"Ramble On"

This super little thirteen inch wide lightweight guitar weighs just 5.50 lbs. and has a comfortable nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a short scale length of 23 inches. One and seven eighth inch thick body with a Florentine cutaway, laminated maple top, back and sides, double-bound on the top and single-bound on the bottom. One-piece maple neck, and rosewood fretboard with 20 original thin frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. 'Smoke Green' finish on the top and black finish on the back, sides, and neck. The headstock is black with black laminate face, a thin white border, and with the Gretsch "T-roof" logo engraved in white. Individual open-back Grover StaTite tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Unique two-layer plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover painted red. One DeArmond Dynasonic pickup with an output of 2.84k. Black Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in white engraved from underneath. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Chrome "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Single-saddle rosewood bridge on adjustable rosewood base and chrome cut-out "G-hole flat" tailpiece. There is some light finish checking on the top and a few very insignificant surface marks on the back. This totally original and very cute little guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray four-latch hardshell case with brown padded lining (9.00).

"Cute as a button, the three-quarter scale Model 6115 Rambler was first produced in 1957. Although the guitar never appeared in a catalog or on a pricelist, the 13 1/2- inch-wide, 1 7/8-inch-deep, true f-hole, little hollowbody has a creamy Lotus Ivory-finished top and Jet Black back, sides and neck. A sharp florentine cutaway body and one DeArmond pickup are used on the model until about 1960 when a smooth Venetian cutaway and one Hi-Lo Tron debut on the guitar. The black plastic headstock overlay engraved with a white "Gretsch" black letter logo matches the pickguard motif. A rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays and no binding an a movable rosewood bridge are standard. Chrome-plated metal parts include a "G"-cutout tailpiece and "G"-indent control knobs. An unusual characteristic of the Rambler is its red plastic truss rod cover. There is a distinct possibility that the 6115 was intended to compete with Gibson's ES-140 3/4 or ES-140T-3/4 which were also three-quarter scale, down-sized hollowbody archtops; Gretsch's competitive edge, of course, was its perfectly-'50's color scheme. The Rambler moseyed off the range about 1962." (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p.179).

"Even by Gretsch standards, the 6115 Rambler took an unusual path. Somehow, for some reason, someone at Gretsch decided a ¾ scale, DeArmond-equipped true f-hole hollowbody, with a Florentine cutaway — unique among the Gretsch line — would be a good idea. And it was, sort of. While the Rambler was definitely different and only lasted a few years, they are neat little guitars with a devoted, if small, following. Even the Rambler color scheme is distinctive and memorable: Ivory White over Jet Black, with an inexplicably red truss rod cover. The diminutive Rambler debuted in 1957 to little fanfare. In 1960 a HiLoTron pickup replaced the DeArmond, and the unusual Florentine cutaway was lost in favor of the more common, rounded Venetian cutaway. Ramblers were dropped from the range some time around 1962." (http://gretschpages.com/guitars/6115-rambler).