Gretsch 6120... Doubleneck yo!

[blue]

Didn't know these existed! Crazy. Low quality vid but what monster! If Brian Setzer was playing one of these, you might just make out his hair, but that's about it!

[RockerDuck]

All I saw was one pickup selector switch. He didn't touch anything and both guitars were on at the same time. The necks were Nashville, but no mud switch. No master volume knob either. I think this was homemade.

[blue]

Nope. Google 6120 6/12. There's a second switch down between the knobs and the Bigsby. I assume that's the neck selector.

[RockerDuck]

Ok. I Google it. The switch below the bigsby and two volume knobs. Gretsch made it in 1996-1997. One sold on Reverb.com for $3500.

[Steve DeRosa]

Speaking as a lifelong Gretsch player, an answer for which there is no question - and ugly as crap to boot...

[jseth]

^^^^^

Not to mention that the thing would probably BREAK YOUR BACK!

My early 60's Gretsch was built like a tank, and weighed just about as much! I can't even imagine having a double-neck Gretsch on my shoulder...

Sometimes there's a really good reason why no one continues to build a particular item...

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jseth

...My early 60's Gretsch was built like a tank, and weighed just about as much!

Which one - as an ex-Brooklyn boy I've played probably a couple hundred 60 Broadway originals in the last 50+ years, my '64 Double Annie is the second lightest electric in my stable (exceeded only by my ~5 lb. Godin CW II), and even the solids were lighter than many period Strats and SG's...

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

...my '64 Double Annie is the second lightest electric in my stable (exceeded only by my ~5 lb. Godin CW II)....

I agree. I had a 1961 DA that was nice and light.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Which one - as an ex-Brooklyn boy I've played probably a couple hundred 60 Broadway originals in the last 50+ years, my '64 Double Annie is the second lightest electric in my stable (exceeded only by my ~5 lb. Godin CW II), and even the solids were lighter than many period Strats and SG's...

You know, Steve, I really never knew for sure which model mine was... it was big, orange, gold plated hardware, "painted on " F holes (to resist feedback?), 2 Filtron pickups... and it had this padded snap-on scratch protector on the back, which, when removed left all those nifty strap-on connectors still on the back of the guitar...

I always thought it was some sort of Country Gentleman, but never knew for sure... not a lot of info available on Gretsches back in the late 60's and early 70's that was easy to come by...

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jseth

...it was big, orange, gold plated hardware, "painted on " F holes (to resist feedback?), 2 Filter'tron pickups...and it had this padded snap-on scratch protector on the back which, when removed, left all those nifty snap-on connectors still on the back of the guitar...

I always thought it was some sort of Country Gentleman, but never knew for sure...

You're on the right track, but wrong model - what you had was one of these:





In 1962 Gretsch updated the Chet Atkins 6120 (AKA Hollow Body/Nashville depending on year of manufacture), along the lines of the similarly-restyled Country Gentleman George Harrison would use through mid-1965: double-cutaway "Electrotone" hollow body (painted-on f-holes), string muffler (the Gent had two, the 6120 one), standby switch, and snap-on padded back (which covered the white plastic access plate necessary for installing/servicing the electronics). Each guitar retained its respective trim level (all-24K gold for the 17" Gent, gold/chrome for the 16" 6120, although an occasional 6120 snuck through with an OEM gold Bigsby - FYI the chrome Grover Imperials are a later addition) and finish (mahogany for the Gent, orange for the 6120); the Gent featured in the '63 catalog - I've still got my copy from when I was a kid - boasted a particularly striking flamed body, easily the equal of the best LP bursts (a Florida dealer claimed to have had this very guitar about 10-12 years ago - sold for $11K+), and although the official specs listed "curly maple" for the body this is the exception rather than the rule in practice. Early editions also retained the "horseshoe" headstock inlay of the single-cut 6120; after 1964 they went to a gold-engraved headstock plaque, in keeping with all hollowbody instruments other than the Country Club. It remained in the line, with variations, after the Baldwin takeover and lasted through the end of production in the early-80's; it was revived as a part of the current Gretsch company's Professional Series a few years ago, but poor sales (due in no small part to being priced a few hundred higher than the upscale Gent) and low interest led to its discontinuation in 2016 - a shame, because I really liked those guitars then and now...

[jseth]

Thanks for the info, Steve! Mine must have been post-64, as it did not have the horseshoe on the headstock; it was just a black onlay...

I had forgotten about the "mute" gizmo, too... very handy for playing that ragtime style that Chet would play. I remember seeing other Gretsches with two of those mutes, and I thought then (as now) that two would give much more versatility to that function.

Even though I had the guitar for 6 years or so, I NEVER figured out what all the knobs and switches did... so that one switch was a "standby" switch? Cool...

Unfortunately, while playing on a very small, hollow, bouncy stage in Yuma, AZ in '75, my Gretsch took a "header" off the stage and split the neck at the nut/headstock... I sold it not long after that; felt fortunate to get the $$$ out of it that I had paid for it and the case... never did know what the fellow who bought it ended up doing with it...

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jseth

...Even though I had the guitar for 6 years or so, I NEVER figured out what all the knobs and switches did...so that one switch was a "standby" switch? Cool...

Here goes:
Upper cutaway:
Top switch - pickup selector
Bottom switch - 3-way tone preset

• Position 1 - Bass emphasis, strong mid/treble rolloff (probably a .1mfd cap)
• Position 2 - Bypass (AKA "That Great Gretsch Sound")
• Position 3 - Moderate high-end rolloff (probably a .047mfd cap - the "Wooden Ships" lead tone CSNY used in live performance)

(Note: on some Chet Atkins models produced in certain runs the pickup/tone switch positions were reversed - the specs above were standard for post-'57 two-pickup instruments and correspond to those of my own '64 Double Annie)

Lower cutaway:
Master volume

Lower treble bout:
Neck pickup volume
Bridge pickup volume
Standby switch
Mute lever

TMK the only models regularly produced with a double mute - with a second knob on the lower bass bout - were the post-'62 Country Gent and White Falcon double-cutaways, the earliest of which had dial-up mutes as illustrated in the '63 catalog (I believe Sir George's first Gent - from early '63 - was so equipped). All dial-up mute models used a full-size "G" knob (two on the Gent) rather than the small knob used on the lever-action models produced after mid-'63; the only single-cut model with the (single) mute as standard was the thin-body (late-'62 - early-'64) Country Club, and I understand there's at least one special-order model out there with a double-mute setup...

Hope this clears up the mystery...