Finally bought an electric guitar

I don’t know how long I’ve wanted an electric guitar. Many times I’ve had the money but I never bought one. I just played an acoustic trying to get better. I also tried to be responsible with my money. I’ve had a lot of struggles in my career and life since 2005. But while I was an MBA student I swore when I finished grad school I would buy an electric guitar.

However, I didn’t want just any electric guitar. At some point in the 90s, I started to learn more about guitar and one brand of guitars I always thought looked sweet, a fact I’ve documented on this website since 2002. I don’t want to rehash all my trials and tribulations over the last twenty years but after maxing out my RRSP and paying my taxes and learning that Gretsch was bringing back one of their original custom colour schemes on their flagship pro series model I took that as a sign.

I’ve barely played any electric guitar but I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos, been to a lot of concerts and earned my blisters and carpal tunnel playing acoustic alone on my couch. Long & McQuade is the Gretsch representative in Canada and probably has been since the brand was revived. I could have bought a cheap electric guitar or even one of Gretsch’s more affordable models but I decided as I had waited twenty plus years, I was going all in, my favourite colour is of course dark green. I got a hollow body with the Bigsby tailpiece rather than a hardtail and I made sure to get Filter’trons.

Did I need a pro guitar? Absolutely not. Did I stare at Gretsch guitars as my computer’s desktop background for most of the last twenty plus years, yes I did.

PRO NASH JT25010297

That is what it says on my certificate of authenticity. The Gretsch 6120 was released in 1954. It was the signature guitar of Mr. Guitar himself Chet Atkins. The prototype was based off an earlier model known as the Streamliner and all Gretsch electric hollow body or electric Spanish guitars as they were originally known descend from one original model released even earlier in the 1950s.

The first prototype did not have tremolo tailpiece and had D’armond Dynasonic pickups. A Bigsby tremolo tailpiece was added to the second prototype given to Chet Atkins. Both these guitars may be in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Gretsch guitars were made in Brooklyn New York at the time, Gibson’s were made in Nashville. It was Jimmy Webster’s idea to approach a then young Chet Atkins to be an endorser after the success Gibson had with Les Paul who endorsed the first signature electric guitar, you may have heard of that model.

The evolution of the 6120

After two prototypes which famously were literally branded with a ‘G’ and cowboy’d up not to mention infamously bright orange, Mr. Atkins and Gretsch released the first official 6120. Over the next few years Chet and Gretsch tinkered with the design. A different Bigsby tailpiece was developed that could swing out of the way when not needed. The so called “mud switch” was added and most importantly Gretsch developed their own noise cancelling pickups, the Filter’trons.

Chet apparently called the now famous Western Orange “hideous”. He also did not like the Dynasonics. He of course did not like the feedback caused by the f-holes and a third prototype was made that had fake f-holes and many of theses changes that would be featured in the Country Gentleman, another Chet Atkins signature Gretsch guitar. I’m currently learning even more about the 6120.

Why Gretsch?

I’ve long been a Neil Young fan. Some might have even said I was obsessed at one point. And although these days he is most associated with Old Black which is a 1952 Gold Top Les Paul, that was painted black, he actually traded a Gretsch guitar for it. Back in the Buffalo Springfield days he and Stephen both played Gretsches. But as amps got bigger and rock and roll became louder and faster, the hollow body design became less desirable on the larger and larger stages that say Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young found themselves playing in the 1970s

This performance or Chet’s various performances on TV over the years are not the most famous to feature that great Gretsch sound as it came to be known, that award belongs to a little band from England who appeared on the Ed Sullivan show.

Famous Gretsch Guitarists

Besides Chet, Neil, and George many other musicians have played Gretsch guitars over the years. They stopped making them, in the old style, in the 1970s after the brand was sold to the Baldwin company and manufacturing was moved to Arkansa. So players of Gretsch guitars in the late 70s, the 1980s or the early 90s generally used vintage instruments. Malcom Young played various Gretsch guitars and has had signature models. Bo Didley was long associated with the brand as well, but in the 1980s and the 1990s punk and even grunge musicians played Gretsch guitars in little known bands like the Cramps, the Cure or Soundgarden.

But the two musicians most responsible for helping revive the brand are probably Brian Setzer and Randy Bachman. Brian Setzer and the Stray Cats and indeed the whole rockabilly revival scene loved the big old Gretsch hollow body guitars and when the brand was relaunched Brian Setzer not Chet Atkins was the flagship artist. Randy Bachman like Neil Young was from Winnipeg Canada and they both got 6120s back in the day. Randy and Neil both collected guitars and when the brand was relaunched Randy Bachman’s and Brian Setzer’s guitars were analyzed to get the bracing and accoutrements accurate.

Why a hollow body electric?

It’s true I thought about getting a cheaper solid body electric guitar over the years. Gretsch makes many other models. There are also centre block guitars, these have the look and feel of the big body Spanish electric guitars often complete with sound holes but with less risk of feedback. The best of both worlds as the Hulk would say. Les Paul’s original electric guitar, the log, was built that way. But after waiting so long, I decided I wasn’t going to partially commit. I thought about getting a Hot Rod model or the cheaper Rat Rod model when it came out. Apparently the Electromatic or modern mid-market Gretsch line has gotten better and better and they have a number of centre block guitars that look “the same” or at least very similar to mine.

My favourite genre of music to play alone on the couch has long been the Blues. Gretsch guitars are not associated with any major blues artist with the exception of perhaps Bo Dudley. However, hollow body guitars, specifically the Gibson ES 355, are associated with the Blues. The ES stands for “Electric Spanish” as basically the first electric guitars were hollow bodies with often just a single pickup for use in the big bands of the time. Since I mainly play alone on the couch, feedback is not a major concern, and dealing with the bigger body also didn’t worry me, I’ve always liked the big body acoustics.

Why Cadillac Green?

Dark green has long been my favourite colour. My friend Owen once said I paint everything green and purple. Cadillac Green was one of the original custom guitar colours offered by Gretsch guitars back in the 1950s. Guitar design, especially Gretsch guitars were heavily influenced by the auto industry. So two-tone paint schemes, lots of chrome hardware, Gretsch and Jimmy Webster were all over that. Cadillac Green complete with white binding and gold hardware was and still is a Country Club or Gretsch 6196 colour scheme. I gave serious consideration to getting the Vintage Select Country Club which for a long time was the only production Gretsch guitar in Cadillac Green.

At some point I think the colour was reintroduced to either the Streamliner or Electromatic line and I even think there was a Cadillac Green centre block Broadcaster model recently or still in production. But when the 2025 lineup was introduced on social media, dead centre was a Cadillac Green Gretsch 6120. As mentioned above after maxing out my RRSP contributions and paying my taxes I went down to Long & McQuade and right when I walked in there was a Pro series 6120, of course it was the orange model, but I did ask to demo it, even demo’d it on an Orange amp.

Why finger style?

I actually took some guitar lessons when I was a little kid. But I stopped and focussed on soccer. When I went to university there were often guitars kicking around the dorms and I took it up again and I likely used a pick back in 1994. In 1996, I lived in Yellowknife working for the government for a semester. I remember while I was there I bought the cheapest acoustic guitar I could find and the only slide they had in the store. I also mail ordered an R. L. Burnside CD. I still have all three.

This was before YouTube. You could get tabs but I basically taught myself to play slide, but I never really kept up with it until I eventually I finished my undergrad degree. When I moved to Japan, I took with me, my old instruction books from when I was in elementary school and that same slide. I bought an Indonesian made Ephiphone which was my number one guitar for over twenty years. I sat on the floor and re-learned classical style rest strokes, but I probably still played with a pick some. I still can’t sight read but I made some progress on the guitar before I went to grad school.

During all this time I saw many live gigs including R. L. Burnside twice! I also saw JJ Cale and Bruce Cockburn and after seeing those artists I basically never picked up a guitar pick again. A lot of the old blues musicians play finger style. They don’t use rest strokes like my old instructional book tried to get me to use, they generally use their thumb on the base strings and probably their index finger for the melody. That is how I played for many years but I also use up to three fingers.

During my MBA I moved abroad again this time to China and bought another cheap acoustic guitar. I even got a few lessons and insisted on sticking with finger style even though the instructor played a seven string Ibanez metal guitar. After my MBA, I got a teacher briefly in Vancouver, he too wanted me to play with a pick, but I stuck with my odd right hand technique.

While a CFA® Candidate I actually gave up guitar. I gave up many things such as video games, painting, reading for pleasure, however I finally finished that program and ended up working in Calgary. During COVID-19, I played a lot of guitar, always finger style but not always slide. I’ve definitely gotten better over the last twenty years or so, but I wish I could have focussed on it more consistently. Another reason I switched to finger style was I hurt my shoulder playing soccer and rugby, so needed a way of playing which didn’t involve that joint much.

My dream guitar?

I’m not sure this is my dream guitar. I did play the orange model for a while in the store and my thumb often hit the neck pickup. I have my right hand too far forward. On an acoustic I can play right up close to the neck which must be a comfortable position for my shoulder. I also don’t like all the knobs. I was tempted to get just a single pickup, single knob guitar like the Gibson Firebird I and I still might someday. But I decided to commit, full hollow body, with Bigsby, top of the line, in dark frickin’ green sight unseen.

Travis Picking

Like I said before, I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos. One video that the algorithm recommended to me once was on learning the so called “Travis Picking”. Chet Atkins based his technique on that of Merle Travis, who came from Muhlenberg County in Kentucky so the style is sometimes referred to as the Muhlenberg County or Western Kentucky style as Travis learned it form older local musicians. Chet Atkins didn’t have YouTube so he thought Merle used three fingers and his thumb but he like the old bluesman generally used his thumb and index finger.

Thumb picks

Both Merle and Chet used what is known as a thumb pick. This is not the same as plectrum or what is more commonly referred to as a “guitar pick”. A pick lets you play louder than with just your thumb and fingers and enables techniques like tremolo picking. Besides playing louder you can arguably play faster at least on one string with a pick. Nowadays you don’t see many thumb pickers, more popular seems to be hybrid picking where you use a regular guitar pick along with two fingers.

At some point prior to buying this guitar, I got a thumb pick from a local guitar store in Calgary. I had probably recently seen Tommy Emmanuel play. He is one of the world’s great guitarists and a proponent of the thumb picking style made famous by Merle Travis and Chet Atkins and one of the last living Certified Guitar Players. Thumb picks are not unseen in blues music the Reverend Peyton uses one, as does the Texas Cannonball, one of the three kings of the blues, he is probably the most famous for using a thumb pick in the Blues, but there is also Bonnie Raitt.

Just like a regular guitar pick, I couldn’t really get used to a thumb pick, certainly not right away. I really do seem to have better control with just my thumb, getting a good angle and sound that way. Slide guitar is usually played with just your fingers, a fact I didn’t know it back in 1996 but is not usually played in standard tuning, so my slide stylings are flawed, even how I wear the slide isn’t how the best modern slide players do it. But I muddled my way to learning some licks.

Waiting for delivery

I forget how long I was supposed to wait for my Cadillac Green Gretsch 6120 electric guitar but I probably waited longer than most. During that time I tried hard to learn Travis picking or a variation of it since I used three fingers and no thumb pick. I even tried learning “Nine Pound Hammer”. I had seen Tommy Emmanuel do this song and before that I’d seen Paul Pigat perform it and he used a Gretsch 6120. I still haven’t learned “Nine Pound Hammer” certainly not how Merle plays it. But I did get better at the style.

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is not a style of guitar I’ve ever tried to play. It really requires an electric guitar with some slapback echo. But like I’ve said multiple times I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos and arguably the most famous living guitarist who is also a Gretsch signature artist is Brian Setzer. I’m not going to write on this blog post anything negative about Brian especially considering what he has gone through recently, but I’ve never been a big Stray Cats or rockabilly fan. That said the Reverend Horton Heat has a signature Gretsch Guitar which looks a lot like the very first 6120s. I thought about buying that model.

I thought about buying Brian Setzer signature models too. Rockabilly is usually played with a flat pick but there is some finger picking in the genre so in addition to learning a Merle Travis song, one which was famously covered by Townes van Zandt, who is much more of a hero of mine, I plan to learn a rockabilly song. Even more than country, in modern times, rockabilly may be the genre most associated with Gretsch guitars, especially the big old hollow bodies.

Surf Rock

Some of the rockabilly guys on YouTube also seem to play surf rock. I probably watch way more Adrian Whyte videos but the guy I’m thinking off here is Jason Lee.

So I’ll have to learn some surf music even though I think it is more associated with Fender guitars, the reverb heavy sound lends itself to the big Gretsch hollow bodies too. When I was studying for the CFA exams I started listening to more surf music as I wanted no lyrics, so surf guitar instrumentals are definitely a thing I should learn to play now that I have an electric guitar.

Local Gretsch Artists

Although world famous musicians like Neil Young and Brian Setzer play Gretsch guitars and I definitely watch too many YouTube videos, I recall seeing some local musicians play Gretsches. I already mentioned Paul Pigat who is affiliated with Gretsch and plays in style similar to Merle Travis or Chet Atkins but the Vancouver based (at the time) artist I recall seeing play a Gretsch maybe every time I’ve seen him since the 90s was Luke Doucet, he even named his backing band the White Falcon at one point. You’ll have to click through to see them playing tougher, YouTube won’t let me embed it.

I also have to mention the Sadies. I’ve seen them play a couple times and although not from Vancouver they brought the twang. They could play rockabilly or a surf instrumental but they are almost more psychedelic rock, they are difficult to describe, but extremely talented. Once again embedding videos from YouTube is harder than it should be. I blogged about seeing them before.

What amp did I buy?

Funny story I actually bought the amp before the guitar. As I’ve said multiple times, I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos and one advised buying a more expensive amp if you planned to play on stage and sound good and be heard over the drummer. If you’re just going to play alone on your couch, you don’t need 100 watts or even 50 watts, you don’t need a very big amp at all, so I bought a Yamaha THR10II Wireless. If I thought the Gretsch 6120 had too many knobs, this is ridiculous. Nonetheless I’m going to make it work, this amp is thought very highly of on the YouTubes and with that many knobs plus an iPhone app there must be a setting I like right?

REVV D25

This amp and this company I’ve been following carefully. The Joey Landreth signature D25 came out about the time I ordered my Gretsch. I’ve never seen Joey Landreth play live, but I have seen Ariel Posen and stop the presses, they too are both from Winnipeg. They both play slide with the slide on their pinky fingers but they use alternate tunings. I actually bought Ariel’s signature slide when I saw him, but it feels heavy to me. At some point I found a glass slide walking down East Broadway in Vancouver, true story. That was my go to slide for many years, not chrome or brass. However I ordered another slide from Long & McQuad recently it is also a Rock Slide but it is green glass. I got a medium after measuring my pinky but I think I need to get used to a smaller slide and wearing it higher up my finger like Ariel, Joey or Dylan Adams.

I have ten or twenty or more years of bad habits to break. I’ve broken some of them or can play more correctly when I think hard. Regardless of my playing style, I live in a condo. I have neighbours above, below and to my left or West and I guess to the South too as I have a corner unit. No one has ever complained about my guitar playing, music listening or TV watching but it is a newer cement building. Regardless I decided to stick it out with the desktop practice amp for a while. Someday I’ll get a tube (valve) combo, because that is what the old bluesman generally played. Travis picking, rockabilly, surf rock instrumentals they’re cool, but if it is just me alone on my couch, I’m probably playing the blues, probably in E minor not A minor, sorry Kendrick Lamar.

My Next Guitar?

I probably shouldn’t buy another guitar any time soon given how much this one cost. However I’ve actually only bought four guitars in my entire life. My very first guitar which I still have, is a nylon string classical guitar which was paid for by my parents. That said if money was no object I guess I’d buy more guitars, but realistically I don’t need many guitars, I just play alone on my couch, however I’ve definitely given some thought to a Mule. As mentioned above I’ve seen Ariel Posen play and was trying to figure out what guitar he was using, turns out it was a Mule.

Another person who I’ve only seen play on the Internet but I’ve watched a lot of videos featuring him as he too was associated with Gretsch is Greg Koch. He has signature model guitars now but they are Reverends. So less mainstream guitar manufactures with more modern or even more eclectic designs appeal to me, but for now I’m going to be adjusting to the green Gretsch and the Yamaha practice amps with more features and knobs than I need.

In the above video you can see the difference between thumb picking and hybrid picking. You can also see some chicken picking.

Al Casey and his Green Gretsch

After ordering my green Gretsch I did even more research and listened to even more music on Apple Music, turns out Al Casey, the one from Arizona played a green Gretsch guitar. It too may be in a museum in Nashville but not the same one Chet’s prototypes are in. Al Casey played a variety of styles of music and a variety of guitars, his green Gretsch electric guitar might be a 6192 Country Club as that may have been the only model that came in Cadillac Green in the 1950s but it could have been a custom model or even an early 1960s model. Chet apparently had a green Gretsch perhaps a Tennessean. I’ll have to visit Nashville someday to find out.

Al Casey played with Sandford Clark and Duane Eddy and was a big deal in Arizona but he moved to LA became a session musician, even part of the Wrecking Crew, played on the legendary Beach Boys sessions for “Pet Sounds” and “Good Vibrations”. He also played guitar with Elvis. He didn’t always use a green Gretsch but he definitely had a successful career and may be the most famous green Gretsch player.

What’s Next?

Man I got to practice my guitar playing. I’ve had the guitar for a few months but I’ve barely played it. I broke a string the day I got it and had to hurry to get a replacement string as Long & McQuade never gave me a spare set. Then my new guitar sat in the case as when I did play guitar I often just grabbed my acoustic because it was sitting out and I wasn’t worrying about breaking it or being loud at night. Eventually I ordered a new guitar stand and Line 6 GT10II as that is Fluff’s favourite feature of my guitar amplifier. Of course it didn’t work when I first plugged it in. So it is going to take a lot of effort for me to become an electric guitar player as I have high standards.

Also next are five more blog posts, I doubt any will be as long as this one, but when you spend twenty plus years thinking about buying a guitar, you definitely have some thoughts on why you bought a very specific electric guitar in a very specific colour. I am also starting yet another certification course in September. Unlike while I was a CFA Candidate I won’t completely give up playing guitar, but my spare time for the next few months will be limited and I may have to write out a very tight schedule to fit guitar playing around my work and studies.

This post also took a long time because of all the links, videos, and pictures, but if you have thoughts on Gretsch electric guitars, finger picking or amplifiers you can leave a comment below. I promise I’ll get around to taking even more pictures and recording some sound samples eventually. Updating this blog takes a lot of work, I never even mentioned that the last two concerts I saw featured Gretsch 6120s played by Adam Turla and Jason Isbell respectively.

This entry was originaly posted on August 14th, 2025, it was last edited on August 16th, 2025 and is filed under: DIY, Hobbies, & Interests and tagged: Gretsch, Guitar, Music.