"Brilliant Highs" to "Mellow Lows!"

1962 Gretsch 6117 Double Anniversary Model.

This near mint and totally original "Sunburst" Double Anniversary weighs just 6.80 lbs. Sixteen inch wide and two and five eighths inch deep single bound laminated maple body with two large 'f' sound holes. Two-piece maple neck with mahogany center strip and a nice fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a wonderful medium-to-thick profile and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Single bound rosewood fretboard with 21 original thin frets and neoclassic inlaid pearl half-moon (thumbprint) position markers. Two Gretsch Hi-Lo'Tron single-coil pickups with tan plastic surrounds and outputs of 2.90k and 3.22k. Tan Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T" logo in relief in black. Three volume controls (one master) and two three-way switches (one pickup selector, one tone selector). Chrome-plated "Arrow-through-G" with knurled sides. Six-saddle Space Control bridge on ebony base and "G-hole flat" tailpiece with the original Gretsch "Tone-Twister" vibrato. There is the absolute minimum of belt buckle scarring on the back, otherwise this fifty year old example is in mint as new condition. With the original black leather Gretsch strap in the Original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with purple felt lining (9.25).

"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" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 205-207).

From 1961 onward the Anniversary model was fitted with Gretsch HiLo'Tron single-coil pickups.

The Gretsch HiLo'Tron "Electronic Guitar Heads" were developed in 1958 as a replacement for the venerable DeArmond pickups. and have an incredibly broad range of tones, from "Brilliant Highs" to "Mellow Lows!".