Chuck Berry
Born
Maybellene, Chuck Berry's Gibson ES-350T
Named after his first hit, this blond Gibson was one of Berry's early touring and recording guitars, the kind of thin-bodied hollow electric that carried the riffs rock and roll was built on. Berry gave it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2011, and it is on view there beside his Cadillac Eldorado. The museum's photo shows it as it came off the road: a working guitar, not a showpiece.
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