A 'Mint As New' Jim Triggs Custom Archtop Electric

1998 Triggs Custom Archtop Electric.

This exceptionally fine and beautiful custom-made 'New Yorker style' jazz box weighs just 6.60 lbs. The body features a carved spruce top with two cross-braces, a two-piece book-matched highly flamed solid maple back and highly flamed solid maple sides. One -piece maple neck with a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a very fast and comfortable profile. Ebony fretboard with 2i medium-jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-block position markers. The top of the guitar has seven-ply binding, the back of the guitar has three-ply binding, the headstock has three-ply binding, and the fretboard has three-ply binding with two lines on each side. Stromberg-style, black faced headstock with inlaid pearl "J. Triggs" logo and two triangle 'Flash'. Single-layer pearloid 'New Yorker' style truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual Grover Imperial tuners with gold-plated stairstep buttons.Single Triggs 'Johnny Smith style' floating mini-humbucker suspended at the end of the fingerboard with an output of 7.78k. Specific rosewood pickguard with a single volume control (with a black plastic control knob with ridged edges) secured to the body by two brackets. Height-adjustable ebony bridge on ebony base. Stromberg-style Y-shaped tailpiece with "J. Triggs" engraved on cross-bar. All hardware gold-plated. Inside the bass 'f' hole of the guitar is Jim Triggs ink signature and the serial number "12980232" (stamped in black). A mint as new (9.50) and unique instrument housed in its original four-latch, shaped black hardshell case with burgundy plush lining (9.25).

This specially ordered 'custom' guitar has most of the features of a sixties Gibson Johnny Smith.
We acquired it from the original owner who purchased the guitar directly from Jim Triggs.

On June 17th, 2014 we wrote to Jim Triggs asking him about the guitar and sending him detailed photographs…
He responded to our email the very next day "Hello David, Thanks for your email. According to the serial number I would have made that guitar in December of 1998 and it was the 232nd instrument after my departure from Gibson in 1992. I don’t keep very good records of my guitars and it’s tough for me to remember back that far but from looking at the photos it appears to be a custom instrument, not a certain model. It looks to have a New Yorker body shape and a Stromberg headstock shape and tailpiece. It’s in very good shape for a guitar 15+ years old. The only thing I can see that may not be original is the pickguard but I’m not 100% sure on that. I hope this helps a bit. Best of luck with the guitar. Jim"

David Brass wrote back: "I wonder if you could tell me what your reservations are as to the originality of the pickguard – it appears to be made of Rosewood and certainly looks original to the guitar"

Jim Triggs replied: "The only reason I was questioning it is because my pickguards typically have binding on them but like I said this was certainly a custom order and the customer may have wanted it without any binding.  Jim"

"Jim Triggs started building instruments over 35 years ago. Prior to working for Gibson in 1986, Triggs, who was a respected mandolin builder in the Midwest and on the West coast, had already built between 130-150 mandolins.
 
Jim was hired at Gibson to work in their world famous custom shop. His first duties included getting their F-5 mandolins back to their 1920’s specifications. Jim’s other responsibilities at Gibson included supervising the custom shop and running their Nashville artist relations department. During his last tenure at Gibson Jim spent his time overseeing the archtop guitar line. In his six years at Gibson, Jim worked on over 20 art instruments and signed the labels of over 700 guitars and mandolins.
 
Jim left Gibson in the spring of 1992 to build guitars on his own. Jim’s vast knowledge of various instruments led him on a path to become a “one man custom shop”. He also has a reputation for making guitars for a who’s who of artists in the music industry. Jim’s son Ryan has been working in the shop along side his dad for over 10 years now and this duo continues to create beautiful custom instruments one at a time in their Lawrence, KS shop. Their instruments have been featured in the Smithsonian Institute and Country Music Hall Of Fame, and graced the covers of USA Today, Billboard Magazine, and Country Weekly Magazine. They've also been played on The Today Show, The Travel Channel, TNN, The Grand Ole Opry as well as countless award shows." www.triggsguitars.com

Jim Triggs impressive artist roster includes Jimmy Buffet, Chris Hillman, Alan Jackson, Aerosmith, Vince Gill, John Sebastian and Pat Martino.