The Holy Grail of Gretsches!

This "Holy Grail of Gretsches" weighs just 6.90 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Fifteen and a half inch wide double-bound laminated maple body with a one-piece maple back. Double-bound 'f' holes and trademark "G" brand wood-burned into the top and stained dark brown. Two-piece medium profile maple neck with ebony center strip. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid engraved "Steers-Head", "Cacti" and "Indian Spear" pearloid block position markers. Single-bound headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Steers-Head" inlay. Two layer (black on white) large truss rod cover. Gold-plated Grover StaTite open-back tuners with oval metal buttons and hexagonal bushings. Two DeArmond (Gretsch Dynasonic) pickups, with nicely balanced outputs of 10.25 and 10.20k. Gold Lucite pickguard with pantograph-engraved Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Chet Atkins" signature framed in a signpost (the signpost and signature highlighted in black). Three volume controls (one for each pickup plus master volume control), one tone control, and one (pickup) selector switch. Gold-plated "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Aluminum compensated Bigsby bridge saddle on original rosewood base and gold-plated aluminum Bigsby "fixed arm" B-6 vibrato tailpiece. Original Gretsch rectangular white label with the model number "6120" stamped in black, and the serial number "18533" stamped in red, inside bass "f" hole. This guitar even has its original aluminum nut. This is a one hundred-per-cent original example of the first version (á la Eddie Cochran) of the most famous of all Gretsches. This is the Holy Grail - the original 6120 with al the Western appointments and the fixed-arm Bigsby. It has been lovingly played as is evidenced by the wear on the back of the neck where a significant amount of the orange finish has been worn away. Apart from that the guitar is in remarkably fine and totally original condition, the body is completely unfaded - a wonderful deep Western orange color and the original frets have been dressed. There is a miniscule amount of superficial belt-buckle scarring on the back and a few very small and insignificant marks on the edges. There is some tarnishing to the gold-plating on the pickup surrounds and most of the gold-plating on the Bigsby has worn off. With all that said this is still one of the cleanest, all original, first version 6120's that we have ever seen. Complete with the orange-finished, leather, "jewelled" shoulder strap which has a machine-tooled steers' head and cactus motif along its length, rope binding on the strap and the shoulder pad, and four red rhinestones (hence "jewelled") on the strap buckles. The strap tooling mimics the fingerboard inlay and was also used to edge the Western-appointed Electromatic amps of the mid-50's. Housed in the original Gretsch "Cowboy" white tolex hardshell case with tooled leather and purple plush lining. (9.00).

"The first version of the Model 6120 occurred in 1954 and '55 and must have these features to be considered the first type: steer's head peghead inlay, cows-and-cactus fingerboard engraving, and gold-plated, fixed-arm Bigsby. In 1956 the guitar appeared with modest changes. The headstock in the early part of the year still has the steer's head logo. The fingerboard inlays, previously engraved with cows and cactus are no longer engraved and are plain, large, pearloid plastic squares.The fixed-arm Bigsby of 1954 and '55 is replaced with a nickel-plated B6 Bigsby with a swivel arm. In addition, 1956 is the first year in which Gretsch guitars appeared with an engraved truss rod cover. So, the formula for the 1956 Model 6120, the second version of this model, is: horse shoe headstock inlay (rarely, still steer's head; unengraved position markers; nickel-plated, swivel-arm Bigsby vibrato. It is obvious that Gretsch was gradually removing the Western appointments from the model even at this early stage of its evolution."

"The Model 6120 Chet Atkins Hollowbody electric premiered in 1954, priced at $385 and destined to become one of the company's most popular models, the 6120 enjoyed immediate success and three decades later would be resurrected and revered by the guitar-playing community as one of two most desired Gretsch models. It was first displayed on the inside front cover of the 1955 catalog, in full color, beneath its solidbody sibling the Model 6121 Chet Atkins Solidbody electric. The 6120 is 15 1/2-inches-wide -- not 16-inches as indicated in the catalog… The very earliest models appear as a ruddy orange-brown but most 6120s present as a deep, vibrant orange." (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 66 & 70).