Gretsch 6117 Double Anniversary Sunburst 1958

The Gretsch 6117 Double Anniversary is one of the most characterful hollow body guitars the Brooklyn brand has ever built. The model appeared in 1958 as the successor to the single-pickup Anniversary, and distinguished itself with two Filter'Tron pickups and a subtle two-tone sunburst finish. Not a heavily decorated show guitar, but an instrument with style and personality that belongs in the ranks of the great American hollow body classics.

Gretsch introduced the Filter'Tron humbucker in that same year, 1958, co-developed by Ray Butts, and the pickup would soon become inextricably linked to the brand's sound. The laminated maple body and the three-piece maple/walnut neck with ebony fingerboard give this guitar its typical character, while the extensive control panel with master volume, two separate pickup volumes, and a three-position tone switch offers the player a wide range of tonal variations.

This 1958 Double Anniversary has, as one might expect from a guitar of nearly seventy years, not come through time unscathed. The binding of the body shows cracks and has been re-glued in several places, and the inlay on the fretboard has largely deteriorated, which is, incidentally, a known and common phenomenon with vintage Gretsch guitars from this period. The heel joint has also been re-glued and is therefore stable again, and the guitar has undergone a refret, with the fretboard showing some chipout in certain spots. These are the well-earned traces of a life full of music.

The good news is that the guitar is otherwise virtually original. The Filter'Tron pickups, potentiometers, Waverly tuners, Space Control bridge, and the distinctive G-Cutout tailpiece are all original, which is by no means a given for an instrument from 1958. And you can hear that originality too: the Filter'Trons sound the way only original Filter'Trons can sound, with that characteristic clear yet full tone that formed the basis for the sound of guitarists like Chet Atkins and Eddie Cochran.