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Inexpensive guitars with colorful scenes stenciled on the face were mainstays
in catalogs and department stores starting in the 1930s. Cowboys were
the most frequent subjects, and Gene Autry or Roy Rogers smiled down from
many a boy’s bedroom wall. By the 1960s, however, rock ‘n’
roll made singing cowboys’ painted smiles and white hats anything
but cool.
In the 1970s "cowboy stencil" guitars, as they’ve come
to be known, began to appear on coffeehouse walls. They were soon considered
collectable by the same dealers who hoarded pearl-bordered Martins and
early Fenders. Even the best of the cowboy stencil models were rarely
playable, but it didn’t seem to matter since most were built with
birch tops and clunky bracing anyway. Cowboy guitars were better seen
than heard.
The idea of a modern take on the cowboy stencil guitar was simmering at
Collings Guitars in Austin, Texas, when Bill Collings’ trail boss,
Steve McCreary, came back from California with a hand-painted ukulele
by cartoonist and illustrator Robert Armstrong. Armstrong was no stranger
to cool old instruments, thanks to his long tenure as one of the founding
members of R. Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders. Rather than a cheery
campfire scene or a smiling cowboy on a horse, the creator of the Couch
Potatoes and Mickey Rat drew the starkly humorous scene shown here.
Collings employee John Allison sprayed the stenciled design on a special
C-10 model with mahogany back and sides, a spruce top, and half-herringbone
"lariat" top border, adding subtle shading around the edge.
At the NAMM shows in Los Angeles and Nashville, McCreary photographed
dozens of music industry movers and shakers in the Collings booth, playing
the guitar while wearing a kiddy cowboy hat. Maybe they can’t go
back home and be fresh-faced kids again, but at least those who pick up
this modern version of the cowboy stencil guitar can play an instrument
that sounds good, plays in tune, and looks really cool.
--Richard Johnston
A total of fourteen of these limited edition guitars were built between 2000 and 2002, making the Cowboy model a highly coveted collectors item. Unfortunately, this model is no longer availble. |
