Thanks for posting-in with the extra info Harry and Brian, every little piece helps. Alan Thompson seems as good a suspect/guess as any. (Yep, that sounds like a classic RT answer... ) Thompson was mentioned in another recent thread as a candidate for having built a mystery guitar Stephen Stills is pictured playing. Like the "Joker" here, it has all the hallmarks of the early 70's NorCal School. http://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=25835.0

There is just something about this one though... the Omega-cut, the symmetrical horns, the extra backstraps on the headstock behind the scarf, the high-relief carve of the top. Somebody went to a lot of care building this guitar, and I can't help but think it was either a commissioned job, or a built-for-personal-use. Maybe we'll find out one day.

*FWIW, and not that I care, but the 'Suspended Listing' has been lifted, the guitar is back up. The ad has been edited, and now says something about raising money for charities. Also includes a quote from Doug Irwin claiming- "I like this guitar." (Yeah, I like it too, but unless Irwin liked it because he built it, I don't think that helps his case much) Wow.

Dear Santa... there's this guitar I like... I don't know how your schedule looks for tonight, but, uhhh... I've been pretty good this year.

I was reading really old threads this weekend, ran across this one: https://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=842.0


...and immediately thought about the mysterious The Joker guitar again. Did anyone ever ask Mark Johnson about it?