Gretsch G6136T White Falcon with Bigsby, 2006 [USED]

Visually striking, this Gretsch G6136T White Falcon with Bigsby from 2006. A great guitar in all respects and is in very good condition throughout.  It has minimal wear to the finish, frets and plating. It plays very well and the 1959-style Trestle bracing adds quite a bit of attack and sustain to the string vibration, while reducing sensitivity to feedback.  

This Gretsch G6136T White Falcon with Bigsby dates to October of 2006 at the Terada plant in Nagoya, Japan.  This plant produces many of the highest quality instruments available for a number of brands.

The original hard shell, Gretsch branded case by TKL is included. 

The Gretsch G6136T White Falcon, labelled as such, first appeared at the top of the line in the the 1996 catalog, along with the G6136,  G6137 and G6137T Black Falcon. The G6137 is the Black Falcon, and the T indicates the Bigsby Tremolo tailpiece instead of the 'Cadillac' tailpiece.  

The Gretsch White Falcon first appeared at a 1954 NAMM show as a tasteful and understated concept 'Dream Guitar of the Future', with no immediate intention of building more.   As sometimes happens, the show generated so much interest that it was put into production in early 1955, where it stayed until Gretsch (under Baldwin ownership) ceased operations in 1981.  Fred Gretsch III relaunched the company in 1985, and Falcon reissues started to appear in 1996. 

Construction and Materials 

The Gretsch White Falcon is a 17 inch wide, full depth archtop cutaway guitar with a 25.5 inch scale length.  It's rather like the Country Club, but with different materials and appointments.  The Country Club often has a solid Spruce top.  From the 1960's, the Falcon received a redesign to a thin double cutaway body, as did the 6120. 

Over the years, Falcon bracing has varied from standard tone bars and bridge post to the Chet Atkins prompted Trestle bracing intended to reduce feedback.   Trestle bracing appeared in the very late 1950's and was also used on Chet Atkins 6120 models. 

Trestle bracing uses two bars running the length of the body with two supports resembling bridge trestles,  one on either side of the pickup cavities.  These add to the stiffness of the top, sustain, feedback resistance, and weight.  Gretsch now often uses a simplified variation of the Trestle system, ML bracing that has supports near the bridge but not the neck, and improves acoustic performance. 

The body is Laminate Maple,  with Mahogany for the body blocks and linings.  The neck is solid Maple, with an 12-inch radius Ebony fingerboard bearing Mother of Pearl 'neo-classic' position markers.  The neck joint is a dovetail.   Fretwire is a modern medium jumbo style. 

The body, F-hole, head and neck binding along with the Gretsch logo and truss rod cover are gold-sparkle plastic, originally borrowed from the Gretsch drum line.  The finish, as hinted by the model name, is white though there are black, silver and green versions now available.   

All of the hardware is gold plated. The tuners are gold Grover Imperials with deco influenced 'Stair Step' buttons, and this model has a gold Bigsby B6GB with the Bigsby logo.  The bridge is the 'Space Control' unit, mounted on a floating ebony base.  The knobs start out as standard Gretsch G-arrow knobs, but have a white faux gem in the center and a red faux gem along the arrow.    The pickguard is clear Plexiglass with a gold finish, Gretsch logo and Falcon on the underside. 

The electronics and switching on Gretsch models generally depend on the pickups used.  Models with two High Sensitive Filter'Trons like this one have a master volume, two pickup volumes, a pickup selector and a three-position tone switch.   Single-coil models have the master volume, two volumes and one tone control, and one pickup switch.  

There are no refunds or returns on used items unless authorized in advance by a Twelfth Fret Sales Associate at time of sale. View Our Full Terms Here

DETAILS: 

• Instrument Model:  G6136T White Falcon with Bigsby
• Instrument Manufacturer:  Gretsch
• Instrument year:  2006
• Instrument Finish:   Gloss White
• Instrument Class:  Archtop Electric Guitars
• Instrument serial number:  JT06095494, dated to October 2006 by Terada at Nagoya, Japan
• Country of Origin:  Japan
• Instrument Condition:  Very Good
• Right-handed 
• Instrument Weight Imperial:   7.744 lbs
• Instrument Weight Metric:   3.52 kgs
• Scale Length Imperial:    25.5  in
• Scale Length Metric:    648 mm
• Nut Width Imperial:    1.677 in
• Nut Width Metric:  42.59 mm
• CITIES Documentation Required:  No
• Case included:  Yes
• Case original:  Yes
• Items in Case: Keys
• Case Type: Hard Shell Arched Top Gretsch-labelled by TKL
• Consignment: Yes
• Product ID: 190848

There are no refunds or returns on used items unless authorized in advance by a Twelfth Fret Sales Associate at time of sale. View Our Full Terms Here