Gretsch Chet Atkins Solidbody Model 6121 Solid Body Electric Guitar (1959)
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Item #13211
Gretsch Chet Atkins Solidbody Model 6121 Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1959), made in Brooklyn, NY, serial # 29907, Western Orange lacquer finish, chambered mahogany body, maple top; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original grey hard shell case.
The Model 6120 Chet Hollow Solid Body is one of the iconic American vintage guitars; this companion instrument is its more obscure oft-forgotten sister, the Model 6121 Chet Atkins Solid Body. Although specifically described by Gretsch as a *solidbody* like the Duo-Jet and Jet Fire Bird this guitar is actually semi-hollow, or chambered in the modern parlance. The body is built like a little archtop guitar, with a plywood top mounted over a piece of sculpted mahogany that was hollowed out from above. This resulted in a guitar much lighter than the Les Paul that inspired it, with a different sound as well.
The 6120 and 6121 were launched simultaneously in 1955 but the hollowbody was always produced in far greater quantities. Atkins himself had little regard for his "solid" signature model, although he can be occasionally seen playing one early on. Both Atkins guitars were serialized together in batches of 100; it's estimated that a maximum of 20-25% of any given batch were 6121's, and some batches had none included at all. Total estimated 6121 production is less than 500.
The 6121 has much kinship with another rare Gretsch Model, the Model 6130 Round-Up, also a Jet-sized "solid" guitar festooned with Western imagery. Essentially Gretsch added the Atkins-requested Bigsby tailpiece and metal nut to the 6130 and replaced the pine top with maple; most other features were the same. The 6121 generally has an "oranger" finish with its maple top and usually adds a Atkins signature gold-backed Lucite pickguard; this example has what appears to be the original pickguard (down to the masking tape underneath!) but with no markings; perhaps it was ordered that way or was just a sheer omission.
Gretsch guitars of the 1950s often evolved quickly; this "Chet Atkins Hollow Body" was made at the end of 1958/beginning of 1959 with features specific to that period. This guitar's serial number is part of the 299XX batch of 6120s made at the turn of 1958-9; Atkin solid bodies from this run are apparently extremely rare as they are not noted in Edward Ball's authoritative "Gretsch 6120" book that documents every production batch.
The body has no "G-Brand" in the top or western tooled leather trim around the sides; those early 1955-6 features were long gone by this time. The fingerboard has the newer "thumbprint" fingerboard inlay and the narrow headstock sports the horseshoe motif in place of the previous steer's head, but retains the old aluminum nut. The Bigsby is the new 1958-9 style with the flat stamped arm and Phillips head retaining screw, the milled metal knobs are the G-logo style. The canted aluminum bridge saddle on a wooden base is specific to the 6120 and 6121 in this period.
This guitar mounts two of the then-new Filter 'Tron pickups, used by Gretsch on most electrics up after 1958. Atkins himself requested Gretsch adopt the humbucking units that Ray Butts designed especially for him to replace the DeArmonds used previously. Gretsch was happy to oblige and bought the license from Butts to make the new pickups in-house for the entire line. This guitar mounts two early patent-pending "Filter 'Tron" pickups surrounded by the then brand new sculpted plastic pickup rings. The 3-knob, 2 switch wiring scheme came in with these pickups, with individual volumes on the lower bout, a master volume on the cutaway bout and the pickup selector and tone modifier (A/K/A Mud switch) on the upper bout.
This 6121 is a superb twang machine, with the muscular but crisp Filter'Tron tone blending the characteristics of a 1950s hollow body Gretsch with some of the extra bite of a solidbody. This example has been well played but remains one of the cooler rare Gretsch guitars we have had, a subtly western stunner with the classic "Great Gretsch Sound" in spades!
Overall length is 39 3/4 in. (101 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a very nice example overall, definitely gigged "back in the day" but well cared for, with some general wear but in all original condition. The top is fairly clean with a somewhat faded color to the orange lacquer and some dings, scrapes and dents largely to the upper edge. The back and sides have general wear as well, with some belt buckle wear to the back (what do you bet the original owner wore a Cowboy belt buckle?) including a few deeper spots through to the wood. The back of the neck is fairly well worn as well, with noticeable checking and some areas worn down to the wood. Fortunately there is no binding distress at all.
The hardware remains all original except for one oddity; all of the small screws securing the pickup rings and back plates are flat-head, not the expected Phillips head style. They all match, so either were all changed out long ago or the factory simply ran out of the correct screws that day and substituted these! Much of the gold plating is worn to a muted sheen; there is some corrosion mostly on the pickup covers and unplated Bigsby base. The plastic pickup rings have several cracks in the common places.
There is some fairly light divoting to the fingerboard in the lower positions up through the 7th fret; somebody played this guitar a lot long ago! The frets appear original; the lower frets are crowned down quite a bit but are still playable while the upper frets show less work. Aside from its killer looks this is simply a super fun guitar to play, with the Filter 'Tron twang-and-Bigsby combination that really sings for '50s stylings into modern with the twist of an amp knob. It is complete in the original Gretsch blue/grey case; this one apparently with the western trimmed "Cowboy" case. Still it remains a timelessly cool package of class and kitsch in that particularly Brooklyn/Western style. Very Good + Condition.
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The Model 6120 Chet Hollow Solid Body is one of the iconic American vintage guitars; this companion instrument is its more obscure oft-forgotten sister, the Model 6121 Chet Atkins Solid Body. Although specifically described by Gretsch as a *solidbody* like the Duo-Jet and Jet Fire Bird this guitar is actually semi-hollow, or chambered in the modern parlance. The body is built like a little archtop guitar, with a plywood top mounted over a piece of sculpted mahogany that was hollowed out from above. This resulted in a guitar much lighter than the Les Paul that inspired it, with a different sound as well.
The 6120 and 6121 were launched simultaneously in 1955 but the hollowbody was always produced in far greater quantities. Atkins himself had little regard for his "solid" signature model, although he can be occasionally seen playing one early on. Both Atkins guitars were serialized together in batches of 100; it's estimated that a maximum of 20-25% of any given batch were 6121's, and some batches had none included at all. Total estimated 6121 production is less than 500.
The 6121 has much kinship with another rare Gretsch Model, the Model 6130 Round-Up, also a Jet-sized "solid" guitar festooned with Western imagery. Essentially Gretsch added the Atkins-requested Bigsby tailpiece and metal nut to the 6130 and replaced the pine top with maple; most other features were the same. The 6121 generally has an "oranger" finish with its maple top and usually adds a Atkins signature gold-backed Lucite pickguard; this example has what appears to be the original pickguard (down to the masking tape underneath!) but with no markings; perhaps it was ordered that way or was just a sheer omission.
Gretsch guitars of the 1950s often evolved quickly; this "Chet Atkins Hollow Body" was made at the end of 1958/beginning of 1959 with features specific to that period. This guitar's serial number is part of the 299XX batch of 6120s made at the turn of 1958-9; Atkin solid bodies from this run are apparently extremely rare as they are not noted in Edward Ball's authoritative "Gretsch 6120" book that documents every production batch.
The body has no "G-Brand" in the top or western tooled leather trim around the sides; those early 1955-6 features were long gone by this time. The fingerboard has the newer "thumbprint" fingerboard inlay and the narrow headstock sports the horseshoe motif in place of the previous steer's head, but retains the old aluminum nut. The Bigsby is the new 1958-9 style with the flat stamped arm and Phillips head retaining screw, the milled metal knobs are the G-logo style. The canted aluminum bridge saddle on a wooden base is specific to the 6120 and 6121 in this period.
This guitar mounts two of the then-new Filter 'Tron pickups, used by Gretsch on most electrics up after 1958. Atkins himself requested Gretsch adopt the humbucking units that Ray Butts designed especially for him to replace the DeArmonds used previously. Gretsch was happy to oblige and bought the license from Butts to make the new pickups in-house for the entire line. This guitar mounts two early patent-pending "Filter 'Tron" pickups surrounded by the then brand new sculpted plastic pickup rings. The 3-knob, 2 switch wiring scheme came in with these pickups, with individual volumes on the lower bout, a master volume on the cutaway bout and the pickup selector and tone modifier (A/K/A Mud switch) on the upper bout.
This 6121 is a superb twang machine, with the muscular but crisp Filter'Tron tone blending the characteristics of a 1950s hollow body Gretsch with some of the extra bite of a solidbody. This example has been well played but remains one of the cooler rare Gretsch guitars we have had, a subtly western stunner with the classic "Great Gretsch Sound" in spades!
Overall length is 39 3/4 in. (101 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a very nice example overall, definitely gigged "back in the day" but well cared for, with some general wear but in all original condition. The top is fairly clean with a somewhat faded color to the orange lacquer and some dings, scrapes and dents largely to the upper edge. The back and sides have general wear as well, with some belt buckle wear to the back (what do you bet the original owner wore a Cowboy belt buckle?) including a few deeper spots through to the wood. The back of the neck is fairly well worn as well, with noticeable checking and some areas worn down to the wood. Fortunately there is no binding distress at all.
The hardware remains all original except for one oddity; all of the small screws securing the pickup rings and back plates are flat-head, not the expected Phillips head style. They all match, so either were all changed out long ago or the factory simply ran out of the correct screws that day and substituted these! Much of the gold plating is worn to a muted sheen; there is some corrosion mostly on the pickup covers and unplated Bigsby base. The plastic pickup rings have several cracks in the common places.
There is some fairly light divoting to the fingerboard in the lower positions up through the 7th fret; somebody played this guitar a lot long ago! The frets appear original; the lower frets are crowned down quite a bit but are still playable while the upper frets show less work. Aside from its killer looks this is simply a super fun guitar to play, with the Filter 'Tron twang-and-Bigsby combination that really sings for '50s stylings into modern with the twist of an amp knob. It is complete in the original Gretsch blue/grey case; this one apparently with the western trimmed "Cowboy" case. Still it remains a timelessly cool package of class and kitsch in that particularly Brooklyn/Western style. Very Good + Condition.
