A Mint 2005 'De-Setzer'd' 6120 SSLVO with
Two Original 1960 'TV Jones' Filter'Tron Pickups

This specially modified guitar weighs just 7.50 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of just under 24 5/8 inches. Double-bound lightly-flamed laminated maple body with an arched maple top, double bound oversized 'f' holes and vintage-style trestle bracing and sound post. Two-piece 'lightly-flamed' maple neck with a very comfortable medium-to-thin profile, mahogany center strip, ebony fretboard with 22 medium frets and inlaid 'neo-classic' thumbnail pearl position markers with red side dot markers. Single-bound headstock with orange veneer face. Inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and inlaid pearloid steers head. Two-layer black over white plastic bell shaped truss-rod cover with three screws. Individual Sperzal locking tuners with half moon shaped metal buttons. Two original (and very hot) 1960 Gretsch 'patent-number' Filter'Tron pickups with gold plastic surrounds and outputs of 4.13k and 4.36k. The pickup covers are both engraved "U.S. Pat. 2892371". Gold Lucite 'signpost' pickguard with with Gretsch in gold and 'signpost' in black. Three volume controls (one for each pickup plus master volume control), one three-way tone switch and one three-way pickup selector switch. "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Adjusto-Matic bridge with six metal saddles on pinned rosewood base and aluminum Bigsby B6CB vibrato tailpiece with pivoting arm. Rectangular label inside bass 'f' hole with Model No. "G6120SSLVO" and serial number "JT05074509" stamped in black. All of the hardware is polished aluminum or nickel-plated. With the original Gretsch Guitar Guarantee with Model No. "G6120 SSLVO" and Serial No. "JT05074509" written in blue ink. Original eighteen page "Gretcsh Guitar Guide" and three original hang-tags. Housed in the original Gretsch five-latch black hardshell case with maroon plush lining (9.50).

This very special guitar with a vintage 'Western' orange gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish has been professionally modified and 'de-Setzer'd' as follows: The (2005) pickups have been replaced with two original 1960 Gretsch 'patent-number' Filter'Tron pickups with gold plastic surrounds and outputs of 4.13k and 4.36k. The pickup covers are both engraved "U.S. Pat. 2892371"; The Brian Setzer "Dice" volume control knobs have been replaced with period "Arrow through G" knobs with knurled sides and the 'Brian Setzer' engraved' truss-rod cover has been replaced with a plain version. The result is a really fine and affordable 6120 that actually sounds like an early sixties guitar - highly recommended!

"In 1960 Filter'Tron pickups began to bear "U.S. Pat. 2892371" on their covers to indicate the granting of Gretsch's patent. Filter'Tron pickups are double-coil, hum-cancelling electro-magnetic appliances. Removing the pickup cover exposes a black plastic cover-plate through which 12 flathead screws, six for each coil, are visible. These polepieces extend through two white plastic coil forms (bobbins) placed side-by-side and continue through a copper base plate at the bottom of the pickup. Each bobbin with six polepieces is wrapped with many turns of thin, copper wire to a D.C. resistance of between 3.0 and 4.0 Kilohms. The two coils sit on top of a square magnet establishing an electrical field in each coil. The field polarity of one coil is oriented in opposition to that of the other (simply by rotation the coil 180 degrees) thereby cancelling the interference and noise of both coils and, so, bucking the hum of the whole unit. The delicate copper wire wrap of each coil is surrounded by textured, black elastic material and the two coils are linked by black plastic coated lead wires which extend through the base plate. The copper base plate, perforated by the 12 polepiece screws, has two small holes by which the pickup is secured to the guitar's top and has two large tabs which run up the side of the unit to protect the outside aspect of each coil. The only physical difference between pre-Patent Applied For, Patent Applied For, and Patent Number Filter'Tron pickups is that the screw pole-pieces of the first two are somewhat longer than those of the last. This fails to yield a hotter pickup and since Gretsch Filter'Trons are desirable because of their inherent timbre rather than their output, it is unlikely that the mythologizing that has been associated with "double-white", "zebra", or "double-black" bobbin Gibson PAF humbuckers will occur with Filter'Trons." (Scott, Jay. The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company. p.77)