Ever since Jerry Cantrell was spotted playing a custom Gibson Songwriter in the video for Atone, speculation has mounted that another signature collaboration was in the works.
It seemed inevitable that Gibson would give one of its most high-profile brand ambassadors a signature acoustic guitar to partner his “Wino” Les Paul Custom. Well, we were half-right; there were two signature Songwriters in the works, and now they are available to buy.
The Jerry Cantrell Signature “Fire Devil” and “Atone” Songwriters offer two takes on the classic cutaway acoustic electric guitar, both finished in Ebony with solid Sitka spruce on top, solid rosewood on the back and sides.
There are some aesthetic differences, however, with the “Fire Devil” model, however, arriving with a decorative pickguard, and the “Atone” model matching that played by Cantrell, with a cream ‘circle in square’ design around the soundhole.
Jerry Cantrell interview: “I’ve always liked a healthy dose of the G&L, Rampage and Gibson Les Paul. That’s the meat in the meatloaf”
Choosing between the two might be tough, but if you like the “Fire Devil” you had best be quick – it is limited to 100 units worldwide.
Otherwise, there is not much to separate these. Cantrell’s Songwriters have a slightly shallower body depth, which might take a bit of the boom out of them. The scale length is 25.5”. The nut width is listed as 1.725”, which is similar to the G-Writer model from the new Gibson Generation Collection acoustics.
Both feature mahogany ‘Advanced Response’ profile necks that join the body with a compound dovetail neck-to-body joint, affixed by hot hide glue. The Indian rosewood fingerboards have a 16” radius and house 20 Small Crown frets. MOP split parallelograms count out the frets, and there’s a “12” inlay at the 12th fret.
Industry standard LR Baggs VTC electronics have been installed on both, with the controls mounted discretely in the soundhole, and an endpin 1/4” jack taking the signal to your acoustic guitar amplifier.
Signature flourishes include the Alice In Chains guitarist’s signature on the truss rod cover, with a “JJ” decal on the rear of the headstock. And for hardware, there’s a set of Grover Mini-Rotomatics in gold, a reverse belly Indian rosewood bridge, with TUSQ saddle, nut and bridge pins.
While there has been no official release from Gibson just yet, with its website yet to be updated, the Jerry Cantrell “Atone” and “Fire Devil” Songwriters are widely available to order from Gibson retailers. The “Atone” model is priced £3,299. The “Fire Devil” is £3,499 / $3,999.
This is the second signature Gibson release this week. On Friday, to mark the release of Slash ft Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators’ fourth album – titled 4 – Gibson released a Translucent Cherry version of the Slash Les Paul Standard, limited to 250 units worldwide, and it looks like most of them have gone already.
For more details, head over to Gibson.
