abstamaria wrote:Gretsch models (and knobs) have always confused me, but this is a 6120.
...from a particular period. The 6120 hasn't always looked like that. Often, you'd have sworn that it was a different model.
abstamaria wrote:Identical to the earlier “Chet Atkins” model, it was renamed “Nashville” after Chet’s endorsement contract expired.
Not quite. The Chet Atkins models (all with the name on the pickguard though not all necessarily produced at the same time) were:
(s) the
Solid Body (similar to the Duo-Jet and Roundup but discontinued early)
(b) the
Tennessean(c) the
Country Gentleman(d) the
Nashville(e) the
Super Chet (this one much later - 1970s, as pictured on the "Chester & Lester" LP).
See this magazine advert from 1969:
All three guitars (Country Gent [6122], Nashville [6120[ and Tennessean [6119]) are "Chet Atkins" models.
Chet continued to endorse Gretsch right up until the end of production in the USA. He never endorsed the Japanese production models, which consequently (in some cases) had to be given alternative model names:
"Country Gentleman" = "Country Classic"
"Tennessean" = "Tennessee Rose"
"Nashville" was OK - Chet didn't have the rights to that name.
abstamaria wrote:The new ones are named after Chet again. The guitar is identified with Duane Eddy, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend, among others.
True - though the resumption of the endorsement was a deal between Gretsch and Chet's estate, the man himself having passed away some years earlier.
abstamaria wrote:Hank had a Gretsch, which he used for Nivram (and, according to Roberto Pistolesi’s camp, Apache and several other important pieces). Hank’s I believe was a Country Gentleman, a 6122 model, hence different from this one. The 6122 had double cut-aways and painted (not real) f holes, but there were variations, so it is all quite confusing. Perhaps someone will explain.
The original models of the 6122 Country Gentleman (1958 - 1960) had a single cutaway. This is one almost (but not quite) just like Hank's:
Hank's was from a bit later and had a zero fret as well as a gold-plated "V-Cut" Gretsch-branded Bigsby.
abstamaria wrote:Anyway, as this is a 6120, it qualifies as a “non-Shadows” guitar.
No.
The one in the photo you posted (message above this one) is actually - more or less - identical to Bruce's 6120, as seen in "Summer Holiday" and used on UK TV at least once.
abstamaria wrote:Hank in an interview though said his recollection was that Bruce used his orange 6120 to back him up in Nivram, so this may be a Shadows guitar after all.
It
is!
abstamaria wrote:The guitar pictured is a 1990s model, not mine, but left with me by a friend. I’ve had it for over a decade, but rarely touch it. I think I’ll use it for Nivram. I put flatwounds on it - would that be correct?
Andy
Probably!