Quote:
Originally Posted by swankmotee
You're actually very right on all those observations because during the time I knew him he was building each one as a stepping stone to the next project until he got it right and there were very few. I actually bought one of his seconds that had a one piece flame top that was very close to being vintage correct but even Chris showed me the errors in construction (inlay placement was off, some body contours weren't quite right, and other minor issues) that lead to it being a second. Of course for me as a teenager it didn't really matter because the woods were right and it sounded really correct. I fell into the trap of always never being satisfied and wanting next weeks hot ticket item and let it go which was a mistake! What I did watch happen with him was a continual refining of the process until the last few he made were pretty much dead on. Even the Sunburst he made for Charlie Daniels wasn't exactly perfect but it sounded great and CD was very happy with it. The real problem for me with Chris was he was trying to make total counterfeit pieces and sell them as originals which bothered me alot. I respected his talent but couldn't deal with his blatantly lying to customers about these guitars being originals! He was a shady character who definitely died too young but maybe Kharma caught up with him.  |
I believe that the second Derrig guitar that my friend had was one of the last ones that Chris made. It was ok, but that was it. Something about it was off. I know that Chris's illness imposed a severe financial hardship on him. People in tight places tend to be desperate. I'm not condoning this type of thing. As far as some sort of cosmic retribution for his misdeeds is concerned, if that was the case, his sins could not have been so egregious that he deserved to die from cancer in his thirties.