JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 08:20 PM
This is one of my dream guitars, which I kind of forgot about! I remember seeing Mike McCready of Pearl Jam play one of these back in the day, just fell in love with it. Then I saw Setzer with one of them, and the Chet Atkins album cover.
Completely forgot these existed as you don't see many of them. Bought a 6120-DSW and enjoyed playing Gretsch Guitars again. Played a really sweet '58 6119 at GC Hollywoood last month along with a '57 Streamliner. And they were both really cheap, my buddy got the Streamliner for $1499. The '58 6118 had a neck reset, and therefore not really worth buying. Anyways, my buddy got a '59 6119 for a great price from GC and said its mine if I want it otherwise he'll sell it and make some bank.
It needs its partial refret fixed(GC will pay for it!), but other than that it is really great. Love the neck shape on the 50s/early 60s Gretsches. It will be sweet to be into a nice Filtertron again, as I love Dynas and tend to ignore Filtertrons. And having a real lacquer finish... feels so great. It also has that trestle bracing that is reportedly so great. I'm not so much a Gretsch connoisseur to know the difference though. Every small change makes a difference though, I say. Better or worse, who knows.
I urge you all, if you are thinking about buying a Gretsch. Get a vintage one, they can be had so inexpensively. GC is always blowing these out and deals are out there. Always lowball GC with an offer, they will take it.
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 08:32 PM
Oh, and I love it because if it had one more pickup it'd be a $10K guitar. And I don't even use the neck pickup...
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FritzCat
Joined: Sep 11, 2007
Posts: 685
Sonoma, CA
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 09:23 PM
Is that a tone switch? Great guitar by the way!
Last edited: Dec 16, 2015 21:23:51
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 09:30 PM
Yeah, tone switch. Didn't test it out.
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SpaceTimC
Joined: Apr 18, 2015
Posts: 189
Bay Area, CA
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 09:39 PM
Gorgeous guitar! With that bridge, how's the intonation?
— The Reverbivores - we're local favorites!
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 16 2015 10:16 PM
Just an old bar bridge. Intonates really well. I personally prefer a Bigsby compensated bridge for tonal purposes but it is still good.
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4537
Wisconsin
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Posted on Dec 17 2015 05:40 AM
Soft curves & dimensioning on the body... really beautiful (readily apparent in 2nd pic). Very nice, you should scarf this.
— Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel
DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.
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BillAqua
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1054
Chicago IL.
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Posted on Dec 17 2015 07:46 AM
Nice Jake!
I've got a '66 Tennessean. It's quirky but cool.
I've got a couple of modern Gretsches too. Those are really nice guitars as well.
At least with the '59 Tenny you don't have to worry about neck binding rot.
— "as he stepped into the stealthy night air... little did he know the fire escape was not there"
https://www.facebook.com/reluctantaquanauts/
https://www.facebook.com/TheDragstripVipers/
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CrazyAces
Joined: Jul 31, 2012
Posts: 4054
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted on Dec 17 2015 08:36 AM
Those are such mean and elegant machines.
Trestle bracing gets a little over hyped in my opinion and experiences.
I've owned and heard pinnacle sounding Gretsch with it and without it.
The only concern I see in those pictures is the neck angle. The bridge looks as low as it can go and if you don't have decent break angle on a Gretsch they tend not to sound "right". They lose some attack and punch and the down pressure at the bridge can be less than satisfactory for stability.
One more suggestion: you have been exploring the Rockabilly thing lately, the middle, two pickup sound is a big part of that.
Other than that - looks like a PAF equipped, rigid body beauty!
Cheers,
Jeff
— http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 17 2015 09:11 AM
I put the bridge too low, like really too low. It has a bad partial refret that I was trying to accentuate.
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tubeswell
Joined: Sep 24, 2011
Posts: 1424
Wellington, NZ
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Posted on Dec 19 2015 09:43 AM
Nice gat
— He who dies with the most tubes... wins
Surf Daddies
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Latherman87
Joined: Dec 20, 2012
Posts: 178
Oklahoma
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Posted on Dec 25 2015 09:40 PM
JakeDobner wrote:
This is one of my dream guitars, which I kind of forgot about! I remember seeing Mike McCready of Pearl Jam play one of these back in the day, just fell in love with it. Then I saw Setzer with one of them, and the Chet Atkins album cover.
Completely forgot these existed as you don't see many of them. Bought a 6120-DSW and enjoyed playing Gretsch Guitars again. Played a really sweet '58 6119 at GC Hollywoood last month along with a '57 Streamliner. And they were both really cheap, my buddy got the Streamliner for $1499. The '58 6118 had a neck reset, and therefore not really worth buying. Anyways, my buddy got a '59 6119 for a great price from GC and said its mine if I want it otherwise he'll sell it and make some bank.
It needs its partial refret fixed(GC will pay for it!), but other than that it is really great. Love the neck shape on the 50s/early 60s Gretsches. It will be sweet to be into a nice Filtertron again, as I love Dynas and tend to ignore Filtertrons. And having a real lacquer finish... feels so great. It also has that trestle bracing that is reportedly so great. I'm not so much a Gretsch connoisseur to know the difference though. Every small change makes a difference though, I say. Better or worse, who knows.
I urge you all, if you are thinking about buying a Gretsch. Get a vintage one, they can be had so inexpensively. GC is always blowing these out and deals are out there. Always lowball GC with an offer, they will take it.
Never knew you could haggle with GC that's awesome!
— If you want the ultimate,you gotta be willing to pay the ultimate price.
Brett
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Dec 31 2015 02:53 AM
Guitar is now is really good shape, wouldn't have known it played poorly before hand. And the cases matches the old 6161 amps, so cool! The cases is really cool in person.
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4537
Wisconsin
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Posted on Dec 31 2015 06:00 AM
Very nice. That bottom photograph is set beautifully; has a dusty southwestern plains road-weary look to it. (Meant in a good way.)
— Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel
DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Jan 01 2016 01:32 PM
This guitar has hex core .10s on it and I love it. I can't wait to get onto my ass so I can change the strings to roundcore .11s(I was thinking .12s actually...)
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Surfersaurus
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Posts: 352
Australia
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Posted on Jan 01 2016 07:52 PM
I had one of these guitars in the 80s / 90s. It was a great sounding guitar and I used it on some recordings. I only sold it because a friend of mine wanted it and I wasn't using it at the time. It liked a wound G string and heavier strings.
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Bensen_Honeydew
Joined: Jan 04, 2016
Posts: 33
Auckland
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Posted on Jan 12 2016 01:27 PM
Great guitar! I have a 1963 6117 Double Anniversary and absolutely love it!
[img]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/676/20535121474_be41a823ec_z.jpg[/img]
[img]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/590/20533481913_0d854205e7_z.jpg[/img]
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Bensen_Honeydew
Joined: Jan 04, 2016
Posts: 33
Auckland
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Posted on Jan 12 2016 01:27 PM
Great guitar! I have a 1963 6117 Double Anniversary and absolutely love it!
Last edited: Jan 12, 2016 13:28:26
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Jan 12 2016 01:38 PM
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so1om
Joined: May 10, 2012
Posts: 492
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Posted on Jan 12 2016 11:17 PM
Swing over to the Gretsch discussion pages and register the serial number, post a few pics and see what Eddie Ball has to say about it. He is THE authority on vintage Gretsch.
I have a couple mid 60s Gretschs, hard to beat that great Gretsch sound!
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