Natty Dread

There’s no disguising the influence of Gibson’s ubiquitous J-45 on The Forty Three from Atkin. As any connoisseur of acoustic guitars will know, from the model’s outset Gibson never stopped tinkering with its appointments, until recently mostly to its detriment. But with The Forty Three, Alister has settled on what many believe is its finest incarnation.

This particular set of features arrived a year after the model’s 1942 debut. So we see the perfectly proportioned round-shouldered dreadnought outline, sultry dark brown sunburst finish, dot-inlaid fingerboard, straight bridge, torty teardrop pickguard, ‘banner’-style headstock with three-on-a-plate Kluson plastic-button tuners, seven-ply black-and-white soundhole rosette, and simple cream body binding. All this is built around a solid mahogany back, sides and neck, plus Santos rosewood