A Super "Red" Tennessean

This super "red" Tennessean weighs just 6.50 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Double-bound (white-and-black) maple body, three-piece maple-ebony-maple neck, and ebony fretboard with 21 frets plus zero fret and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. Black-finished headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Individual open-back Grover StaTite (actually Waverly) tuners with oval metal buttons. One "patent number" Filter'Tron pickup with an output of 4.08k. Black Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo radius-engraved in white and with Chet Atkins "signature-on-signpost" logo in white. One volume control on cutaway bout and one three-way tone selector switch on upper bass bout. Chrome "Arrow-through-G" knob with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Chrome Gretsch bar bridge on ebony base (height adjustable) and aluminum V-cutout Bigsby ("Gretsch by Bigsby") vibrato tailpiece. The back of the guitar has some light belt buckle scarring, a few tiny surface chips, and one wear spot (about 1 1/4 x 1/2 inch). The sides of the guitar are just about fine, with only a few tiny little scratches. The top of the guitar shows virtually no wear, the neck has one small wear spot behind the first fret, and there is some minor wear to the edge of the headstock. Overall, this very rare guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition -- the best we've ever seen! Housed in the original Gretsch silver gray hardshell with purple velvet lining (8.50).

"The 16-inch-wide Tennessean Model 6119, essentially a one-pickup version of the Model 6120 [Chet Atkins Hollowbody], popped its unadorned headstock into daylight the same year that the Model 6122 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman premiered. With the advent of the 6119 the full complement of Atkins-family models was achieved...A plain, unbound, black-finished headstock with "Gretsch" inlaid in pearl, but without a horseshoe or other ornamentation, is fitted with chrome-plated, open-back Grover StaTite tuners...The first-year, 1958 Model 6119 Tennessean has an unbound, ebony neo-classic fingerboard on the three-piece, maple-ebony-maple neck secured with a heel dowel. The 24 1/2-inch Atkins' scale ends on a chrome-plated Bigsby bar bridge with strings hooking into an aluminum Bigsby Model B-6 vibrato tailpiece. The all-maple, 2 3/4-inch-deep body is simply bound in white plastic and finished all over in 'country style wood grain cherry finish', a deep, ruddy, red-aniline stain which occasionally appears as a tomato soup color and has a tendency to fade to orange. 1958's version has a single chrome-plated, new-for-'58 Pat. Applied For Filter'Tron pickup in the rear position...A unique black Lucite pickguard with 'Gretsch' radius-engraved in white block letters and a white Chet Atkins signature-signpost logo is standard. A single volume control on the cutaway with a chrome plated 'G'-indent control knob completes the motif of the $295 single Filter'Tron, frugal version of the 6120. In 1959 the Gretsch Action-flo nut arrives at the top of the fingerboard of the Tennessean, a trademark for 1959 Atkins guitars. In 1960 the Pat. Applied For Filter'Tron begins to be replaced with a patent number Filter'Tron and the B-6 Bigsby with a 'V'-cutout-Gretsch by Bigsby vibrato. Presumably, 1961's Model 6119 is thinned to slightly more than 2 1/4 inches" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 196-197).