The Chetboard

I've noticed that the 6122-59 seems to get all the ink. I have a line on a 58 reissue. Is there a red flag on this version?

Thanks for any insight. - Terry

I had one for about 3 or 4 years until the 59 came out. It's a great guitar but it is thicker and the neck is narrow and I think it has a 24 1/2 scale. I prefer the 59 it sounds richer in my opinion. Al

I've played both and own neither one. I always prefer a wider neck than what I've owned. I have a '67 CG and have always wished I could have the same modification that Chet was able to have done. The 6122-1959 has the right feeling for my hands. Nothing else does. The tone is a separate issue. I like that too, but the neck width is the major attraction for me.

In my spare time over the past several years, I've been working my 64 CG to replace the fretboard, modify & re-set the neck, mod the wiring, re-plate the hardware & re-finish to eliminate ALL the FACTORY FU's that compromised early Gretsch's quality.

It should be as BULLETPROOF as the Terada made ones when it's done . . .

Terry,
Paul Yandell has mentioned in the past that he has a '58 reissue that he likes very much. If you go to his website, there is a picture of it. If you click on the picture, there is a comment by Paul. You'll also notice that he has changed the pickups on that guitar, and they look like the same ones as the '59. I'm guessing that since the CGP came out, that Paul does not play that guitar as much since it has the same short scale. In fact, he may not even have any more. Like Rande said, the wider neck on the '59 is the preference of many pickers, but the '58 is apparently a very nice guitar. And you could always buy some pickups from TV Jones to get closer to the tone of the '59 if you like. It just depends on whether you like the narrow width over the wider width of the '59.

Here's Pau'ls website. Look in the guitar gallery and click on the '58:

http://www.studio9kc.co.uk/paul/

Hope that helps,
Bill B.

Thanks for the input.

What are the neck widths for the respective models? I don't see that type of spec on the Gretsch site.
Noted that the '59 has a Super-Tron neck pickup but are the bridge pickups the same on both models? - Terry

Terry, the neck on the '59 is 1 3/4" at the nut. The supertron (blade) pickup at the neck and the filtertron at the bridge is wound hotter. The neck on the '58 has been improved, with Paul's input, since it first came out but I believe it still is the standard width at the nut and short scale and both pickups are the normal filtertrons.

Thanks,
Richard