And yet for Stapleton, it’s irreplaceable.
“If I had to walk out of here with one thing, it would be this,” he adds. “All the other stuff – I would be sad about it – but whatever I’ve done, whatever I’ve made, whatever I’ve turned into has pretty much been built on this thing.”
Other vintage gems in his collection include a 1976 bicentennial Gibson Firebird once used by Tom Petty during his Fillmore shows in the ’90s, as well as a shoulder-high Rickenbacker Transonic amp – the exact same one Jimmy Page used when Led Zeppelin toured the US for the first time in 1969.
Looking back on how far he’s come, Stapleton says, “It’s the buzz I look for. That buzz that starts with me then connects me to the band that connects to the audience then back around. I’m always looking for that electrical current.”
“I had no voice before, no guitar skills,” he continues. “But something drove me to it. My uncle had a regional band, so maybe that. My dad listened to all the great country too – Waylon, Willie, Merle Haggard – but he also played R&B: Otis Redding and Ray Charles. He loved all of it. So music was always there, but sports became less prevalent, and the music just stayed.”
The post “There was even mud in it when I first bought it”: Chris Stapleton reveals how he once bought a ’50s Gibson for $380 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
