Whitley may not have been the most famous singing cowboy of the 1930s, but his guitars hold a significant place in guitar history. Whitley desired a guitar that would match the fancy Hollywood cowboy attire of the day. To achieve this, he collaborated with Gibson craftsmen to create a unique instrument that would achieve his vision.
The result of their collaboration was the Super Jumbo, a large-bodied guitar that surpassed any Gibson flat top of its time. The Super Jumbo was not just visually stunning, but also produced an incredible sound that established the Gibson SJ 200 as a catalog model.
Later on, Whitley wanted another highly ornate guitar, but this time he desired something smaller. He had Gibson base the guitar on their Nick Lucas model. This 1939 Gibson Custom Ray Whitley flattop is the result!
This one-of-a-kind piece of flattop history features the same appointments as Ray’s SJ-200, including a sunburst finish, an inset top border inlay, a mustache bridge, a western motif fingerboard inlay, and a custom Ray Whitley peghead inlay. The guitar is crafted with a spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, and a maple neck.
While the guitar came to us with a handful of modifications, it has since been restored with a replica fingerboard and bridge that were custom made to match the original. Other modifications and repairs include a neck reset, refret, refinished neck, finish touch-ups on top around the bridge, additional non-original braces, replaced tuners, several repaired top/back cracks, previous pickup installation, repaired top separation at the bass-side upper bout, repaired back separation at the bass-side lower bout, non-original strap button, replaced nut, reattached pickguard, and repaired treble-side fingerboard extension crack.
Ray Whitley may have passed away in 1975, but his custom-built Gibson guitar still holds its place in the music industry and continues to produce great music.
