Currently named the ‘Tennessee Rose’, the Gretsch Tennessean 6119 first appeared in 1958, and for 1961 gained the closed, thin ElectroTone body. Chet Atkins had been urging Gretsch to take steps to reduce feedback on their hollowbody designs, especially after Gibson introduced the center-block ES335 in 1958.
Sealed Body
Here is a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean 6119, dating to December of 1966, before the July 31 1967 sale of Gretsch to the Baldwin Piano Company. Introduced in 1958 and built until 1980, the Tennessean started as full size, hollow body and single-pickup, plainer version of the 6120. For 1961, however, Gretsch made dramatic changes to many models and the 6119 gained the new, sealed ElectroTone body and a pair of new single coil HiLo’Tron pickups.
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MORE →Built from 1968 to 1972, the Gretsch 6071 bass is a thin hollow body bass, using Gretsch’s sealed ElectroTone body and a one Super ‘Tron type bass pickup. It’s closely related to the dual pickup 6073 bass built to 1971, most famously used by Peter Tork with the Monkees. Here we’re looking at an early and largely original Gretsch 6071 bass, built in 1968, its first year of production at the Brooklyn plant. It features a laminate Maple ElectroTone body with faux F-holes.
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MORE →Based closely on the currently-discontinued Gibson signature model, the Epiphone BB King Lucille is an affordable and rather good entry into the world of thinline archtop electrics. The late, great B B King continues to have an outsized influence on blues stylings. His use of tasteful restraint combined with a wicked vibrato and an outstanding voice provide many points of emulation for countless players. For many years, BB King used top of the line Gibson thinline electric guitars, primarily the ES-355 and ES-345. Because he was the frontman and band leader, his amps would be set to maximum with stage volume controlled from the guitar; this kept his attention to the audience.
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MORE →In 1962, the Gretsch 6120 Double Cutaway model appeared, displacing the classic but aging single-cutaway deep body 6120 and bearing the new, sealed Electrotone body. This closed body first appeared on the 1961 Tennessean.The new double cutaway version came about through a number of influences. In particular, Gibson hand introduced their very successful ES-335 models, and Chet Atkins felt the Electrotone body worked better at stage volumes.
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