A Super Rare Factory Black Country Gentleman…

This extremely rare black "top dog" of the Chet Atkins models weighs just 8.20 lbs. and and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a really comfortable medium-to-thick neck profile, and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches (like all of the Chet Atkins models). Laminated maple body, three-piece rock maple neck, and ebony fretboard with 22 original medium-to-thin frets plus zero fret and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. With three-ply binding on the top and the back of the guitar and single binding on the headstock and the fretboard. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "The Chet Atkins Country Gentleman" nameplate. Serial number "38323" and "Made in U.S.A." stamped in gold on back of headstock. Individual Grover tuners with kidney-shaped metal buttons. Two Filter'Tron 'Patent Number' "U.S. PAT. 2892371" pickups with outputs of 4.26k and 4.43k. Gold Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo engraved in black from underneath and "Chet Atkins / Country Gentlemen" in black. White border painted f-holes. Two volume controls (one for each pickup) plus a stand-by switch on the lower treble bout, one master volume control on the upper treble bout, plus two pickup and tone selector switches on upper bass bout. Aluminium Gretsch "Arrow-through-G" control knobs with ribbed sides. The potentiometers stamped on the top "AB / 885 P601 / Type J / Made in USA". Single string-damper (top missing). Height-adjustable Gretsch bar bridge on ebony base. Gold-plated V-cutout B-6 Bigsby ("Gretsch by Bigsby") vibrato tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. Original black leatherette cover with eight fasteners on back of body (giving access to the electronics). This guitar is one of the "few, rare black-finished Country Gentleman [fourth version] as mentioned in Jay Scott's book. It is also one of the few with the mis-spelling "Country Gentlemen" on the pickguard. This guitar shows very little playing wear both on the body and on the neck BUT the three-ply binding on the top and back of the body had deteriorated quite severely (as is often the case) - however the binding has been professionally repaired/restored in many places and is now quite sound. This very rare 'Black" CG is a conservative excellent (8.50) example. The guitar looks, plays and sounds great - and is priced low to take into account the work that has been carried out on the body binding. Housed in a sixties four-latch shaped black hardshell case with royal blue plush lining (8.75).

"…only a single muffler mutes the strings beginning 1967; "Chet Atkins Country Genleman" is engraved on the gold Lucite pickguard from 1967 on and sometimes is spelled "Country Gentlemen indicating a deterioration of the literacy of the American work force or, perhaps, a rift between Baldwin and Chet Atkins who owned the name "Country Gentleman". An interesting aberration that occurred during this era was the production of a few, rare black-finished Country Gentlemen. Therefore, the fourth version of the Country Gentleman is the single mute, double-cutaway Model 622 debuted in 1967 with two Filter'Trons." (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p. 192).

In [1958 in] the tradition of the Western-appointed Models 6120 and 6121, Gretsch continued its New York-to-Nashville connection by introducing the Model 6122 Country Gentleman, bringing to four (the Model 6119 Tennessean was also debuted this year) the number of Atkins-inspired and endorsed models. The Country Gentleman was the grand marque of the Chet Atkins line; at a prodigious $525 it ranked only behind the White Falcons in price. Finished in 'rich, mahogany-grained, country-style finish' the [single cutaway] Country Gentleman features a closed, 17-inch-wide, 2 3/4-inch-deep hollowbody design...The introduction of the Electrotone Hollowbody in 1962 led to the singularly most successful guitar ever produced by Gretsch the double cutaway Country Gentleman. Influenced primarily by Beatle George Harrison's use of the model, Gent sales soared... Like the 1962 and '63 White Falcons, the features of the first two years' double-cutaway Country Gentlemen are identical and the model itself is sometimes referred to among collectors as the 'Harrison' model because George Harrison did, in fact, use a 1962 or '63 Model 6122. The characteristics that distinguish the Harrison model from subsequent (1964 and on) versions are: Grover Imperial tuners, two Filter'Tron pickups, a pickguard that only says 'Gretsch' and not 'Country Gentleman', a very dark-brown mahogany finish, and red felt pads under the double muffler switches... The 1965 catalog presented the Country Gentleman on its cover and this represents the third incarnation of the model. Produced in 1964, '65 and '66, it differs from the 1962 and '63 Harrison model in the following ways: the Grover Imperial tuning machines are replaced with Grover tuners with kidney-shaped buttons in 1964; the headstock nameplate no longer carries the guitar's serial number beginning in late-1965 with the introduction of coded serial numbers imprinted on the back of the headstock; a Super'Tron II pickup replaces the rhythm Filter'Tron in 1964; black felt pads appear beneath the two muffler switches in early 1965" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 180-190).