The Gretsch 6120 comes in many, many flavors. There is basically at least one 6120 for anyone. Do you want poly or lacquer? Humbuckers? Single coils? P90? Trestle bracing or sound posts? 2.5” or 2.75” deep? Black? Blue burst? Natural? What about orange? Do you want it to be vintage orange, or flamed maple? Do you want block inlays, hump block inlays, neo-classical inlays, or western inlays? Rosewood or ebony finger board? What kind of radius do you want?
There are tons and tons and TONS of options for the 6120 so it’s easy to get lost and maybe even give up. Don’t. No matter how overwhelming the options are, it’s all basically the same guitar just with a couple of differences. Think of it like Gretsch’s Stratocaster. Lots and lots of flavor but the base is almost always the same or very similar.
To me, you can split the 6120 into three groups: trestle braced with humbucking filtertrons, sound posts with filtertrons, and single coil 6120s. And of those three categories, my favorite (in the same order) is the Brian Setzer SSLVO, the Reverend Horton Heat Model and the 6120-1957. Yes, they are all orange and look similar but they make for very different sounds and maybe down the road we’ll cover the other two, but right now I want to talk about the RHH model.
As a 6120 it stands apart in a few ways from the more than 15 6120 models. For one thing, it features western inlays with an ebony finger board. Western inlays have always been used on a Rosewood finger board and while rosewood is a fine wood, ebony is much cooler to me both in feel and in looks. It makes the block inlays really POP off the fret board.
It also has the switches reversed. Here’s how it works on almost every single filtertrons-equipped Gretsch. The two switches above the strings do two things: one is a pickup selector and one is a tone switch. The tone switch goes from fully open (the middle position) to half way (or half-mud if you’re into the Gretsch lingo) when it’s switched to the down position and all the way down (or full mud) when it is turned to the up position. Now, I’m going to ask you a question and don’t think about it too long. This is a reflex kind of question. These two switches are right next to one another, one closer to your picking hand than the other. Which one do you think is the pickup selector? The one closest to the bridge and your picking hand right? The one you would be switch the most would obviously be closest to your picking hand.
Wrong! The pickup selector is actually closer to the headstock. Both Brian Setzer and the Rev (as well as many Gretsch owners) swap the switches though, and this is reflected in their models. Why Gretsch doesn’t do this on all of their filter-equipped models is beyond me, but I guess it makes these ones stand out even more.
It also comes loaded with TV Jones Classics for pickups. TV Jones is a wiring genius, sure (he came up with the wiring for the Patrick Stump model even though it doesn’t feature TV Jones pickups), but his pickups are AMAZING and what he’s mainly known for. He’s famous in the Gretsch world for making modern boutique pickups that are as close to vintage-sounding as you’ll probably ever get. But he also offers different pickups in the filter shell (amongst others) that have different magnets, different levels of hotness, etc. His most famous though is the Classic which is what most people recommend if you want that “Great Gretsch Sound” from a filtertron. I have Classics in my Gretsch 6118T and can only say they’re amazing. In the bridge position it’s got a ton of twang and clarity that only gets MEAN when you crank up the gain. In the neck position it’s nice and jazzy but not muddy at all (you can use your tone switch for that) with a smoothness that walks hand in hand with clarity. Each note stands out and is balanced. Because honestly what’s the point of playing intricate music if the notes just get buried among each other?
The best part is in the middle it sounds like the guitar. I don’t know how else to describe it. There’s no coloring, no “oh yeah, that’s definitely X pickup.” It sounds like the guitar, just louder. Amazing.
I can see why the Rev wanted these in his guitar.
According to legend, Gretsch made a few prototypes and sent one to the Rev and he rejected it because it had trestle bracing and he’s more of a sound post kind of guy. My 6118T has trestle bracing which reportedly helps control feedback caused by the top and bottom vibrating at different frequencies by connecting the two with two pieces of wood that go along from the bridge, and under both pickups. It also tightens up the tone. Not to a crazy extent like a Gibson ES 335, but it is tighter than sound posts. That is trestle bracing. Sound posts are two significantly thinner pieces of wood connecting the top to the bottom creating a more open, acoustic tone. These models were still released but called the 6120-FTW (or Filtertron Western, NOT the popular punk phrase). Are there feedback issues? Well, it’s hollow and while everyone seems to think that JUST because it’s hollow it’ll squeal like a stuck pig all the time, that’s just not the case. There are things YOU can do to stop feedback. Most feedback comes from the pickups picking up their own sound from the amp so if you stop facing the amp or standing a foot away front of it, or playing too loud for the room, or you invest in some plexiglass to act as a blocker in front of the amp, or maybe just use a longer cord, you should be set. If ALL THAT fails, you can stuff it. Duane Eddy uses fiber-fill. Some folks have cut foam and squeezed them into F holes where they then expand.
Another difference between the RHH and the FTW is the hardware color. The Rev’s is aluminum and nickel plated while the FTW was gold plated.
A difference that sets the RHH apart from just about EVERY 6120 out there is the Bigsby handle. The handle is something you probably wouldn’t think about, even after you got the guitar in your hands. If you’re anything like me you’d just assume it is standard or at the very least not changeable. If you play a normal 6120 and then switch to a RHH you’ll be AMAZED at the difference in feel and responsiveness. It takes less effort to deliver warbles in tone and amazing dips (or raises) in pitch some deep, some shallow, and fits your hand VERY well. It is hands down the best Bigsby handle that comes from Bigsby right now.
The last difference is the lacquer. Most Gretsch guitars come with a poly finish and while most of the complaints of poly don’t exist with Gretsch (more on this later), poly is poly and will never age quite as gracefully as a lacquer finish. If you play it a ton you won’t wear down to the wood where your arm always sits after fifty years or so. It will look bright and shiny new for MUCH longer. It’s up to you, the buyer, if you want your guitar to age with you as you play it or give it every chance possible to resist the aging effect, but I know I like the idea of a guitar aging with me.
So on to the side note about poly complaints: A lot of people say that wood can’t breathe when it’s wrapped in plastic (that’s what poly is often referred to). As true as this might be, at least half of the wood is open to the elements and is able to breathe on a Gretsch hollow (they don’t paint the INSIDE of the guitar after all, and the F holes sure do make great breathing holes). That’s usually the biggest complaint and completely moot in the Gretsch hollow world. I hope this is a good lesson for anyone thinking that this is the reason that they’ll never buy a Gretsch hollow.
So we’ve covered the switches, the ebony finger board, the pickups, the Bigsby handle, the finish… Did I mention is has locking tuners?
Let me tell you something about the Bigsby: it makes for interesting string changes. A handy tool that you never ever thought you would use with your guitar is a pink pearl eraser. You bend the string near the ball, push it onto the pin that attaches it to the Bigsby, jam the eraser uner it, wrap it around the Bigsby pole and proceed like normal from there. This isn’t to dissuade you from getting a guitar with a Bigsby. The tone is worth it and it’s still easier to change the strings than a guitar with a Floyd Rose.
Well, if you have locking tuners, you can use them as you would use the eraser, just on the other end of the guitar, tightening up the string and then working down to the bridge. A lot of people say it helps with tuning issues, but honestly, most tuning issues with Bigsby-equipped guitars stem from the nut, not the bridge. Still, locking tuners are welcome.
So that’s the RHH in a nutshell and what an amazing nutshell it is. The guitar has a nice, chunky neck (chunky, not fat and unplayable) that you can really wrap your hand around and tone, well, we’ve already covered tone. Added to all this, the western inlays and G brand will set you apart from the multitudes of folks that use the more visually stripped-down models with plain tops and neo-classical inlays. It’s an amazing guitar, and well worth checking out.
-Pappy
There are tons and tons and TONS of options for the 6120 so it’s easy to get lost and maybe even give up. Don’t. No matter how overwhelming the options are, it’s all basically the same guitar just with a couple of differences. Think of it like Gretsch’s Stratocaster. Lots and lots of flavor but the base is almost always the same or very similar.
To me, you can split the 6120 into three groups: trestle braced with humbucking filtertrons, sound posts with filtertrons, and single coil 6120s. And of those three categories, my favorite (in the same order) is the Brian Setzer SSLVO, the Reverend Horton Heat Model and the 6120-1957. Yes, they are all orange and look similar but they make for very different sounds and maybe down the road we’ll cover the other two, but right now I want to talk about the RHH model.
As a 6120 it stands apart in a few ways from the more than 15 6120 models. For one thing, it features western inlays with an ebony finger board. Western inlays have always been used on a Rosewood finger board and while rosewood is a fine wood, ebony is much cooler to me both in feel and in looks. It makes the block inlays really POP off the fret board.
It also has the switches reversed. Here’s how it works on almost every single filtertrons-equipped Gretsch. The two switches above the strings do two things: one is a pickup selector and one is a tone switch. The tone switch goes from fully open (the middle position) to half way (or half-mud if you’re into the Gretsch lingo) when it’s switched to the down position and all the way down (or full mud) when it is turned to the up position. Now, I’m going to ask you a question and don’t think about it too long. This is a reflex kind of question. These two switches are right next to one another, one closer to your picking hand than the other. Which one do you think is the pickup selector? The one closest to the bridge and your picking hand right? The one you would be switch the most would obviously be closest to your picking hand.
Wrong! The pickup selector is actually closer to the headstock. Both Brian Setzer and the Rev (as well as many Gretsch owners) swap the switches though, and this is reflected in their models. Why Gretsch doesn’t do this on all of their filter-equipped models is beyond me, but I guess it makes these ones stand out even more.
It also comes loaded with TV Jones Classics for pickups. TV Jones is a wiring genius, sure (he came up with the wiring for the Patrick Stump model even though it doesn’t feature TV Jones pickups), but his pickups are AMAZING and what he’s mainly known for. He’s famous in the Gretsch world for making modern boutique pickups that are as close to vintage-sounding as you’ll probably ever get. But he also offers different pickups in the filter shell (amongst others) that have different magnets, different levels of hotness, etc. His most famous though is the Classic which is what most people recommend if you want that “Great Gretsch Sound” from a filtertron. I have Classics in my Gretsch 6118T and can only say they’re amazing. In the bridge position it’s got a ton of twang and clarity that only gets MEAN when you crank up the gain. In the neck position it’s nice and jazzy but not muddy at all (you can use your tone switch for that) with a smoothness that walks hand in hand with clarity. Each note stands out and is balanced. Because honestly what’s the point of playing intricate music if the notes just get buried among each other?
The best part is in the middle it sounds like the guitar. I don’t know how else to describe it. There’s no coloring, no “oh yeah, that’s definitely X pickup.” It sounds like the guitar, just louder. Amazing.
I can see why the Rev wanted these in his guitar.
According to legend, Gretsch made a few prototypes and sent one to the Rev and he rejected it because it had trestle bracing and he’s more of a sound post kind of guy. My 6118T has trestle bracing which reportedly helps control feedback caused by the top and bottom vibrating at different frequencies by connecting the two with two pieces of wood that go along from the bridge, and under both pickups. It also tightens up the tone. Not to a crazy extent like a Gibson ES 335, but it is tighter than sound posts. That is trestle bracing. Sound posts are two significantly thinner pieces of wood connecting the top to the bottom creating a more open, acoustic tone. These models were still released but called the 6120-FTW (or Filtertron Western, NOT the popular punk phrase). Are there feedback issues? Well, it’s hollow and while everyone seems to think that JUST because it’s hollow it’ll squeal like a stuck pig all the time, that’s just not the case. There are things YOU can do to stop feedback. Most feedback comes from the pickups picking up their own sound from the amp so if you stop facing the amp or standing a foot away front of it, or playing too loud for the room, or you invest in some plexiglass to act as a blocker in front of the amp, or maybe just use a longer cord, you should be set. If ALL THAT fails, you can stuff it. Duane Eddy uses fiber-fill. Some folks have cut foam and squeezed them into F holes where they then expand.
Another difference between the RHH and the FTW is the hardware color. The Rev’s is aluminum and nickel plated while the FTW was gold plated.
A difference that sets the RHH apart from just about EVERY 6120 out there is the Bigsby handle. The handle is something you probably wouldn’t think about, even after you got the guitar in your hands. If you’re anything like me you’d just assume it is standard or at the very least not changeable. If you play a normal 6120 and then switch to a RHH you’ll be AMAZED at the difference in feel and responsiveness. It takes less effort to deliver warbles in tone and amazing dips (or raises) in pitch some deep, some shallow, and fits your hand VERY well. It is hands down the best Bigsby handle that comes from Bigsby right now.
The last difference is the lacquer. Most Gretsch guitars come with a poly finish and while most of the complaints of poly don’t exist with Gretsch (more on this later), poly is poly and will never age quite as gracefully as a lacquer finish. If you play it a ton you won’t wear down to the wood where your arm always sits after fifty years or so. It will look bright and shiny new for MUCH longer. It’s up to you, the buyer, if you want your guitar to age with you as you play it or give it every chance possible to resist the aging effect, but I know I like the idea of a guitar aging with me.
So on to the side note about poly complaints: A lot of people say that wood can’t breathe when it’s wrapped in plastic (that’s what poly is often referred to). As true as this might be, at least half of the wood is open to the elements and is able to breathe on a Gretsch hollow (they don’t paint the INSIDE of the guitar after all, and the F holes sure do make great breathing holes). That’s usually the biggest complaint and completely moot in the Gretsch hollow world. I hope this is a good lesson for anyone thinking that this is the reason that they’ll never buy a Gretsch hollow.
So we’ve covered the switches, the ebony finger board, the pickups, the Bigsby handle, the finish… Did I mention is has locking tuners?
Let me tell you something about the Bigsby: it makes for interesting string changes. A handy tool that you never ever thought you would use with your guitar is a pink pearl eraser. You bend the string near the ball, push it onto the pin that attaches it to the Bigsby, jam the eraser uner it, wrap it around the Bigsby pole and proceed like normal from there. This isn’t to dissuade you from getting a guitar with a Bigsby. The tone is worth it and it’s still easier to change the strings than a guitar with a Floyd Rose.
Well, if you have locking tuners, you can use them as you would use the eraser, just on the other end of the guitar, tightening up the string and then working down to the bridge. A lot of people say it helps with tuning issues, but honestly, most tuning issues with Bigsby-equipped guitars stem from the nut, not the bridge. Still, locking tuners are welcome.
So that’s the RHH in a nutshell and what an amazing nutshell it is. The guitar has a nice, chunky neck (chunky, not fat and unplayable) that you can really wrap your hand around and tone, well, we’ve already covered tone. Added to all this, the western inlays and G brand will set you apart from the multitudes of folks that use the more visually stripped-down models with plain tops and neo-classical inlays. It’s an amazing guitar, and well worth checking out.
-Pappy
5 comments:
My dream 6120. One fine day!
It's my dream 6120 also! sigh! G.A.S.!
There are definitely worse choices out there. It's the best filtertron 6120 I've ever played.
I just got a brand new rhh this past weekend for $1,480 us in Philadelphia. It had been in the music store for 3 years in a bad neighborhood.
I also have a 1962 double anniversary... I own 2 les Paulson from the Gibson costume shop, and my gretsch guitars kick the gibbons butts!
Thats the great thing about the modern Gretches. I've OWNED a few vintage 50's 6120's before they were vintage and simply 'second hand' instruments. Bought most under $600 While great guitars, you have to deal with crumbling binding, electronic issues, re-frets, and sky high actions because the neck needs a reset. Gets frustrating (and expensive) when you just want to plug in and play.
When Fender teamed up with Fred Gretsch, something amazing happened. The specs of each 'era' were were brought into line and the quality took a leap forward. You want a 1955 with single coil D'Armond's and sound post's? How about a 2.75 deep '59 with trestle bracing, Nitro, TV Jones Filtertrons and light trestle bracing? Need one cheaper? Go for a Poly finished standard model with excellent factory pickups. No problem my friend. Plus, there are versions in the mix that never historically existed like the Reverend Horton Heat model which is a western themed mashup of a '55 sound post 6120 meets post '58 Filtertron with a 12" radius. How about the Gretsch hero's past and present. Well represented. Want Duane Eddy's guitar? How about a replica Eddy Cochran with the p90 in the neck? Setzer? It is indeed a great time to get 'that great Gretsch sound"
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