"Eric took a look at it and thought 'Well that's unusual I'll have that'"

This 13 1/2-inch-wide guitar weighs 7.20 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Chambered mahogany body with four-ply binding, pressed arched top with Burgundy Sparkle finish, one-piece mahogany neck with a medium profile, and bound ebony fretboard with 21 frets and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover. Individual open-back Grover StaTite tuners with oval metal buttons. Two patent-number Filter'Tron pickups with gold plastic surrounds and outputs of 4.14k and 4.09k. Three controls (two volume on lower treble bout, one master volume on upper treble bout) plus two three-way selector switches on upper bass bout and a standby switch on lower treble bout. "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Original Space Control bridge on ebony base and bent flat-arm Burns vibrato tailpiece with black plastic tip with "Gretsch" engraved in white. All hardware gold-plated. With the original Gretsch black pad on the back of guitar. Inside the control cavity on the back of the guitar is the orange and gray Gretsch label printed in black, with the model number ("6129") stamped in blue and the serial number ("46387") stamped in black. The switch control cover plate is engraved with the serial number ("46387"). The bare minimum of belt buckle scarring (just surface scarring) on the back of the guitar, a very small amount of surface loss due to moisture under the pad on the back of the guitar, a little bit of surface checking on the sides, and a few tiny marks. The original pickguard (which was removed from the guitar) has now been repaired and put back on. Otherwise this guitar is in near mint condition. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with burgundy plush lining (9.00). With a piece of green adhesive tape on the top of the case, inscribed by Lee Dickson: "AUCTION #29 1962/CHAMPAGNE SPARKLE/ROC JET #46387."

This guitar was Lot 52 in the 24 June 2004 Christie's New York auction of Eric Clapton's guitars ("Crossroads Guitar Auction: Eric Clapton & Friends for the Crossroads Centre"). It was originally bought for collecting purposes. "We bought this at an outdoor gig...In the '80s from Pete Alanoff. Eric took a look at it and thought 'Well that's unusual I'll have that'" (Lee Dickson, quoted in the 24 June 2004 Christie's New York catalogue).

"I love these. I think they're great. I love Gretschs...in terms of their image and what they represent in a rock culture...but I can't get the hang of their wiring...I get lost. It's complicated...I love all those guitars that Diddley had made for him, square frame, red with black...beautiful things" (Eric Clapton, quoted in the 24 June 2004 Christie's New York catalogue).

"In 1962 major style changes occurred [in the Jet series] which continued on the line until the re-introduction of the single-cutaway body style in 1970: gold-plated metal parts replace chrome, a gold pickguard engraved with a black 'Gretsch' block letter logo supplants the Duo Jet's and Silver Jet's white pickguard, and a gold-plated Burns vibrato tailpiece anchors the Jets' 24 1/2 inch scale length instead of the previous 'G'-cutout, chrome tailpiece. Most notably in 1962 the company expanded its 'spotlight sparkle'-top line to include not only the Silver Jet but a panoply of other shimmering Model 6129s available at no greater cost than the $350 Model 6128 Duo Jet: the gaudy, Romanesque Gold Sparkle, delicate-lilac Champagne Sparkle, a deeper, wine-colored Burgundy Sparkle and squeezable Tangerine Sparkle. All double cut-aways are extremely rare and few of any color other than Silver Sparkle were were made. 1962 also saw the introduction of the standby switch on all electric models" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p. 101). This guitar must be one of the very first "Burgundy" Sparkle Jets ever made. The serial number ("46387") is January 1962.