I was emailed the following about this guitar by Allen Arnold who is selling this guitar for the family.
It is a 1955 Gibson Byrdland, red Cherry Sunburst, custom made by Gibson for Hank Garland with a 20 frets and a shaved down thinner neck. He owned it till 1957, Gibson took it back to put it in the archives, but accidently delivered it to a store for store stock in 1957. The same family has owned since 1957. Hank Garland signed the back. They are asking $500,000 or best offer. Only three were made in 1955. Pictured is Charlie Chambers (a former Nashville sessions player in the 50's and 60's) who bought the guitar in 1957.

The serial number is A217XX. According to the seller 4 prototypes were made in 2nd quarter 1955, They contacted Gibson customer service and they said this guitar was made 3rd quarter 1955. Gibson has no records of guitars only years manufactured. Hank told Charlie he custom ordered the Byrdland from Gibson, he also signed the back for Charlie, it is either #1 or #3, only 3 were made in 1955.
The story of the guitar is: Hank custom ordered this cherry Gibson Byrdland, Gibson said no one would buy a cherry sunburst byrdland. They finally gave in and and made it (notice the guitar is not a dark cherry but a light cherry). Gibson told Hank they wanted to put the guitar in the Gibson archives, the salesman picked up the guitar from Hank, but still had not made his store rounds, when making his store rounds, one of his helpers brought in the byrdland, the guitar was delivered to Allen Music in Chattanooga Tn. Charlie (pictured holding the guitar) was a sessions player in Nashville and taught music at Allen Music. Charlie was at home eating lunch when the salesman made the delivery. The store owner called Charlie, Charlie came in and the guitar was on display, Charlie bought the guitar. When Gibson realized what happened, they had no luck prying it out of Charlies hands. He went straight to the sessions with the guitar. Hank saw the case, asked him how he got that guitar. He told Hank how the salesman delivered it, Hank said "Well You bought it, so it's yours". Charlie says Hank sat down and told him the history on the guitar. Charlie says "Patsy cline and Chet Atkins both asked how he got Hanks guitar", he simply said he bought it. There is a 1981 interview with Hank Garland and he says "mine is #2, gibson has the #1. He knows the story and was probably trying to save face for Gibson by saying Gibson has the #1, Gibson does not have a 1955 Byrdland in their archive, if this guitar is #3, why would Hank say Gibson has #1. If this guitar is #3 then Billy Byrd had the #1. it definitely is a 1955. only Hank Garland's guitars were custom ordered with a white marble looking pick guard. Charlie changed a lot of hardware on the guitar, all the original hardware is in the case except the truss rod cover,notice the white edge on the pick-ups, gibson does not do that (Hank did that himself), Charlie lost the guitar to his ex-wife 30 years ago, the guitar stays untouched unless his ex-wife lets him record a cd with it. His ex-wife is ready to retire and sell the guitar.

Please Note that neither I or Scotty Moore have anything to do with the sale of this guitar and I don't believe I have contact for Allen anymore.

May 3, 2013. I've been told that it is up for sale again, more pix and contact info here.