Celebrating Seventy-Five Years

1960 Gretsch 6124 Anniversary Model

This mid-1960 sunburst Single Anniversary weighs just 6.10 lbs. Sixteen inch wide, two and three-quarters inch thick, double-bound laminated maple body with two unbound f-holes. Two-piece Maple neck with a mahogany center strip, a wide nut width of just under 1 3/4 inches, a scale length of 24 1/2 inches and a very comfortable medium-to-thick profile. Rosewood fretboard with 21 original thin frets and neoclassic inlaid pearl half-moon (thumbprint) position markers. Black-faced headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Anniversary Model" plaque with 'glistening' diamond. Individual Grover StaTite open-back tuners with oval metal buttons and octagonal bushings. One Gretsch Hi-lo Tron pickup in the neck position with a silver lucite surround and an output of 2.90k. Gold Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in relief in black. One volume control on upper treble bout and one three-way tone selector switch on upper bass bout. Chrome-plated "Arrow-through-G" with knurled sides. Six-saddle Space Control bridge on ebony base and "G-hole flat" tailpiece. Rectangular Gretsch label inside bass 'f' hole with Model "6124" stamped in blue and Serial No. "36523" typed in black. There is a small amount of 'crazing' to the binding on the wide downward strip at the neck joint inside the treble cutaway but otherwise the binding all round, top and bottom is perfect. The pickguard has a crack by the top screw due to over tightening (but is quite sound). This guitar is in excellent plus (9.00) condition with just one tiny mark/ding on the side of the treble horn. The action at the 12th fret is a little high at 3/16 inch.Housed in a later three-latch, shaped black hardshell case with gray plush lining (9.25).

"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).