I found a really nice CE 22 this week. It's a purple 1996 with a maple top. It's in beautiful shape, but had a few surprises for me.
It didn't look like this guitar had been played in quite some time. Lots of corrosion on the strings and the frets were really tarnished. Thankfully, whoever put it away put a plastic fretboard protector between the strings and the frets. It took a lot of cleaning on Thursday morning, but the frets polished up nicely. Most of them were fine with some Gorgomyte, but I had to use a polishing head on a Dremel with about five of them. The trem had been decked with the claw screws in tight, so I took the time to do a full setup.
There were a few surprises. It's got a Dragon 1 at the neck, which I assumed. An HFS at the bridge, which I didn't expect. I was a bit disappointed, but the 9 position on the rotary is really beautiful. Not sure if it was stock with an HFS, but the control cavity work looks original to me.
The other physical surprise was that it's a Wide-Thin neck. I haven't liked Wide-Thin in the past. This one seems on the thicker side, but my wrist wasn't happy after 40 minutes of playing today. That might make me move this one along. Problem is, I want to like it.
The last surprise about this one is its history. Supposedly, it was owned by Barry Bailey from the Atlanta Rhythm Section. No idea on the veracity of that, but it fits with the guitar not having been played in quite a while. Mr. Bailey died of MS complications two years ago. The other unusual bit of history is that it was originally purchased locally to me, at Guitar Center Twin Cities. There's a sticker on the warranty paperwork showing that. Somehow it's found its way back from Georgia to where it first was sold.
Anyways, it's a really nice, well-preserved guitar that sounds great. It just doesn't yet feel right for my particular hand. I want to see if I can adapt.
It didn't look like this guitar had been played in quite some time. Lots of corrosion on the strings and the frets were really tarnished. Thankfully, whoever put it away put a plastic fretboard protector between the strings and the frets. It took a lot of cleaning on Thursday morning, but the frets polished up nicely. Most of them were fine with some Gorgomyte, but I had to use a polishing head on a Dremel with about five of them. The trem had been decked with the claw screws in tight, so I took the time to do a full setup.
There were a few surprises. It's got a Dragon 1 at the neck, which I assumed. An HFS at the bridge, which I didn't expect. I was a bit disappointed, but the 9 position on the rotary is really beautiful. Not sure if it was stock with an HFS, but the control cavity work looks original to me.
The other physical surprise was that it's a Wide-Thin neck. I haven't liked Wide-Thin in the past. This one seems on the thicker side, but my wrist wasn't happy after 40 minutes of playing today. That might make me move this one along. Problem is, I want to like it.
The last surprise about this one is its history. Supposedly, it was owned by Barry Bailey from the Atlanta Rhythm Section. No idea on the veracity of that, but it fits with the guitar not having been played in quite a while. Mr. Bailey died of MS complications two years ago. The other unusual bit of history is that it was originally purchased locally to me, at Guitar Center Twin Cities. There's a sticker on the warranty paperwork showing that. Somehow it's found its way back from Georgia to where it first was sold.
Anyways, it's a really nice, well-preserved guitar that sounds great. It just doesn't yet feel right for my particular hand. I want to see if I can adapt.
I picked up a '97 CE22 just last year, and it quickly became one of my favourite guitars. Hope you get as much pleasure from yours.
️
