Inheritance of two Gretsch guitars in the UK

[GraemeScott]

Good afternoon;

This forum was recommended by some lovely people on the Gretsch Owners Group on Facebook, so lovely to make your acquaintance here.

I have a rather unpleasant welcome post I need to do, which is trying to do something with my dad’s two Gretsch guitars after he passed away back in 2017. Basically they’ve been in the house in the warm, but not played since he played them. He was a massive Chet Atkins fan, and we have countless cd’s, videos, tapes, and lp’s. Chet even played the older Gretsch at his last UK visit in Bristol, at an after show signing, but unfortunately we have nothing to prove that happened. He signed a photograph, but not the guitar!

I cannot play the guitar, but I know enough that my fingers are too big to manage these. If there is interest on this forum, I would like to know peoples recommendations for where to auction/sell these. I've had suggestions of keeping them to display, sell, learn to play... I just can't. I'd really like them to go to a worthy home.

The first set of pictures is the older Gretsch 6119, which was brought over from Chicago in 1988 to the UK by the store owner of where my dad bought it from - Rockbottom Music. By serial number it dates as 1961, but by its features it suggests it may have been built in 1960 (Bigsby logo, zero fret, and single pickup). The case and price label seem to be from a different guitar, but it was brought over from Chicago like this. Neither is the pick guard an original from this guitar; there was a slight modification to fit this one.

The later one is a Gretsch 6120 DSV built in 2005, and is absolutely gleaming. This is the later photos in the selection. My dad bought it in 2013 from a vintage guitar shop in Bath. He found it easier to play when his knuckles swelled a little with arthritis.

I’d love to hear him play them again, but it can’t happen. The best thing we can hope for is to find them a worthy home, but without us being taken for a ride either.

If any of you fine people would be able to give us an idea of what to do, or wish to share your experiences of either guitar, please reply here. It would be great to read them.

Many thanks;
Graeme and Nicola

Edit: It's messed up the order I posted the photos. There are two different guitars in the pictures, the older one and the newer.

 

[Chet Harrison]

Beautiful guitars.

If you want a relatively quick sale with minimal fuss, I’d look into selling on consignment through a local shop.

If you want to maximize your profit, you have to decide whether you want to risk shipping them or not. Either way, I’d be listing them on Reverb.com (you can select local pickup or not). If you search completed listings, you can get some idea of the value.

Or maybe take your chances on Gumtree?

As ever, keep vigilant for any red flags/scammers.

 

[Zeek]

Welcome n good luck.

 

[knavel]

Hi Graeme and welcome. I don't know much about modern era Gretsches but your father's DSV looks very nice. As regards the 6119, that spec ran from 58-61ish and aside from the internal bracing in the model's first year, there really wasn't much that changed in terms of specs save for the Bigsby style in 1960 when it went from the black enameled one to the one that you talked about in your post. I don't have instant recall on what serial numbers are what years number but your guitar could be 1960 or 61 and there would be really no difference.

The non-original aspects of your 6119 are the pickguard as you note, but also the bridge. That looks like a vintage Gretsch space control bridge, but that wasn't the bridge a 6119 would have come with. It would have come with a bar bridge. I would need to see the case to confirm if its reasonable to assume its original (there is no fixed case style in the vintage era that came with a particular guitar; cases were purchased separately). The tuners, knob, pickup, presumably the electronics and what looks like a long tail Bigsby are original.

As far as sales venues, there is always the Gardiner Houlgate auction, but I expect they'll take a big piece of your hide as you aren't showing up with 50 guitars and can negotiate a better commission.

I sell only on eBay UK and I've never had an issue because I put up a lot of pics and detailed descriptions. Ebay runs 70% off of fees every other weekend (they are running it this weekend) and so you can really maximise what you keep that way. You have to be willing to ship and you might have to go to a guitar store to get some shipping boxes. You would want large ones for a Gretsch or for an acoustic.

I have a 1960 6119 much like yours and I think it's great.

 

[Ricochet]

Welcome to Gretsch-Talk! I hope you’ll get your answers.

I have the same single pickup 6119, except it’s a 15 yo Reissue. FWIW I can’t see me part from it for less than 2500 bucks. It’s not rare to come up for sale, but it is uncommon.

 

[MyTwangyGuitar]

First and foremost, my condolences. There's nothing worse than losing a parent in my experience. Secondly, if you were in the States, I'd buy the 6119 in a hot minute. Having it shipped from the U.K. and sweating out its safe arrival, would take years off my life. Good luck with the sale. Be patient, especially with the 6119, it appears to be in great shape!

 

[bobeschism]

Hi Graeme,

Sorry to hear about your dad. From experience, moving along some of your loved one's possessions can be absolutely heart wrenching.

I'm wary of selling anything of value on ebay. Too many horror stories.

Gardiner Houlgate are in Corsham, very near to Bristol, and have quarterly live auctions that attract UK, European and Saudi buyers. Like knavel mentioned, they'll take a commission which I believe is 15%. There's one coming up on September 5th which might be good to watch live online to get an idea of how the valuations correspond to purchase price.

Another option close to you in Bath is Vintage 'n' Rare Guitars. Squinting at your receipts, this might be the shop your dad bought the 6120 from?

You might also try the Classifieds on this very forum although it's more US based; or an alternative is the more UK-centric Fretboard forum. On either of these you're more likely to find someone who loves Gretsches, rather than to someone wanting to buy them as an "investment" - from the tone of your post it seems you would prefer your dad's guitars to go to a loving home.

Best of luck with the sale,
Bob

 

[Londoner]

You could try Charlie Chandler's shop near Kingston bridge.
He will hang it on the wall of his shop plus show it on his website and Facebook page.
He takes a commission fee.
I got a good price for one of my guitars in the past, and recently a friend got a good price for his '67 Tele.
He's a genuine good guy, knows his vintage stuff, and well respected amongst many name pros.

Electric Guitars – ccgx.co.uk

ccgx.co.uk

Good luck, and don't let anyone rip you off.

 

[thunder58]

Welcome friend
Sorry for the lose of your dad . We're an honest bunch here at Gretsch-Talk . As all stated above .... take your time and be cautious .
Although this store is in the States , perhaps email him with photos and story . It most certainly would not surprise me if they have connections / recommendations in the UK. Might be worth the email
Lark Street Music
Teaneck , New Jersey , U.S.A.

Lark Street Music: Vintage Guitars, Teaneck NJ

www.larkstreetmusic.com

 

[Lucky Jim]

I’m very sorry to hear of your loss @GraemeScott. Did your dad ever record any of his playing? I wonder if his purchase of the 6119 was influenced by this album cover?



As regards selling, Charlie Chandler would be my first choice for a commission sale too. Charlie is legendary, as is his shop.

An alternative closer to you is ATB Guitars in Cheltenham. He specialises in selling vintage guitars to the rich and famous.

Gretsch

www.atbguitars.com

Both will charge a commission fee but, on the other hand, they will probably sell at a higher price than you could get for a private sale and you avoid all the time-wasters and scammers. I would certainly recommend a commission sale for your 6119. Charlie might also be interested in selling the DSV but I’m not sure about ATB.

It is also worth advertising on this forum, although the U.K. and European membership represents a smaller market. Unfortunately the high cost of shipping a guitar, fully insured, to the USA can make it less appealing to American buyers.

The Fretboard forum in the U.K. also has free classifieds but Gretsch guitars can be a little harder to sell on there and you will inevitably get lowball offers.

It’s worth a word with Charlie and ATB.

 

[musicman100]

Hi Graham

Good afternoon;

This forum was recommended by some lovely people on the Gretsch Owners Group on Facebook, so lovely to make your acquaintance here.

I have a rather unpleasant welcome post I need to do, which is trying to do something with my dad’s two Gretsch guitars after he passed away back in 2017. Basically they’ve been in the house in the warm, but not played since he played them. He was a massive Chet Atkins fan, and we have countless cd’s, videos, tapes, and lp’s. Chet even played the older Gretsch at his last UK visit in Bristol, at an after show signing, but unfortunately we have nothing to prove that happened. He signed a photograph, but not the guitar!

I cannot play the guitar, but I know enough that my fingers are too big to manage these. If there is interest on this forum, I would like to know peoples recommendations for where to auction/sell these. I've had suggestions of keeping them to display, sell, learn to play... I just can't. I'd really like them to go to a worthy home.

The first set of pictures is the older Gretsch 6119, which was brought over from Chicago in 1988 to the UK by the store owner of where my dad bought it from - Rockbottom Music. By serial number it dates as 1961, but by its features it suggests it may have been built in 1960 (Bigsby logo, zero fret, and single pickup). The case and price label seem to be from a different guitar, but it was brought over from Chicago like this. Neither is the pick guard an original from this guitar; there was a slight modification to fit this one.

The later one is a Gretsch 6120 DSV built in 2005, and is absolutely gleaming. This is the later photos in the selection. My dad bought it in 2013 from a vintage guitar shop in Bath. He found it easier to play when his knuckles swelled a little with arthritis.

I’d love to hear him play them again, but it can’t happen. The best thing we can hope for is to find them a worthy home, but without us being taken for a ride either.

If any of you fine people would be able to give us an idea of what to do, or wish to share your experiences of either guitar, please reply here. It would be great to read them.

Many thanks;
Graeme and Nicola

Edit: It's messed up the order I posted the photos. There are two different guitars in the pictures, the older one and the newer.

Hi Graeme,

I’ve sent you a message about the 6119

 

[S. Rock]

welcome to the forum. we're glad to have you here.

 

[audept]

Welcome to the forum, @GraemeScott ! Good luck with the sales!

 

[GraemeScott]

Hi Graham

Hi Graeme,

I’ve sent you a message about the 6119

Thank you! Sorry had a few vile night shifts. I will get around to it.

Graeme

 

[GraemeScott]

I wanted to say thank you for all the replies. Very much appreciated!!

Mark Cottrell made this playlist and has loads of my dad's bands' stuff from the 60's. I thought you might like to hear it.



All the very best, and thank you again;

Graeme

 

[6187LX]

Graeme,
The 6119 is a 1961 Tennessean #40666. While it's an early batch it should have the defining 1961 feature: a body depth as determined by the sides of 2.25". As Knavel noted, the bridge isn't original to this guitar, but is a vintage Gretsch Space Control. The fretboard is rosewood which could be an import problem due to CITES rules. You will probably get a better price for it in the EU; I would look at Reverb.com for price comparison, keeping in mind that asking prices are usually over-the-top. Are there any additional holes drilled into the guitar body from the replacement pickguard? Aside from that, you have a very clean example.

The Country Gentleman hangtag would not have come with the Tennessean; you will be able sell that quite easily on it's own. The $595 price would be a clue as to the date of the hangtag.

 

[knavel]

I wanted to say thank you for all the replies. Very much appreciated!!

Mark Cottrell made this playlist and has loads of my dad's bands' stuff from the 60's. I thought you might like to hear it.



All the very best, and thank you again;

Graeme

Wow. I've listened to every one at least once. The group were regulars on the BBC with that same emcee Brian Matthew that's all over the same sorts of live sessions of the Beatles turned into the Beatles at the BBC records. The All Day and All of the Night solo is fantastic. Fortune Teller I think beats the Stones' version. It's remarkable that the band says they started as an instrumental combo (presumably) in vein of the Shadows given the quality of the singing and harmonies.

My sense is that that quality of singing got the band pretty far - look at their company!!!:



"Help!" was phenomenal. But ultimately what must have happened is the original material wasn't there or what the group did release didn't break -- they were even poignantly asked about their being a cover band in one of the interviews.

As the electronic amelodic, atonal crap thumps from cars constantly racing up my street, we are as far away from your father's time as we are from the Roman Republic and Empire. Construction, shoemaker, etc (they talked about their jobs in one of the interviews) and all total gentlemen who could use words like "hence" effortlessly when speaking. I have a good friend here in London that I came to know because he commented on one of my songs on Youtube or someplace that he followed my group around in Detroit back in our time but now lives in London as well so we hooked up. He's an encyclopaedia of 60s music. I'll be sending him your dad's BBC sessions.

By the way there is another thread on this site where a guy has a 1964 6119 which has the wrong pickguard and it's black. Even though it will have an extra notch for the second pickup, it might be worth trying to get the guard off of him (since he's trying to get an original one correct to 1964) as its closer to correct for your father's 6119.

My own 1960 6119 (serial 382xx so not too long before yours) came to me a complete mess: Someone had turned it into a 12 string at some point. Hideous pickguard and glued down Hofner bridge. The key thing was that the original pickup was there and no extra holes in the body and the beautiful original finish. Yours would be easy to get back to stock and given the music your father made I would pay any price if by owning it I would suddenly have that talent.

Here is how mine looked when I got it--you can't really even see the most hilarious part, being the 6 extra holes in the headstock where presumably banjo tuners were inserted to make it a 12 string:



Since then I've had the headstock redone with a new veneer and found a black pickguard that had never been cut (but doesn't have the Chet Atkins logo as the original did). Here she is now. It still has the wrong bridge (because I like tunamatics better than the original Gretsch bar bridges) and the Bigsby is more like 1956 which is my favourite iteration--but I do have the correct original long tail like yours in a drawer.



You can get good prices for your dad's gear right in the UK.

Thanks for bringing your father's music to my attention.

 

[staceygail]

What a clever way to convert a six string up to 12 strings.

Wow. I've listened to every one at least once. The group were regulars on the BBC with that same emcee Brian Matthew that's all over the same sorts of live sessions of the Beatles turned into the Beatles at the BBC records. The All Day and All of the Night solo is fantastic. Fortune Teller I think beats the Stones' version. It's remarkable that the band says they started as an instrumental combo (presumably) in vein of the Shadows given the quality of the singing and harmonies.

My sense is that that quality of singing got the band pretty far - look at their company!!!:

View attachment 214198

"Help!" was phenomenal. But ultimately what must have happened is the original material wasn't there or what the group did release didn't break -- they were even poignantly asked about their being a cover band in one of the interviews.

As the electronic amelodic, atonal crap thumps from cars constantly racing up my street, we are as far away from your father's time as we are from the Roman Republic and Empire. Construction, shoemaker, etc (they talked about their jobs in one of the interviews) and all total gentlemen who could use words like "hence" effortlessly when speaking. I have a good friend here in London that I came to know because he commented on one of my songs on Youtube or someplace that he followed my group around in Detroit back in our time but now lives in London as well so we hooked up. He's an encyclopaedia of 60s music. I'll be sending him your dad's BBC sessions.

By the way there is another thread on this site where a guy has a 1964 6119 which has the wrong pickguard and it's black. Even though it will have an extra notch for the second pickup, it might be worth trying to get the guard off of him (since he's trying to get an original one correct to 1964) as its closer to correct for your father's 6119.

My own 1960 6119 (serial 382xx so not too long before yours) came to me a complete mess: Someone had turned it into a 12 string at some point. Hideous pickguard and glued down Hofner bridge. The key thing was that the original pickup was there and no extra holes in the body and the beautiful original finish. Yours would be easy to get back to stock and given the music your father made I would pay any price if by owning it I would suddenly have that talent.

Here is how mine looked when I got it--you can't really even see the most hilarious part, being the 6 extra holes in the headstock where presumably banjo tuners were inserted to make it a 12 string:

View attachment 214199

Since then I've had the headstock redone with a new veneer and found a black pickguard that had never been cut (but doesn't have the Chet Atkins logo as the original did). Here she is now. It still has the wrong bridge (because I like tunamatics better than the original Gretsch bar bridges) and the Bigsby is more like 1956 which is my favourite iteration--but I do have the correct original long tail like yours in a drawer.

View attachment 214200

You can get good prices for your dad's gear right in the UK.

Thanks for bringing your father's music to my attention.

 

[GraemeScott]

Wow. I've listened to every one at least once. The group were regulars on the BBC with that same emcee Brian Matthew that's all over the same sorts of live sessions of the Beatles turned into the Beatles at the BBC records. The All Day and All of the Night solo is fantastic. Fortune Teller I think beats the Stones' version. It's remarkable that the band says they started as an instrumental combo (presumably) in vein of the Shadows given the quality of the singing and harmonies.

My sense is that that quality of singing got the band pretty far - look at their company!!!:

View attachment 214198

"Help!" was phenomenal. But ultimately what must have happened is the original material wasn't there or what the group did release didn't break -- they were even poignantly asked about their being a cover band in one of the interviews.

As the electronic amelodic, atonal crap thumps from cars constantly racing up my street, we are as far away from your father's time as we are from the Roman Republic and Empire. Construction, shoemaker, etc (they talked about their jobs in one of the interviews) and all total gentlemen who could use words like "hence" effortlessly when speaking. I have a good friend here in London that I came to know because he commented on one of my songs on Youtube or someplace that he followed my group around in Detroit back in our time but now lives in London as well so we hooked up. He's an encyclopaedia of 60s music. I'll be sending him your dad's BBC sessions.

By the way there is another thread on this site where a guy has a 1964 6119 which has the wrong pickguard and it's black. Even though it will have an extra notch for the second pickup, it might be worth trying to get the guard off of him (since he's trying to get an original one correct to 1964) as its closer to correct for your father's 6119.

My own 1960 6119 (serial 382xx so not too long before yours) came to me a complete mess: Someone had turned it into a 12 string at some point. Hideous pickguard and glued down Hofner bridge. The key thing was that the original pickup was there and no extra holes in the body and the beautiful original finish. Yours would be easy to get back to stock and given the music your father made I would pay any price if by owning it I would suddenly have that talent.

Here is how mine looked when I got it--you can't really even see the most hilarious part, being the 6 extra holes in the headstock where presumably banjo tuners were inserted to make it a 12 string:

View attachment 214199

Since then I've had the headstock redone with a new veneer and found a black pickguard that had never been cut (but doesn't have the Chet Atkins logo as the original did). Here she is now. It still has the wrong bridge (because I like tunamatics better than the original Gretsch bar bridges) and the Bigsby is more like 1956 which is my favourite iteration--but I do have the correct original long tail like yours in a drawer.

View attachment 214200

You can get good prices for your dad's gear right in the UK.

Thanks for bringing your father's music to my attention.

Thank you for such a lovely reply. Really brought a lump in my throat! Yes it really comes across how close they came to fame... just didn't quite reach a critical mass. So glad you enjoyed the playlist. I love it to bits...

Graeme