"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." for many years, that is what Johnny would say while playing this guitar. It is a Guild D605BE. It was a gift from Johnny to his good friend Bill Miller. This guitar was given to him in Feb of 1993 and the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with it said that he had played this guitar in every concert for more then 10 years.
For curiosity, I wondered, was it really more then 10 years? On the letter that Johnny sent to Bill with the guitar, he scratched out the word "more" and then put "more" in anyways. Why would he do that? It is possible that Johnny mistakenly put more then 10 years. The Guild website does not list the D60 until 1987. The serial number that Johnny notes in his letter to Bill would place the instrument to 1987.
It is important to note that Guild on their website mentions that unfortunately, some of the serial number documentation has been lost over the years resulting in holes. I am also not an expert in Guild Guitars. Certainly, It is Johnny's Guitar, but it was probably not played by Johnny for more then 10 years. It was a fantastic gesture to his good friend Bill. Bill also has the duster that was used for some of the photo shoots with the guitar and the case for the guitar.
The museum is worth a stop if you are in the area and are a Johnny Cash fan as there is not another Cash museum anywhere else. A pity if you think about it. Johnny was part of the quartet that came from Sun records and changed music. Elvis has Graceland, but Johnny is in a small museum in Corona. A Big Thanks to Mr Bill Miller for placing all that great Johnny Cash memorabilia in the museum.
Thanks for looking.
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Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2) Aperture: f/4.5 Focal Length: 27 mm ISO Speed: 200 Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
My name is Jerre Haskew in Chattanooga, TN USA, and I delivered this great Guild D60R and another just like it to John at The House of Cash in Hendersonville, TN in the fall of 1987. I was president of Guild Guitars at the time and had gotten John's endorsement on an airplane going to Boston early July when he was heading up there to play the July 4 concert with the Boston Pops Symphony. He ordered two of these in Cherry Sunburst. They were made by our then Guild factory manager and incredibly great master luthier, Kim Walker, www.walkerguitars.com. We paid John NOTHING for his endorsement, and he helped relaunch Guild along with Eric Clapton and many others back into the acoustic and electric guitar limelight. I own over 100 live concert and location photos of John playing his Guild taken by our then Guild photographer and A & R head, Jay Abend of Boston. The mate to this guitar he gave to Bill Miller was sold at auction at Sotheby's in NY City for $60,000 following his death. I truly treasured my personal relationship with John. He played these Guilds in concert and recorded with them from 1987 well into the mid- 1990's. My email is jrichas@aol.com .
ReplyDeleteIn Loving Memory Of A Truly Great & Humble Man,
Jerre