Ultra Rare 1957 Gretsch Model 6192 Country Club "Cats-Eye"

This exceptionally rare Country Club "Cats-Eye" model 6192 weighs just 7.20 lbs. and features a triple-bound sixteen inch wide (as opposed to the usual seventeen inch Country Club) single cutaway 2 3/4 inch thick body with a one-piece rock maple back and sides and a one-piece spruce top with two double-bound "Cats-Eye" sound holes. Three piece spruce/ebony/spruce neck with an ebony fretboard with five-ply binding with 21 frets and pearl hump block position markers and red side dots. Headstock triple-bound and inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and large 'bell-shaped' two layer plastic truss-rod cover. A nice comfortable nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches, a wonderful medium neck profile, and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Individual Grover Imperial tuners with 'stairstep' metal buttons. Two DeArmond Gretsch Dynasonic (Fidela-tone), single coil pickups, with outputs of 3.04k and 3.07k. Gold Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in relief in black (engraved from the underside). Three controls on the lower treble bout (volume for each pickup and master tone) and one control on the cutaway bout (master volume) plus one three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass bout. The potentiometers are stamped "134 619" (Centralab May 1956). Gretsch "Arrow-through-G" with cross-hatch pattern side control knobs. Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge on ebony base and "G" cutout tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. Original Gretsch rectangular white label with the model number "6192" stamped in blue, and the serial number "47056" typed in black, inside bass "f" hole. Examination under ultra-violet light has revealed that the neck on this guitar was professionally reset at some time and that an additional strap button hole was filled in at that time. There is a small area of binding shrinkage on the back just by the cutaway, but there is no damage to the binding. There is a small area of playing wear on the bass side of the neck between the third and the eighth frets. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted and is perfectly set up, is very comfortable to play, and has quite an amazing tone. A truly unique example. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with maroon plush lining (8.75).

According to all the available Gretsch literature, the model designation "6192" is for a 1955-1971 Sunburst "Country Club". A mid-to-late fifties, or even an early sixties "Country Club" would have a 17 inch wide body… BUT this guitar has a 16 inch wide body much more akin to a Double Anniversary - BUT the Anniversary was not introduced until 1958 and by that time the earlier features of this guitar including the DeArmonds, the Hump-block inlays and the Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge had disappeared by the end of 1957.

Although the serial number "47056" corresponds with a manufacture date of early 1962, it is very obvious from all of the features on this extremely rare instrument that it was built somewhere very close to 1957 and that the serial number is a typo and should read "17056" or possibly even "27056". We say this for the following reasons:

1). The pearl hump-block inlays (discontinued in early 1958)
2). The DeArmond Dynasonic Pickups ((discontinued in late 1957)
3). The Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge (discontinued in late 1957)
4). The potentiometers are stamped "134 619" (Centralab May 1956)

Gretsch were notorious for their quality control at that time and it is quite possible that this was just a simple 'typo' by the factory worker that was responsible for inserting the serial number. With all that said… what we have here is an unbelievably rare specimen of a 'fifties' "Cats-Eye" Gretsch guitar… most likely a special factory order. We have never seen nor heard of another, and can find no reference to anything remotely similar!