An Exceptionally Fine 1960 Country Gentleman…

1960 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman.

This Country Gentleman weighs just 7.80 lbs. and and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches. Laminated maple body with black 'painted' 'f' holes. Two-piece mahogany neck with ebony center strip, a really comfortable medium-to-thiick neck profile, and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Bound ebony fretboard with 22 original medium/thin frets plus zero fret and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. With four-ply binding on the top and the back of the body and single binding on the headstock and the fretboard. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "The Chet Atkins Country Gentleman" nameplate engraved with serial number "36960". Two-layer (black over white) dome-shaped plastic truss-rod cover with three screws. Individual Grover Imperial tuners with 'stair-step' shaped metal buttons. Two Gretsch Filter'Tron 'Patent Number' humbuckers with outputs of 4.43k and 4.60k. Gold Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo engraved in black from underneath. Two volume controls (one for each pickup) and master volume control on the upper treble bout, plus two pickup and tone selector switches on upper bass bout. Gretsch "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Gretsch height adjustable 'bar' bar bridge on original ebony base and aluminum 'Gretsch by Bigsby Patent Number' vibrato tailpiece. All hardware (except bridge and Bigsby tailpiece) gold-plated. The top right-hand corner of the neck pickup surround has broken away - this is only visible when the pickguard is removed. The original medium/thin frets show some light playing wear and there is some light surface loss on the back of the neck. There is some very light belt-buckle scarring (hardly noticeable) on the back of the body and a couple of areas where the ivoroid binding is just slightly (no more than a sixteenth of an inch at most) coming away from the body. Overall this rare and very nice example is in excellent plus (9.00) condition. Housed in the original five-latch, shaped two-tone gray hardshell with maroon plush lining (9.25).

"In [1958 in] the tradition of the Western-appointed Models 6120 and 6121, Gretsch continued its New York-to-Nashville connection by introducing the Model 6122 Country Gentleman, bringing to four (the Model 6119 Tennessean was also debuted this year) the number of Atkins-inspired and endorsed models. The Country Gentleman was the grand marque of the Chet Atkins line; at a prodigious $525 it ranked only behind the White Falcons in price. Finished in 'rich, mahogany-grained, country-style finish' the [single cutaway] Country Gentleman features a closed, 17-inch-wide, 2 3/4-inch-deep hollowbody design with small, inlaid black plastic f-holes…" (Jay Scott. The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company. p.182).