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Here is a very special guitar indeed. It belongs to Adam (Dorkrockrecords). He has sent me quite a few photos so that I can showcase this beautiful and extremely rare guitar on my website.

This guitar was built in 1977 by Semie for a preacher named Rev. Beatty. from Bakersfield, CA. There are a lot of very interesting features on this guitar. First, it has a brass rail neck with a brass rail serial number. The neck is attached to internal supports that are very large and therefore this guitar is quite heavy. It has a body with no F holes. This was made from bodies left over from a run of Bi-centennial Celebrities made in 1976 that did not have F holes.

It has two volume controls and two tone controls, phase button, and mini toggles to split the coils in each of the humbucker pickups. Although it's difficult to see in the photos, this is an archtop, not a flattop. I was delighted to get to play this guitar briefly and can say it is quite heavy but uber cool!


The headstock says "1977 Gospel USA"


Here you can see the brass rail neck. Adam believes the Semie also did the artwork on the outside and inside of the case.



The bout





You can see the various elements of the control layout.





What a beautiful job on the purfling.



I think this may be one of the last Celebrity based guitars made by Semie. I have not seen any other later than 1974, in other words, nothing between 1974 and this 1977 example. I spoke to a man who worked with Semie at Jonas Ridge and he told me that Semie never made any hollowbodies there, only solid bodied guitars. If that is true, then I doubt we will see a Celebrity based guitar newer than Adam's.

One way to look at it is I have one of the very first (the prototype) and Adam has one of the very last. I think that is pretty cool.

Sarah93003 wrote:I think this may be one of the last Celebrity based guitars made by Semie. I have not seen any other later than 1974, in other words, nothing between 1974 and this 1977 example. I spoke to a man who worked with Semie at Jonas Ridge and he told me that Semie never made any hollowbodies there, only solid bodied guitars. If that is true, then I doubt we will see a Celebrity based guitar newer than Adam's.
One way to look at it is I have one of the very first (the prototype) and Adam has one of the very last. I think that is pretty cool.

......uhmm.....me' thinx thees' is waay above - 'pretty cool.' -

BTW - Being a Brass Rail, how is the Neck attached?

Dennisthe Menace wrote:

Sarah93003 wrote:BTW - Being a Brass Rail, how is the Neck attached?

Adam told me, "The neck extends all the way to the mistake plate and is bolted to an internal center block underneath the pickups. That means the middle of the guitar basically has two 2x4s running through it! That explains why it weighs in at over 9 (lbs) pounds. The body is 2 5/8" thick.".

Additionally he said that the Bicentennial Celebrities that Semie made in 1976 had "Sooner" necks and Red, White, and Blue fret markers. He only made three of them. I hope to get clarification on what a Sooner neck is.

Very cool.
Jim

What's the deal with the circle on the back? Is that an impression from a pad in the case?

Cool! That thing looks like a beast. Any report on the sounds it can produce?

FritzCat wrote:What's the deal with the circle on the back? Is that an impression from a pad in the case?

I'll have to ask Adam if he knows. Maybe someone was jammin' and when they stopped to eat the flipped the guitar over to use it like a TV tray and hold a big 'ol plate of spaghetti that was too hot. I'm kidding! That's how false rumors get started!

Discoloration from a long gone adhesive pad.
Adam

brutus wrote:Cool! That thing looks like a beast. Any report on the sounds it can produce?

Well, Armed with a Brass Rail neck and Humbuckers to give it even MORE Sustain, I sure wouldn't walk in front of it crossing the street!....

Here's a photo of a Sooner from the Guitar Geek Festival in 2009. I'm pretty sure this is/was Adam's guitar.