The Gretsch 6128 (Duo Jet) is a chambered solid body

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

manufactured by

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsc ...

since the mid-1950s.

Origins

The Duo Jet was first introduced in 1953, after the success of the

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typi ...

Goldtop. A key difference between the two was that the Duo Jet was not a solid-body, instead being semi-solid with routed channels and pockets inside. It is believed that the name Duo Jet was inspired by the fact that the guitar has two pickups (Duo) and by the advanced aircraft of the time (Jet). This was the first Gretsch guitar to feature a truss rod accessible through the headstock, a pickup selection switch on the cutaway, and a master volume on the body.

Construction

Made of a chambered mahogany body, one of the most notable differences between the Duo Jet and comparable guitars is in its configuration variations. While it shares their dual pickup, single cutaway style with the more popular

, the 6128 Duo Jet models take various unique approaches for shaping the tonality of the instrument. While a master volume is standard on this model, some variations will either have independent neck/bridge pickup volume knobs with a master tone knob, or will have the same independent neck/bridge pickup volume knobs, but with a tone switch next to the pickup selector switch instead of the master tone knob. The versions with a master tone knob are equipped with

DeArmond Rowe Industries was a manufacturer of guitar pickups and other music-related devices, as well as electrical components utilized in the aerospace industry into the 1980s. Owner Horace "Bud" Rowe established a working relationship with budding el ...

Dynasonic pickups, which have a full-bodied, low frequency tone. Most associated with the sound of guitarist Duane Eddy, Dynasonics are

single coil A single coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. Single coil pickups are one of the two most po ...

pickups, and have been used on certain Gretsch models since the 1950s. Most models of the guitar come equipped with a

Bigsby vibrato tailpiece The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (or Bigsby for short) is a type of mechanical vibrato device for electric guitar designed by Paul Bigsby and produced by the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company (currently an independently operated subsidiary of Fender M ...

in conjunction with a rocker bridge. The most famous example of this Duo Jet was played by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

during

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' early days in Hamburg, and on their first album. Harrison also posed with the guitar for the cover of his 1987 solo album, ''

Cloud Nine Cloud Nine, cloud 9 or cloud nine is a name colloquially given to the state of euphoria, and may refer to: Books and comics * Cloud 9 (comics), a Marvel Comics superhero that debuted in ''Avengers: The Initiative'' * ''Cloud Nine'' (novel), a 19 ...

''. The tone switch versions of the Duo Jet come equipped with Gretsch's own Filtertron

humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in d ...

pickup made popular by country music guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

, and are still in demand to this day. Notable players of this version include

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

as well as George Harrison.

Variations

* G6128 – Filtertron pickups, no Bigsby tailpiece * G6128T – Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6128T-DS – Bigsby and Dynasonic pickups, Rosewood fingerboard, originally based on 1957 version, currently based on 1955 version * G6128-DS – Dynasonic pickups, no bigsby, Rosewood fingerboard * G6128T-DCM – Bigsby and Filtertron pickups, Double Cut-away, Dark Cherry Metallic, Ebony Fretboard * G6128-1962 – Double cutaway version of the Duo Jet, equipped with Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6128T59 – Bigsby and TV Jones classic pickups (Vintage Select '59 Duo Jet edition) * G6128TCG – Bigsby and Dynasonic pickups, in a Cadillac Green finish with Gold hardware * G6128TVP – aka the "Power Jet" Pickups are upgraded to TV Jones Power'Trons * G6128T-TVP – Bigsby equipped version of the Power Jet * G6128T 6 12 – Double-necked six- and twelve-string guitar with 4 Filtertron pickups. * G6128T-GH – Custom shop and standard versions of George Harrison's Duo Jet. The custom shop version is designed and built to appear like George Harrison's original appears today. Standard version has the color scheme of Harrison's guitar and features his signature on truss-rod cover. Both versions include all black body and moved bottom strap pin. * G6128T-CLFG - Cliff Gallup Signature Duo Jet. Cliff Gallup kept his guitar stock, so this version is essentially a custom shop replica of a '54 Duo Jet. * G6128B - "Thunder Jet" bass version with TV Jones Thunder'Tron pickups

Other versions

"Silver Jet" * G6129 – topped with silver sparkle drum material. Same features as the standard G6128 Duo Jet * G6129T – equipped with Bigsby * G6129-1957 – Rosewood finger board, Dynasonic pickups, and no Bigsby * G6219T-1957 – Rosewood finger board, Dyansonic pickups, with Bigsby * G6219T-1962 – Double cutaway version, with Bigsby and Filtertrons "Round Up" * G6130 – Orange stain, leather bound with western motif carved into the leather, G Branded body, Dynasonic pickups, gold hardware, Rosewood fretboard, no Bigsby "Jet Firebird" * G6131 – Duo Jet in Fire Red finish, with Filtertrons, no Bigsby * G6131T – Fire Red, with Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6131TVP – "Power Jet" version with TV Jones Power'Tron pickups, pinned bridge, Schaller strap locks * G6131T-TVP – "Power Jet" version with TV Jones Power'Tron pickups, pinned bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, Schaller strap locks, and a Bigsby tailpiece

Rock Band controller

A replica of George Harrison's Duo Jet is the basis for a guitar controller for '' The Beatles: Rock Band''.

References

External links

G6128T Duo Jet
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