A Near Mint and Totally Original Thinline Double-Cutaway 1964 Gretsch 6120

This 15 3/4-inch-wide guitar weighs in at 7.60 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a standard Chet Atkins scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Double-bound laminated maple body with painted f-holes with white border, three-piece maple/ebony/maple neck with a medium profile, and ebony fretboard with 22 frets plus zero fret and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. Brown mahogany-stained headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and pearloid plastic horseshoe inlay. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover. The serial number ("72793") is impressed into the top edge of the headstock. Individual open-back Grover StaTite tuners with oval metal buttons. Two patent-number Filter'Tron pickups with gold plastic surrounds and outputs of 4.18k and 4.03k. Gold Lucite pickguard with pantograph-engraved Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Chet Atkins" signature in black. Two volume controls (one for each pickup) plus a three-way stand-by switch on the lower treble bout, one master volume control on the upper treble bout, plus two three-way selector switches (one pickup and one tone) on the upper bass bout. One string damper with the original black sponge pad (dried out), the rectangular hole lined with red felt, and one string damper control with the original red felt pad on the lower treble bout. Gretsch "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Aluminum Bigsby bar bridge and aluminum V-cutout B-6 Bigsby ("Gretsch by Bigsby") vibrato tailpiece with pivoting arm. Original black imitation leather pad with gold trim and eight push-button fasteners on the back of the guitar. All hardware gold-plated. This exceptionally clean and totally original guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with five latches and burgundy plush lining (9.25).

"In 1962 a profound change occurred in the Model 6120 Chet Atkins Hollowbody: the company introduced its Electrontone hollowbody design, a two-inch-deep, 15 1/2 inch-wide (not 16" as the catalog noted) double cutaway body with replica, not real, f-holes painted on the guitar. So, the Model had been converted from a true f-hole, single cutaway, hollow guitar to a simulated f-hole, double cutaway, semi-hollow instrument" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p. 83).