hi there
I am new on this forum.have been a huge fan of Chuck ever since I heard Memphis Tenessee in about 1964,started playin also back then and still play most of his songs.
uptill now never encountered musicians here in holland who seriously wated to play his songs .as I plan to immigrate to west canada vancouver island this year,i expect to find more musicians over there .
enough about that.
through the years iI'm lucky to say that I've seen a lot of Chuck's playin over here in the netherlands and enjoyed all of it .
Other things I wanted to put here are already said by Tulane so I'll skip that,dig it though
As I play a 355 myself and also a bbking(cherry), I got a few questions to CBII :

>how come gibson never produced a es355 chuck berry?
/why doesn't your father have them made by gibson custom shop?
/why is his recent guitar missing the two tone knobs and the maestro tremolo tailpeace ?they are easy to get.

hope you guys will keep on forever and ever

All good questions. Let me answer them as best as I can.

Gibson producing a signature guitar for my dad?
They have been going back and forth about that one for years. Which guitar to produce a ES-350-T, ES-335, ES-345 or ES-355. Should it be a replica or just a close example etc. At some point they will figure it out.

Why not have a them produced by the custom shop?
There have been a few custom built Gibsons over the years but they are special occasion guitars.

What's up with the missing knobs and tail piece cover?
They get in the way! I replaced all that stuff a couple of years ago before a show at BlueBerry Hill here in St. Louis and they were off the guitar before we went on stage.

The guitar you saw him playing has been his main guitar for the past 30 years. It's an excellent example. It has a tone like very few Gibsons I have ever heard. They (Gibson) really built that Guitar to perfection! Other than a electrical conduit brace being added the only things that have been done to it are string changes, setups and me polishing it on December 13,2008 before a show here in St. Louis.

Hi,

on some old pictures it seems like Chuck played something like a Gibson Black Beauty. Is this possible?
Are all original recordings made with the ES335?

Not only possible, it's very true. The Les Paul was lost in a fire at Berry Park in the late 60's.

The original recordings were made with various guitars. The first singles would have been recorded with two Gibson 350-T's. A 1955 with P-90 Pickups and a 1958 with PAF Humbuckers. Then in the early sixties a 1960 ES-345 was used extensively to record a good number of the music and later various ES-355's. Many of the real old recording guitars are still in his possession.

Rock n Roller - Here is an old post about CB's Guitar that is very good.

Doug

Move On Up Just A Trifle Further!!