The hollowbody six-string was reportedly used by the late Soundgarden frontman in both live and studio settings, and can be seen in the music video for Rusty Cage
(Image credit: Soundgarden/YouTube / Reverb.com)
A 1979 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean electric guitar once belonging to late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell is up for sale on Reverb.com.
The six-string – which has a rather sizable price tag of $395,000 (down from an original price of $500,000) – was heavily used by Cornell during his time with both Soundgarden and Audioslave, both in the studio and onstage. The guitar can also be seen in the music video for Soundgarden’s Rusty Cage.
In terms of specs, the guitar appears to be all-original, with a laminated rock maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and laminated Cherry-finished maple hollowbody. Electronics come by way of a pair of adjustable pickups and a versatile set of controls, including two discrete volume knobs for each pickup, tone selector and pickup selector switches and a master volume control.
The instrument also features an adjustable bridge with chrome-plated metal parts and a Gretsch Bigsby-style tailpiece.
As Reverb notes, despite its age and heavy usage, the guitar remains in “excellent condition," most likely due to the fact it was supposedly Cornell’s “favorite” and was often kept at his home.
According to the Reverb listing, hosted by River City Guitars of Spokane, Washington, the guitar – serial number 29279 – is “fully documented by the superior court of Washington for King County and is unequivocally by law confirmed to be Cornell’s."
River City Guitars says these court documents will be included with the sale of the guitar, in addition to a certificate of authenticity.
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George Harrison’s Gibson ‘58 “ransom” Les Paul – used as a bargaining chip to ensure the recovery of the Beatles legend’s stolen Lucy guitar – also recently sold for more than $300,000.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.