Country Gentleman Mutes

[Vidar Lund]

I agree, Norm. The quality of the instrument reflects the quality of its owner. Sawing a big hole in the bottom of an instrument must impaire the sound quality, so it´s better to avoid it.

[gmoseley]

Speaking of that Gretsch Viking,,,I had one back in the 70's. You'd better pray that you never broke a string on the job when playing that "thing"! The strings had to weave thru that tuning fork mechanism. . . . it was a "bear" to change strings on it. I never could tell that the tuning fork added any sonic properties to the sound of the guitar. Plus, the one I had later developed a warp up at the high end (as Chet called it, 'the dusty part of the fretboard' )
so that caused the strings to rattle of you set them very low. A that time, we all thought it was cool looking but later on when I got some sense, I realized it was a piece of junk,,,,,it too had the "pad" on the back. I later traded it for a Gibson 355 (now there's one I should have kept,,,huh?) Of all the Gretschs I have ever owned, and there were many, they all make me appreciate what Paul did for us by getting Gretsch to remarket Chet's old '59 NC/CG - - In my opinion, THAT'S the BEST guitar Gretsch has ever made, bar none, hands down . . . end of story!

Gayle Moseley

[Norm]

Sawing a big hole in the bottom of an instrument must impaire the sound quality..."

The hole, not so much. The inner bracing had to be thinned to make room for the mutes and Chet felt this had a negative effect on the sustain which was so important to him.

Gayle, I have to agree. Chet's old wide fingerboard '59 was his 'secret weapon' with its beefed bridge pickup and super tron combination. I didn't know about that bridge pickup until Paul caused the 6122-59 to happen.

[albertgen]

From what I understand Jimmy Webster was an idea man, he thought you had to keep changing things to keep people intrested, sorta like Chet did with his music. But I have to agree with Norm , a lot of those ideas were not really great things to add to an already outstanding guitar. I hated those pads. Those coat snaps looked terrible on a guitar IMO. But you know they are still using some of those ideas, so that has to count for something. Al

[Mike Nye]

The hole, not so much. The inner bracing had to be thinned to make room for the mutes and Chet felt this had a negative effect on the sustain which was so important to him.

I just stripped the finish, and removed the neck from one of my CGs. I'm going to get rid of the mute, open the mortise into the body, wood-weld a sustain block to the neck tenon and then insert it into the body, gluing it to the top to create a neck through body instrument, and then install a post-type bridge mounted right into the sustain block.

This solves a problem that Gretschs are known for . . . Loose neck joints that dampen sustain from the instrument.

[Norm]

Bold and fearless!

I like it!

[mark reinhart]

I own two 1969 6120s, and I have removed the mutes on both of them -- as several earlier posts stated, a hand is a far better mute than that silly gadget. I play left-handed, so my 6120s also don't have the Chet signature pickguards on them because they would impede my playing so much-- I guess the guitars would probably look pretty stripped-down to many of you!

[Vidar Lund]

Mike, quite a project! May we ask for pictures as the work goes along?

[Mike Nye]

Mike, quite a project! May we ask for pictures as the work goes along?

OK . . .

Being I haven't had a shop for a few years now, I'm doing the work at a friend's cabinet shop.

Looking back, I should have waited before starting this project, as it's looking like I might have to have another brain surgery in the next few months.

I will; however, bring the parts home and take photos. The last time I'd taken photos there my digital camera's auto-focus quit working due to sawdust getting into the sensor . . .

[David Elliott]

I read an interview of Chet once, in which Jimmie Webster (and Duke Kramer) came up in the conversation, and Chet said that Webster's "philosophy" regarding 'add-ons' and 'gadgets' was that you had to keep changing things and coming up with something new, in order to sell guitars.

This is nothing really new of course, and is common practice in nearly all manufacturing such as the automobile industry. Any obvious change in styling, will result in new sales, as many people simply HAVE to have the latest model available in anything they purchase, whether or not it REALLY accomplishes or improves anything!

David