Isaiah Sharkey has revealed he’s bought a guitar that once belonged to his favorite player of all time: George Benson.
In October, Benson announced he would be opening his first-ever Reverb store, through which he has been selling a number of electric guitars from his wider collection. Highlights from the virtual guitar shop included his legendary, natural-finished Gibson Johnny Smith, which he used to record his 1976 chart-topping record, Breezin’.
That wasn’t the only Gibson Johnny Smith model that Benson put up for sale, though. Rather, it was joined by another 1976 sunburst example, which was recently purchased by soul, blues, jazz and rock guitar virtuoso Isaiah Sharkey.
“My first memory in life is the guitar. And most of my life I’ve spent playing it,” Sharkey writes in a new Instagram post, in which he demos his new prized possession. “A great deal of that time was spent trying to learn by listening to records concepts and ideas from the greatest guitarist in world (in my humble opinion) @georgebensonguitar.
“There’s absolutely no one like him. And now thanks to Mr. Benson and @reverb I’ve been able to own one of his babies! Beyond a dream come true. Thank you @reverb & @georgebensonguitar for giving folks like us an opportunity to experience a beautiful instrument such as this! I will cherish this for the rest of my life!!”
Along with his Ibanez signature guitars, Benson and his music is widely synonymous with the Gibson Johnny Smith. The model first arrived in the early 1960s, a signature model for the revered jazzman from whom it got its name, and underwent a few changes before going out of production in 1989.
Resembling the shape and elegance of Gibson’s L5, the Johnny Smith model most commonly came fitted with a sole neck pickup, with a pickguard-mounted control knob in charge of volume.
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“Not too long ago, George Benson had his official shop on Reverb, and he was so gracious enough to share some of his most beautiful instruments in his collection, continues Sharkey, who has cemented his reputation as one of today’s finest guitar players, thanks to numerous session stints with the likes of John Mayer, Keith Urban and more.
“I saw this one, and I wanted this one. Anybody that knows me knows that George Benson is absolutely my favorite guitar player of all time. This guitar feels so amazing and it’s my new baby. Y’all will be seeing me play this quite a bit.”
As mentioned, this wasn’t the only Johnny Smith model Benson owned, nor was it perhaps the most notable example. That honor must go to the natural-finished variant that was used to record Breezin’, and which is currently still up for sale with a listing price of $999,999.
In a recent conversation with Guitar World, Benson recalled how he first got his hands on that particular guitar.
“Johnny Smith is truly one of the great guitar players of our era,” Benson reflected of the guitar in question in a Reverb video. “He made a deal to create a guitar for the Gibson company, and this was the guitar.
“This is a perfect cross between the acoustic electric sound and the jazz sound. Probably one of my favorite guitars in the world. It has a very even sound.”
Head over to Reverb to peruse the whole George Benson store.
