Excerpt from "Chet Atkins Me and My Guitars"

"The next member of the CA line of Gibson amplified nylon string guitars was the Studio Classic. This semi-acoustic guitar came from a design by California guitar builder Kirk Sand. He designed a thin acoustic guitar with a standard braced classic top. He amplified it with a Ray Butts preamp and a Gibson CE pickup. I liked it so well I started playing it. To avoid any problems with Gibson, I had a Gibson decal put on the headstock of it. Then I persuaded Gibson to make a deal with Kirk and they started making the guitar using his design."

Posed on an antique oak hall tree in the lobby of Chet's office, these two Kirk Sand guitars served as the first prototype design for the Gibson Studio Classic. The two guitars are almost identical one has a thicker body.