Reviewing the Gretsch 6120 Duane Eddy signature model guitar
The recent sad news of the passing of guitarist Duane Eddy one of the lifelong influences on my music came a few weeks back before this review. I was just one of countless players that were inspired by that great sound Duane created. A Gretsch 6120 Duane Eddy signature model recently came up for sale and I now have it as seen here.
The Gretsch 6120 Duane Eddy neck and headstock -
Ebony board, Pearl Tombstone markers and flame Maple veneer.
This is wider than the 6120AM and similar '1959/60/ pattern headstocks.
This is a 1997 Terada made Gretsch and is a superb guitar in
about as near mint condition as you can get for a 27 year old guitar!
I have been a long time fan of Duane Eddy's guitar style, having heard him on Top of the Pops in around 1975 when he performed 'Play me like you play your old guitar'. As an aspiring and very junior player then, I liked what I was hearing.
Duane Eddy with one of the 1997 Signature guitars -
it sounds just like the guitar on the Camden cassettes!
It even has the Space Control Bridge fitted!
Moving on to 1983 and now playing electric guitar, my uncle gave me a pair of Camden Records Cassette Tapes of Duane Eddy hits and this was immediately something I started to play along to and copy. The cassette inlay card showed Duane and his original 1957 6120 on the cover and that was a guitar I wanted to own.
A 1974 Gretsch Viking came up for sale around this time and I purchased that in 1985 for £750, it was not really the guitar I was really wanting but it was a very important guitar and almost 40 years on I am still playing and enjoying Gretsch guitars.
The Dearmond Dynastic pickups and Bigsby vibrato -
the superb Gretsch Western Orange stain is intact on this guitar
When Fred Gretsch III bought back the Gretsch company in 1985, it needed a facility to build guitars or subcontract the work until it could produce again in-house. The US companies approached to build the guitars lacked interest and the Japanese Terada company stepped in as they had much experience in building these types of guitars.
The sealed tuners are an improvement over the open backed originals -
The neck side dots are black not red as on the later edition
In 1997 with Chet Atkins under contract to other guitar brands, Fred Gretsch looked to other notable Gretsch players for signature model Gretsch guitars. The obvious Gretsch players for signature model guitars at the time were Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats and instrumentalist Duane Eddy, both Gretsch 6120 players.
Terada being the ideal factory to produce the 6120 signature models, Fred Gretsch had to then borrow original vintage models to measure up for the new 6120 reissue and signature series instruments.
Some guitars of this new Gretsch era were issued with unusual model features for the eras they were suggested to represent, some liberties were taken with 'originality' and features such as early block fretboard markers on a guitar with a later Bigsby and Filtertron pickups are an example, although these do make these guitars collector's pieces today however. In later years, the models moved to having more correct 'stock' specifications and away from the rather 'unusual' equipment.
The early signature pick guard - later the signature was placed more centrally -
Dynasonic Pickups and 3 way switching with Tone Controls are the order of the day.
The 1997 Duane Eddy signature guitar sought to establish a general representation of Duane's original 1957 guitar, some 40 years on from his original purchase. Featuring Dearmond Dynasonic pickups, Bigsby original pattern vibrato unit, space control bridge (which came later than when Duane's guitar was made and was not an original fixture on his 1957 6120), ebony fretboard, tombstone fret markers, sealed machine heads with a better gear ratio than the original open back ones, brass nut, classic Gretsch orange finish and the unique strap buttons.
Superbly crafted work means it stays together better
The Terada build quality is superb, I have to say. I have owned a number of Terada made Gretsch guitars and they are way better than the old USA ones I owned or played. The 6120 DE is slightly deeper than a standard 6120 but that doesn't bother me.
The 6120DE is a super guitar -
this 1997 one is exceptional and in near new condition
The playability is superb, the pickups have a great sound and the simplified switching of pickups with the bonus of Tone Control knobs is useful and something you also get on the Electromatic 5120 and 5420 series guitars.
This guitar was purchased second hand from a well known guitar store, however they obviously didn't check it before shipping it as the Bridge was in the wrong place and the intonation was way out, however a few moments of careful adjustment and all was well and it was playing in tune.
The Bridge was also set up too high, so with a few minutes well spent it was more playable. The string height at the nut was a touch high so I left that to do later. I tried the guitar out against some pop videos and found it sounded very like Duane's 6120. Having owned Dyna Gakki and Fuji Gen Gretsches which I still have, I was not going to be surprised by anything unusual here. In fact, it was business as usual - great guitar, great feel, great sound.
Since my initial play of the guitar, I have now set the guitar up properly, the string height at the Brass nut was a little high so that has been adjusted by some very careful bridge slot filing.
I had not filed a Brass guitar nut and it was approached with a great deal of caution, using Swiss Jewellery files to very carefully do the job. It was time well spent and the cautious approach did pay off as it is much better. It is not ultra slick but it will be quite sufficient for my needs and is now 2mm lower at the first fret than it was.
I graphite powdered the nut slots and fitted a set of new D'Addario 10's which has improved matters, the strings on it were the same make but likely 11's.
It now sounds a lot brighter, is easier to play and really has a very close sound to Duane's original 1957 guitar. I used a Fender Bassman amplifier model on my Tonelab set up as a Rockabilly scenario with a slight reverb and echo and it is edited to a more guitar like sound, giving a sound that was very close to Duane Eddy's old Magnatone on some of the tunes.
The 6120DE in this old pre-Fender ownership era version is a very nice guitar, I had a 6120 Hot Rod from this Fender era and it was also a superb player. The Duane Eddy is slightly under 16 inches wide and about 2.8 inches deep, so is in the general area of authenticity measurement wise. It is slightly deeper than my 6120AM & TM but that isn't an issue for me.
The 1997 Duane Eddy 6120 does take a few liberties away from the total originality of Duane's 1957 guitar, but this is small beer, the guitar looks and feels like it should and plays like a dream now. The sound is right, good and the Bigsby works nicely. This 6120DE fulfils the objective for those who can't stretch to an original and on that note as such, these Japan made guitars are just so well made they are likely to still be great in decades to come.
This 6120 has a Space Control Bridge, one of the 'liberties' taken on this model when they were introduced in 1997 but I really like this model of bridge. I have a Space Control Bridge on my 6120AM and that works fine, it is about my favourite bridge and with a Bigsby it helps keep things in tune as the string moves the wheel and doesn't 'hang up' on a saddle like it can on a standard Tunamatic. Talking of Tunamatics, on my 6120TM I have a Vanson Tunamatic with roller saddles and that is a great upgrade and not expensive either.
Away from the obvious Duane Eddy playalong tunes, the Dynasonics do sound different to the Filtertrons I am more used to playing on my other 6120s. I tried this one solo and against backing tracks, it really sounds nice and the front pickup has some very nice jazzy tones.
Overall, this was a superb buy at £2300, with the new correct models at around £3300+(£3,700 in some stores), the condition of the guitar is almost mint, more closet classic than anything and I am very pleased with it. It needed about half an hour in all to put it to where it should be for easy playing but that was something I can do and the end result is well worth the time spent.
The only danger with buying a Gretsch is that you will soon want another. And another...
Maybe a Coolant Green 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod next!
Or the Blueburst 6120 Hot Rod..... who knows!
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