FIne Early '60s Double-Cutaway Duo Jet

This 13 1/2-inch-wide guitar weighs 7.70 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Chambered mahogany body with three-ply binding, pressed arched top with black finish, one-piece mahogany neck, and bound ebony fretboard with 21 frets and neo-classic inlaid pearl thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Individual open-back Grover StaTite tuners with oval metal buttons. Two patent number Filter'Tron pickups with gold plastic surrounds and outputs of 4.12k and 4.21k. Original gold Lucite pickguard with Gretsch pantograph. Three controls (two volume on lower treble bout, one master volume on upper treble bout) plus two three-way tone selector switches on upper bass bout and a standby switch on lower treble bout. "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Original Space Control bridge on ebony base and bent flat-arm Burns vibrato tailpiece with black plastic tip with "Gretsch" engraved in white. All hardware gold-plated. Inside the control cavity on the back of the guitar is the orange and gray Gretsch label printed in black, with the model number ("6128") stamped in blue and the serial number ("47939") stamped in black. The switch control cover plate is engraved with the serial number ("47939"). This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. There is a very small surface chip on the top of the upper bass bout (approximately 1/4 inch square), the top has shrunk slightly from the binding by the treble side of the neck, and there is minimal tarnishing to the gold-plated hardware on the pickup covers. Housed in the original Gretsch two-tone gray hardshell case with burgundy plush lining (9.00). Complete with the original hang tag.

"In 1962 major style changes occurred [in the Jet series] which continued on the line until the re-introduction of the single-cutaway body style in 1970: gold-plated metal parts replace chrome, a gold pickguard engraved with a black 'Gretsch' block letter logo supplants the Duo Jet's and Silver Jet's white pickguard, and a gold-plated Burns vibrato tailpiece anchors the Jets' 24 1/2 inch scale length instead of the previous 'G'-cutout, chrome tailpiece. Most notably in 1962 the company expanded its 'spotlight sparkle'-top line to include not only the Silver Jet but a panoply of other shimmering Model 6129s available at no greater cost than the $350 Model 6128 Duo Jet: the gaudy, Romanesque Gold Sparkle, delicate-lilac Champagne Sparkle, a deeper, wine-colored Burgundy Sparkle and squeezable Tangerine Sparkle. All double cut-aways are extremely rare and few of any color other than Silver Sparkle were made. 1962 also saw the introduction of the standby switch on all electric models" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p. 101).