Chet's Solid Top Black 6120 with Gold F-Holes

[PhilHunt]

It sure would be nice if Gretsch would make a model fashioned after Chet's Black 6120 with Gold F-Holes. Seems like all they would have to do is re modify the CGP model and tweak it a little to make it look like it.
Here's a video of Chet picking it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHCgh76D ... re=related

[Ray Bohlken]

This was such a great video. Chet was "on" as usual. Thanks for posting it. I think it would be neat to have a black CGP as an option. Was the black guitar stereo, too? I saw a switch near the volume controls. I couldn't see any outlines of F holes on this one like the CGP has or the big "G" brand. I didn't see the individual pickup nodes at the end of the low E like one version of the black one has.
Ray

[thenorm]

It's really hard to tell exactly what color that guitar is. It could be black but we can assume the paint on the Bigsby is black then the guitar doesn't appear to be quite as dark. Knowing Gretsch it could be anything. I'd almost think it might be a dark maroon like the "Sandman" guitar.

It could be just the difference in the way TV lighting and the age of the clip that makes the difference, too. Interpeting color on a black and white print is largely guesswork.

There is a picture of him with the Louvin Brothers with a dark guitar with the split pickup switching on it and a swing-away handle on the Bigsby that may or may not be the same guitar. That guitar definitley looks like it could be black. That guitar looks like the one on the "Dark Eyes" video. they could be the same guitar since both have the swingaway handle. The guitar on the "Alabama Jubilee" clip has the stationary handle but of course Chet could swap that out in about twenty minutes.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course but personally I think the sparkle inlays on the f-holes to be off-putting and look tacky but that's just me.

There were probably a couple of split pickup wiring harnesses available to him at the time. Ray Butts no doubt had a couple of guitars to use as test beds and would pass Chet his variations for testing with the "final final" being stabilized and used on the CGP original. Hard to say whose idea it was to just outline the f-holes on that guitar but
I'd bet Chet liked the idea. He was not a fan of gaudy. Jimmie Webster was and I think it was he who liked the sparkle inlays.

In any case, like I've pointed out before, the mid fifties was a whirlwind of innovation in guitaring in general and Chet's impact and input on the Gretsch company was staggering in his first five years with the company.

One of the things a lot of people miss about that vid is how it illustrates how really high Chet had the bass string side of his action. That low E stirng is really Up There.

That's how it looks to me...

[guitarchuck]

If I were to make any changes to my CGP, I would leave the "G" brand off, leave the "F" hole outlines off and change the block inlays to the "neo-classic" markers (thumbprint or half-moon whatever you want to call them). I love my Gretsch CGP, but that's they way I would have one custom made. I love orange guitars by the way. I don't really like the dark colors they show dust, fingerprints, smudges and light scratches too easily. That's just me. I'm still really glad Paul Yandell worked with Gretsch to design the G6122-1959 Nashville Classic/Country Gentleman and the G6120-CGP Stereo! Really great guitars!

[thenorm]

Paul talked about that when he described the creation of the CGP. It is no secret that Chet really didn't like the western appointments of the 6120 of the day. This was especially evident when the neck broke on the original and Chet had it replaced with a fingerboard that didn't have the cowboy inlays.

But Paul and Gretsch decided to make it cosmetically as close to the original as possible knowing full well that if they didn't some people would grumble about it.

I doubt it would be possible to get a custom colored instrument anymore since they're no longer made in America particularly on a guitar that is only made in limited batches (or so they say).

I suppose it's possible to get (or make) a split pickup wiring harness and install it after-market on a model closer to your own liking but even that would require some drilling.

While I guess the split pickup is a nice option if you do a lot of recording so you can do as Chet did and do tricky things in effects you add but I personally see little benefit to apply it as a "stereo" guitar. I think the only truly "stereo" guitar Gretsch made was a run of White Falcons that had two split pickups and a junction box and it had five switches on it to run it.

It looked flashy on the catalog cover but I doubt they sold many and those they sold probably got more usage in a mono setting due to the moil of toting two amps etc.

Don't mind me... I'm just babbling....

[Ray Bohlken]

I guess the closest I could come to the guitar I would want would be this one:

http://www.gretschguitars.com/products/ ... 2401253822

It has the orange color, the TV Jones pickups and no western appointments. I don't think it has the CGP's neck width.

Gretsch does have a custom shop of sorts, but I'll bet an American made custom CGP guitar would be out of this world regarding price.

http://www.gretschguitars.com/products/ ... on=guitars

I went back and looked at the original video with the dark guitar several times, and depending on where the camera was, it looked black or could be orange and may have had some F hole lines in there or not. I couldn't tell because of the video quality or maybe my visual accuity. It sure sounded good, though and I always enjoy watching Chet pick one.

Ray

[BillB]

I was thinking that the "black" guitar (or one thought to be that guitar) was on an LP cover in the background. Isn't this the same guitar here?

http://invention.smithsonian.org/center ... /03-10.htm

Bill B.

[thenorm]

Isn't this the same guitar here:.."

It (the Smithstonian guitar) is the same one that was on the "Workshop" album and it is the guitar with the added nodes on the fingerboard that Ray Butts installed for the "invisible bass man" effect used on the "At Home" album. He had given that to Bill Porter. Bill sold it and it ended up in the museum. Not the guitar I would have picked for the museum being it is a one-off and not a particularly good representation of what the basic 6120 looked like in any of its forms.

Having said that, I've seen a picture of Chet with what appeared to be a dark top (with sparkle inlaid f-holes) and what looked like a much lighter colored side. I thought I had saved it but I can't find it.

I think there were two or three dark topped guitars floating around because they were experimenting with sealed tops at the time

[BillB]

I wonder if Chet would chuckle at how much we discuss some of these guitars and the fascination that we have about them. But as fans, there is something about those guitars that we see in the videos and on the album covers, etc. that draw our interest.

Bill B.

[thenorm]

I'm sure he would.
Paul would chide us from time to time about it. His jibe about the color of Chet's socks was along that line,

But it's fun to speculate. It goes on and on at gretschpages, too...

If Chet were alive he might look at that video and say "I don't remember what color that guitar was in that shoot." He was pretty busy in those days.