"We had the best pickup anywhere, the Gretsch Filter'Tron" Chet Atkins

1958 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body

This "Pre-PAF" Western Orange Chet Atkins 6120 weighs just 8.30 lbs. Fifteen and a half inch wide, two and three-quarter inch deep double-bound laminated maple body with two double-bound 'f' holes. Two-piece maple neck with ebony center strip, a nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a very comfortable medium-to-thick profile. Ebony fretboard with original aluminum nut, twenty-two original 'thin' (.075 gauge) frets and inlaid pearloid half-moon position markers. "Wider winged" construction headstock with inlaid mother-of-pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo set into a mahogany-stained, maple peghead overlay with two layer (black on white) dome shaped plastic truss-rod cover with three screws. Gold-plated Grover StaTite open-back tuners with small oval metal buttons. Two Gretsch 'Pre-PAF' Filter'Tron 'humbucking' pickups with plain covers, the neck pickup with an output of 4.08k. and the bridge pickup with an output of 4.17k. Gold lucite 'un-sculpted' pickup surrounds. Gold Lucite 'square notched cutout' 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), and on the bass bout one three-way pickup selector switch and one three-way tone switch. Gold-plated "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Gretsch 'rocker' bar bridge on height-adjustable rosewood base, non-plated Horseshoe-Style Bigsby vibrato tailpiece with pivoting arm. Rectangular Gretsch label inside bass 'f' hole with Model "6120" written in black ink and Serial No. "27652" stamped in black. Housed in the original Gretsch four-latch, white 'second-version Western' shaped hardshell case with stamped brown leather edges and dark plum plush lining with Gretsch white satin banner lettered in blue (9.00). The case has a previous owner's name "J.C. Buchanan" painted on the top.

When we purchased this guitar it was suffering from the dreaded Gretsch binding decay. We sent the guitar to our friend Cristian Mirabella at Mirabella Guitars and Restorations in St. James, NY who has after nearly a year renewed all of the binding including the 'f' holes, headstock and heel. The number one go-to guy for this type of work, Christian does not touch the original finish of the guitar as he totally masks the body before removing the old and then attaching the new binding. He then 'ages' the new binding to the correct sixty-four year old color. Even under ultra-violet light one cannot see any difference… the work was not cheap - Christian charged us $3,000 for this work but now the guitar has been fully restored to its original glory. There is some fine finish checking on the body and one very small mark/ding on the back of the neck behind the fourth fret, otherwise, and aside from the miraculous binding replacement, this beautiful example richly deserves an exceptionally fine (9.00) rating.

"…An interesting 6120 example that reflects most of the 1958 model year features. It's headstock retains the soon-to-be-modified wider winged construction. It does however diverge from the classic aesthetic of the day, by way of a horseshoe-less headstock overlay. These T-roof only headstocks are not unheard of, and examples have surfaced from several batches from this period, including #276XX and #284XX." (Edward Ball. Gretsch 6120. The History of a Legendary Guitar. p. 104).

"The 265XX batch of 6120 guitars exemplified a change that would define the 1958 model year for many models within the Gretsch fleet. These were the first of the 16" category guitars to receive Gretsch's new, in-house manufactured, Filter'Tron dual-coil humbucker pickup design developed by EchoSonic amp inventor and Gretsch consultant, ray Butts. From the beginning Chet Atkins did not like the DeArmond Dynasonic pickups, complaining in his 2001 book, Chet Atkins, Me and My Guitars that "they were too heavy on the bass response, weak and inconsistent in the higher registers, and they hummed terribly." Ray Butts ingenious approach with his Filter'Tron technology of wiring the two coils out of phase, to cancel out the hum, won Atkins over immediately. Many historians have surmised that the primary motivator for the introduction of the Filter'Tron pickup was the success of the Gibson humbucking technology. Interestingly, it appears that ray Butts' patent for the Filter'Tron may have been submitted earlier than Seth Lover's for the Gibson unit. Regardless, the fact that Chet Atkins himself was a supporter of the new Filter'Tron was a huge catalyst for the change… Early 6120 examples with Filter'Trons have unmarked or plain chrome pickup covers (aka pre-PAF) onto the covers. Several batches later Gretsch added the words "Pat Applied For" (aka PAF) onto the covers, in anticipation of their patent submission approval.… Authentic 1958 model year examples display smooth or un-sculpted versions of these pickup surrounds, which are found spilling over into the first 1959 model year batch at #293XX. All batches after this display the sculpted version of the pickup rings identified by the grooves on their short dimension… Another significant modification was that initiated for the 1958 model year was the replacement of the control knob affecting tone, historically located on the lower bout of the 6120 model. Beginning at batch #265XX, the tone control was regulated by a three-way switch, later affectionately coined the mud switch. It was positioned on the upper non-cutaway bout next to the pickup selector. In the up position this switch yielded full tonal colorization (aka mud). In the down position it added approximately half the effect of the up position. And when the switch was on the middle setting it provided no colorization at all - a clean channel." (Edward Ball. Gretsch 6120. The History of a Legendary Guitar. pp. 100-101).

"The success of Gibson's new Les Paul guitar... alerted other manufacturers, including Gretsch, to the value of a 'signature' model endorsed by a famous player... Around 1954 Jimmie Webster succeeded in securing talented Nashville-based country guitarist Chet Atkins for this role, a move that in time would completely turn around Gretsch's fortunes. After various discussions and meetings between the company and the guitarist, the Gretsch Chet Atkins Hollow Body 6120 model appeared in 1955. Atkins wasn't keen on the Western paraphernalia that Gretsch insisted on applying to the guitar... but relented because he was so keen to get a signature guitar on to the market. In fact, the decorations on the Hollow Body model were gradually removed over the following years" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, pp. 165-166).