1959 Gretsch
Celebrating Seventy-Five Years
Of The Company's Founding
This original "Two-Tone Smoke Green" 6118 Double Anniversary weighs 7.70 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Double-bound on top and single-bound on bottom laminated maple body with two unbound f-holes. Medium to thick profile maple neck, and ebony fretboard with 21 thin frets and neoclassic inlaid pearl half-moon (thumbprint) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Anniversary Model" plaque. Individual Grover StaTite open-back tuners with oval metal buttons. Two Gretsch 'Pat Applied For' Filter'Tron humbucking pickups with silver iucite surrounds and outputs of 4.15k and 4.02k. Green Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in relief in white. Two volume controls + one master volume control on treble side, one three-way pickup selector switch and one three-way tone selector switch on bass side. Chrome-plated "Arrow-through-G" with knurled sides. Gretsch 'Bar' bridge on ebony base and original "Bigsby by Gretsch" tailpiece with "V" cutout. Inside the bass f-hole is the original rectangular white, gray and orange label with model no. "6118" stamped in black and serial no. "31764" typed in black. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted with the correct gauge fretwire. There is a small neatly repaired crack on the ebony base of the bridge and both of the lucite pickup surrounds have small splits. There is a tiny chip on the pearl 'half-moon' inlay at the ninth fret and an additional strap button has been fitted to the bass side of the body just by the neck. Overall this fine guitar is in exceptionally fine(8.75) condition with just one tiny surface chip on the top of the body, a few very small and insignificant surface chips on the sides and a couple of very small surface chips on the back of the neck. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with maroon plush lining (9.00).
"In 1958 Gretsch marked the 75th anniversary of the company's founding with a pair of special Anniversary model guitars. These were offered in one- and two-pickup versions that have since been nicknamed as the Single Anniversary and Double Anniversary models. Remarkably, they lasted in the Gretsch catalog until as late as 1977" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, p. 172).
"The revolutionary year 1958 saw dynamic electronic and cosmetic innovation in Gretsch electrics. At the same time, the company issued new models to capture more of both the high-end and less-expensive, utility or student market. To this latter end, four affordable models were issued to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the company in 1883...it saw fit to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee by debuting four low-rent -- although they were long-lived since they survived from '58 to the late-1970s -- Anniversary models: the sunburst-finished, one pickup Model 6124; two pickup, sunburst-finished Model 6117; the one pickup Model 6125 in two-tone Smoke Green finish and two pickup Model 6118 in the same two-tone motif. In 1958, the single Patent Applied For Filter'Tron-equipped 6124 and 6125 cost $198 while the twin-pickup models were $285...The 16-inch-wide, 2 1/2-inch-deep, true (unbound) f-hole, all-maple-bodied archtops utilize a 24 1/2-inch scale and have an interior wooden center strut that runs from the top to the back as on the Model 6120. This support ensures rigidity of the top and also forms a platform on which the PAF(s) sit... All Anniversary models changed little -- a Tone-Twister here, a two-tone Tan variation there -- in the decade since their introduction in 1958 including the price" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 205-211).
Of The Company's Founding
This original "Two-Tone Smoke Green" 6118 Double Anniversary weighs 7.70 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Double-bound on top and single-bound on bottom laminated maple body with two unbound f-holes. Medium to thick profile maple neck, and ebony fretboard with 21 thin frets and neoclassic inlaid pearl half-moon (thumbprint) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Anniversary Model" plaque. Individual Grover StaTite open-back tuners with oval metal buttons. Two Gretsch 'Pat Applied For' Filter'Tron humbucking pickups with silver iucite surrounds and outputs of 4.15k and 4.02k. Green Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in relief in white. Two volume controls + one master volume control on treble side, one three-way pickup selector switch and one three-way tone selector switch on bass side. Chrome-plated "Arrow-through-G" with knurled sides. Gretsch 'Bar' bridge on ebony base and original "Bigsby by Gretsch" tailpiece with "V" cutout. Inside the bass f-hole is the original rectangular white, gray and orange label with model no. "6118" stamped in black and serial no. "31764" typed in black. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted with the correct gauge fretwire. There is a small neatly repaired crack on the ebony base of the bridge and both of the lucite pickup surrounds have small splits. There is a tiny chip on the pearl 'half-moon' inlay at the ninth fret and an additional strap button has been fitted to the bass side of the body just by the neck. Overall this fine guitar is in exceptionally fine(8.75) condition with just one tiny surface chip on the top of the body, a few very small and insignificant surface chips on the sides and a couple of very small surface chips on the back of the neck. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with maroon plush lining (9.00).
"In 1958 Gretsch marked the 75th anniversary of the company's founding with a pair of special Anniversary model guitars. These were offered in one- and two-pickup versions that have since been nicknamed as the Single Anniversary and Double Anniversary models. Remarkably, they lasted in the Gretsch catalog until as late as 1977" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, p. 172).
"The revolutionary year 1958 saw dynamic electronic and cosmetic innovation in Gretsch electrics. At the same time, the company issued new models to capture more of both the high-end and less-expensive, utility or student market. To this latter end, four affordable models were issued to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the company in 1883...it saw fit to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee by debuting four low-rent -- although they were long-lived since they survived from '58 to the late-1970s -- Anniversary models: the sunburst-finished, one pickup Model 6124; two pickup, sunburst-finished Model 6117; the one pickup Model 6125 in two-tone Smoke Green finish and two pickup Model 6118 in the same two-tone motif. In 1958, the single Patent Applied For Filter'Tron-equipped 6124 and 6125 cost $198 while the twin-pickup models were $285...The 16-inch-wide, 2 1/2-inch-deep, true (unbound) f-hole, all-maple-bodied archtops utilize a 24 1/2-inch scale and have an interior wooden center strut that runs from the top to the back as on the Model 6120. This support ensures rigidity of the top and also forms a platform on which the PAF(s) sit... All Anniversary models changed little -- a Tone-Twister here, a two-tone Tan variation there -- in the decade since their introduction in 1958 including the price" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 205-211).
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