Guitar Reviews 4U - New Gretsch Brian Setzer Hot Rod no Pickguards issue - fitting one to a 6120 Hot Rod Extreme Coolant Green Sparkle guitar

 

Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod - with or without pick guard? 

Guard or no guard?

No Pickguard didn't work for me on this 6120 Hot Rod - 

why is the 6120 Hot Rod guitar now a 'No-Guard'?

In this project I'll be fitting a guard to it

Brian Setzer has over years played his 6120 guitars with and without fitted Pickguards. Recently Fender dropped the fitment of Pickguards on his model line of 6120 Hot Rod guitars. So are you a Guard on or a Guard off Player? 

A 2005 Lime Gold Brian Setzer Hot Rod -

with solid silver finish Guard fitted from new, undergoing a playing set up

For me I like the Pickguard being in place, for both single notes and rhythm playing. I find the guard is a good place to anchor the hand for precise picking. Having tried this new guard-less Hot Rod, I have decided I need a guard fitted. Hence this project. 

 I'll be using a genuine Hot Rod Pickguard with a twist - 

it will be less the paint - for a reason - keep reading on!

Genuine Gretsch 0060874000 Pickguard Bracket Kit - 

around $15USD, includes 3 screws, spacer and felt pad - 

Using the correct parts reduces error and extra work

I suggest purchasing the genuine parts for this job where cost allows, a genuine guard will most likely fit without need for major adjustments and the correct bracket takes the guesswork out of the job of mounting the guard, plus we know as a genuine part it fits. 

It helps to have an example guitar to work with but if you haven't one to hand, I hope you find these example pictures useful to you in fixing on the guard and bracket when we get to that stage in this article.

Note that the Bracket arm has countersunk holes for the body side screws -

the copied non-genuine versions of this Bracket don't always have these

Before we start the job, the type of Pickguard finish is worth considering - painted or clear see through. I'm fitting a guard to a 6120 Hot Rod with the Green Sparkle finish and I'd rather this finish was visible because it looks so great, but I'd still like to use a genuine Hot Rod guard which is supplied in silver finish to the back face.

If you're ok with using a solid finish guard just fit that and omit the steps below of removing the paint.

The solution for me in this project is to remove the paint from the new guard. I've also covered this paint removal subject in another post specifically related to that job, as many Gretsch owners have asked the question about safely removing the paint. 

I'll briefly cover it here too for purposes of information just giving you what I think is the best solution to achieve that. 

The paint coat is quite thin on the Pickguard and is applied on the back face only, the guards are clear plastic Lucite material and have in this case the 'Gretsch' name, Hot Rod name and Flames logo pressed in at the moulding stage which are then paint filled. So far so good.

The Gretsch name is painted in with black, it is not a decal and the Hot Rod and Flames detail are in silver as the paint colour used on the rest of the guard, using the edges of the moulding to show them in an understated way.

Do NOT use these methods for paint removal!

To remove the paint, I use a 1200grade wet or dry paper used in car bodyshops, wetted with hand warm temperature but not boiling water, to which a couple of drops of washing up liquid has been mixed in with the water. Avoid these other methods listed below in BLUE at all costs!! 

DO NOT Use Acetone - it will melt plastic. DO NOT Use Sandpaper - it will mark the plastic. DO NOT Use Wire Wool - it will scratch the plastic. DO NOT Use Thinners - it may make the plastic go cloudy and ruin the job. DO NOT Use Paint Remover or Paint Stripper - they can melt or affect the guard plastic and plastic clarity by clouding the plastic. Here endeth the lesson!

Here is my method for safe paint removal:

Wet the rear Pickguard painted surface, wet the paper in the water mix and carefully start to rub down the rear of the guard, you'll notice the silver finish particles start to show in the water - this is normal, so you know this is working!

Work carefully rubbing down as you only need to take the thin surface paint layer off. Stop and wipe off the guard back frequently as you work to check your progress in paint removal. 

Use the 1200 grade paper like this

Rewet the guard surface and the abrasive paper each time you work - this water mixture helps lubricate the paper and reduces the scratching of the surface plastic.

The guard is soon getting towards being see through

Remember, the less scratching of the plastic happening, the less work required to fix any problems later on! I'm used to this approach from working on car repaint jobs over the years.

I have left the 'Hot Rod' and Flames logo in silver so that it stands out but is not too obtrusive.

When the surface paint has been removed, use the car body rubbing compound to polish the plastic. T-Cut or Farecla G3 liquid compounds are good for this stage, I have both of these at home in my workshop. I tend to use G3.

Just needs a polish with the G3 Farecla

Polished and rinsed off - result achieved

To use them slightly wet a cloth and use either compound onto the cloth, carefully polishing so that the cloth fabric weave does not leave scratches.

Colour coded hardware to match into the green colour of the guitar

I used a 7mm depth x 10mm width Felt from a Dremel set for the screw 

that goes through the guard into the guitar top as a Spacer

the green paint sealed the Felt and stiffened it slightly

Once a clear finish is achieved, in this case the Black on the Gretsch Logo just stands out, like the Hot Rod and Flames logo does against the clear plastic and the guitar body colour.

Hot Rod 'Phantom Guard' fitted

Pressed in details are not lost in the paint removal

Against the 2005 Lime Gold guitar you can hardly tell this new 

2022 guitar has had a guard added from here!

Guitar Reviews 4U - The Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod Extreme Coolant Green Sparkle guitar

 

Reviewing the Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer 

Hot Rod Green Sparkle guitar

Well, you'll either like the colour or loathe it! Here we have a review of a used 2021 Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitar in Extreme Coolant Green sparkle shade.

The Gretsch Hot Rod 6120 in Green Sparkle

I have owned about 6 Hot Rods from the 6120 series over the years and they are nice guitars, from an early Gretsch 'Fred Gretsch 3rd' era Candy Tangerine guitar, a 2008 Candy Apple Red (I should have kept!) and a 2013 Flat black one.

 Sharleen Spitteri of Texas rocking her Gretsch 6120 Green Sparkle  

at Glastonbury in 2023 - a guitar she really likes by all accounts

I was tempted to buy the new Gretsch 6120 Blueburst Hot rod, but this Green Sparkle one came up as a used but like new one for £1999 and much below the £3k as new price they are often on sale for. The new Blueburst was on offer at the same price.

Depending on the light, the sparkle really shows

and like Hot Rod 'Trick' colours it does interestingly vary in shade

Liking outrageous colours, it seemed a good deal to buy the Green one. I wouldn't mind a Regal Blue 6120 Hot Rod as I have a 5420T in Fairlane Blue but they rarely come up, the 6120 Blueburst I didn't totally take to the graduated finish on the example seen, so the Green one it was.

The Headstock of the 'Brian Setzer Hot Rod Model' -

The model description plate now reinstated on this edition.

So, back to the 6120 Hot Rod, Gretsch have worked with Brian Setzer over the years on this model and colours and specifications have changed on these guitars as they have evolved. 

The 2015 lost the model plate but gained 'Hot Rod' 

model engraving to the Truss Rod plate.

The Green Sparkle colour has made a comeback in recent years, previously a set of transparent shades over flame Maple finish has been on offer for a few years. The range seems to have largely gone back to solid colours.

Internally, the 59 Trestle Bracing is still present which makes for a more solid construction and the guitar unplugged is vibrant and bright sounding. The body is standard 6120 depth, I say that, in context with the 6120 TM and 6120 AM guitar body depths.

The Brian Setzer 6120 Signature Pickup

This edition features TV Jone Brian Setzer Filtertrons, which differ from the previous Filtertrons on the Hot Rod guitars. The current signature pickups give a nice full tone on the neck pickup and an all almost single coil sharpness on the bridge pickup.

The stripped down ethic loses the Hot Rod Pickguard - 

I would prefer it being supplied with the guitar as a fit later option.

I may purchase a pick guard for mine.

The neck has been reshaped with a 9.5" radius at the nut levelling out to a 12" radius further up the neck for easier solo playing and reducing the choking of notes higher up the neck. It is a nice neck to play, the Terada company that makes these guitars do a great job at construction of these instruments.  

The previous Serial number decal on the headstock rear has gone -

replaced by Brian's signature on the rear headstock face.

The serial number now is on the label inside the body.

The Sperzl Locking Tuners are now replaced by Gotoh equivalents

So what is the playing experience like? In the hands, the guitar feels just right, the body depth is just there, not too thin or too deep, the neck is easy to play and has a great feel - Terada hand carve theirs.

As you can see from study lighting, the paint shade varies in the light -

part of the 'Hot Rod' ethic of 'trick' paints designed to do exactly that!

As mentioned, the acoustic sound is bright, plugged in the guitar sounds good, the neck pickup is great for swing and jazz playing, the combined pickups gives more treble to the rhythm and the bridge pickup only selected, has a sharp tone, like a single coil.

Of course there is no tone control circuitry on this stripped down variant of the 6120 and this does give you a more direct sound from the pickups.

Having owned the variations of the Hot Rods, this does not disappoint. Previously one could choose a Hot rod with Standard or TV Jones Filtertrons, however, Gretsch now only offer the Hot Rod with the Brian Setzer Signature pickups. 

Perhaps their market research figures and customer feedback has shown people upgrade the standard units to the TV Jones units and from a manufacturing perspective, it simplifies matters just to fit those upgrades in the first place to unify the specification.

Improved with a Hot Rod Pickguard which I removed the paint from

The Hot Rod series shows no signs of deletion, with changes abounding on each variance of the continuing basic model. As we have noted across the years, this long lived model line has changed colour shades, hardware and specifications across time. The true nature of Hot Rodding in essence, moving away from the original stock offering.

You can hardly see the guard from here -

the addition of the guard has made the guitar easier to play

Buy if you want that earlier Brian Setzer Hot Rod sound - however, I have seen an earlier previous specification Hot from the 2000's I may also go for as I miss the old Candy Red one! 

The Pickguard was quite an easy fit and well worth doing.