This is a custom-made Super 400 that Gibson built for Merle Travis. I bought it at Christie’s in New York when his stuff went up for sale, along with several other guitars that belonged to him. It intrigued me because it has some features that were rarely seen in 1968.
By the late 1960s humbuckers were standard pickups for the Super 400 and this body has humbucker cut-outs. But Merle must have specified P-90s, and Gibson placed a very thin plastic cheat ring under the neck P-90 cover to hide the humbucker rout. The bridge pickup has a standard spacer that also conceals the hole.
