A Tale Of Two Tigers

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It was the best of times, it was the…best of times.

After all, we are in the midst of Anderson Guitarworks, 40th Anniversary fun.  How else should it be?

In celebration, only 40 Limited Edition, 40th Anniversary Guitars, created especially for this special event. 40 years only comes around once—ever—so let us make the most of this moment we have together.

20 unique builds. This essentially means two renditions of each exclusive instrument—with a variant here and there.

Two Tiger Eye guitars. Two Cobras, each with slightly varying specs, making both unique enough to warrant two separate tales to be told. The first tale now and the other in a few weeks, stay tuned.

Now is the origin tale of the Tiger Eye finish—a quick synopsis of the original article that first appeared around 2001 in “Guitar of the Week” (which was the precursor to Guitar Tales). The following passages contain privileged information on how the actual color was obtained:

There was no moon in the night sky when the stealth Anderson jet took off from its undisclosed location. We were (and still are) an elite Anderson Guitarworks team of highly trained specialists…dressed in all black. Our assignment was to parachute into the jungle. We did not yet know any other details, but we did know that no one else had ever dared to attempt a mission of this magnitude. The chances of coming back at all could be slim, very slim.

We were not to break the seal on the operational instructions until we touched ground again. Only our encrypted global positioning system could tell us when we entered the drop site. It seemed as though we were airborne for hours. Notification finally alerted us that we were over the target area. There was no turning back now. Without any hesitation, we all jumped into the blackness.

Upon touchdown, I flicked on the red flashlight and broke the seal of the Top Secret directive. It read:

Hi guys,

Make your way to the “Dreaded Keeper of the Stone” and ask him if we can please borrow the rare Tiger Eye Jewel from his Jungle Lair. To get a beautifully authentic color, we would like to be able to match the shade of our new Tiger Eye paint to this valuable gemstone.

Thanks very much, Tom

Well, that sounded reasonable enough. Tom and Anderson Guitarworks will do whatever it takes to create the world’s finest guitars, and that is one of the reasons why we all love Tom so much.

The “Dreaded Keeper of the Stone” turned out to be a really nice guy and guitar player who is hoping to get an Anderson guitar of his own very soon. I wonder what color he will choose? He said we could borrow the stone for as long as we like. We ate some kind of goat’s milk yogurt/pudding stuff and drank green tea with him. I zipped the rare jewel into my vest pocket, and we were off. Tramping through the jungle to the extraction point, we were soon back home.

The paint matching was a success; a beautiful new color was born. Tiger Eye.

At least this is how the original story was told in “Guitar of the Week,” in 2001.

And as you have probably noticed, this first Anniversary Cobra is finished in Tiger Eye Burst. The second Cobra to follow will be regular Tiger Eye (no burst), so we will get to compare them both in the fun weeks to come.

Also, note: this Cobra has the first gold-topped PH pickups to appear anywhere.

And more top-secret information: This beautiful Cobra T is headed to Huber & Breese Music in Fraser, Michigan. Such an excellent store with great people.

Thanks for anniversary adventuring with us—Anderson Guitarworks—the best playing, feeling, and sounding (and sometimes the most daring) guitars to be found anywhere.

GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS: