So it was that Gretsch rather grandly called its new look the Neo-Classic fingerboard. Gretsch was never shy about using a fancy term for its hardware and features where other companies might use a plain one. Gretsch 50s Neo-Classic fingerboard leaflet cover During 1957 and into 1958, however, Gretsch introduced a new shape for its fingerboard inlays, usually known as thumbnail or half-moon markers. The Gent was one of the first Gretsch guitars with thumbnail markers.ĭuring the earlier days of Gretsch electrics, the company used traditional dot-shape or block-shape position markers on its fingerboards as well as a more ornamental type of block marker known as the hump-top. Much later, Gretsch would reproduce the historic instrument, calling it the Chet Atkins Stereo Guitar 6120-CGP and offering it as a limited edition in 2008.ĥ. This testbed 6120 had a thick, solid top with painted-on f-holes and it was fitted with prototype Butts humbuckers feeding two output jacks. The instrument can be seen in some detail on the front of the sleeve of Chet's Finger-Style Guitar album of that year. In fact, Gretsch had been looking at this idea for a number of years, and it went back to an experimental 6120 that the New York-based company had made for Chet around 1956. Some Gretsch vintage fans call this the mud switch, thanks to what they consider its less-than-useful sounds, and many keep it safely stuck in the neutral middle position.Ī key element of the new Country Gentleman was its sealed body with "fake" f-holes, a further design feature intended to reduce the chance of feedback. The one furthest from the player was the usual bridge–both–neck pickup selector, but the other one replaced the old tone knob and was for "tone color." It selected between bass-emphasis, neutral, or treble-emphasis settings. On the top bout, there were now two three-way selector switches. Now, a two-humbucker Gretsch such as the Gent came with two volume knobs, one for each pickup, down beyond the bridge, and the regular master volume knob near the cutaway. Until now, a Gretsch with two single-coil DynaSonic pickups had three knobs down beyond the bridge (a volume per pickup and a master tone), a master volume on the cutaway bout, and a pickup selector switch (bridge–both–neck) on the top bout. Ray Butts, who devised the Filter'Trons, revised Gretsch's regular control layout to complement the new humbuckers. It proudly claimed that the Filter'Trons "eliminate absolutely all electronic hum-you get pure guitar sound." The Country Gent's new Filter'Tron pickups needed a new control layout.īy 1958, Gretsch was advertising its new humbucking Filter'Tron pickups as standard on almost all its models, including the new Country Gent. The company had for some time been making its "solidbody" models, such as the Duo Jet, with various pockets routed into the body, and for Gretsch this new bracing system further blurred the lines between solidbody and hollowbody guitars.Ģ. Gretsch originally used its new trestle bracing from around 1958 to 1962 on many of its hollowbody models, including the Country Gent, the 6120, and the Tennessean, as well as the Country Club and the White Falcon. The result was a guitar where the top and back vibrated more sympathetically with each other, helping to cut feedback and enhance sustain. The two "legs" of each trestle connected to the back of the body, which meant the pair of trestles provided four curved, solid vertical posts that joined the top to the back. Now, it began to add a "trestle," a sort of wide bridge-shape wooden section, to each of the rails. The company was already gluing to the underneath of hollowbody tops a parallel pair of wooden rails to secure the pickups. Gretsch followed his advice and installed what it called truss bracing, which has since become better known as trestle bracing.
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