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Consider American guitar manufacturers that have been in business during the last 100 years and the different instruments they’ve produced. Only a handful  have become cultural icons – given no information except “Les Paul,” “Stratocaster,” “Telecaster,” and “White Falcon,” even non-players can identify them as guitars. It’s not uncommon to hear “Telecaster? That’s a Fender guitar isn’t it?” Many non-players also identify certain artists with specific instruments, and some can even name specific artists and song combinations that featured a particular instrument.

While the Les Paul, Stratocaster, Telecaster, and White Falcon are clearly in the first echelon of cultural icons, Gretsch’s Country Gentleman is ensconced at the upper end of the second echelon, due largely to the impact of Chet Atkins and George Harrison, two of its most-celebrated players.

The Chet Atkins Country Gentleman (the model’s official name) had at least two distinct incarnations (and several variations) during its long life span: originally as a single cutaway model and later as a double cutaway version. The development of the original single-cutaway model probably began in late 1956/early ’57, years which saw competition in the electric guitar market really begin to escalate. Gretsch and Gibson were pursuing very similar design/development paths during this time period. The parallels and timing are quite intriguing. Both companies were working steadily on what they perceived to be the next generation of electric guitars semi-solid with a much thinner body and electronics that didn’t hum. Gibson was developing its legendary humbucking pickup, and the ES-335 – and Gretsch was working on its humbucking pickup, the Filter’Tron, and what was to become the Country Gentleman model.

Grestch’s earliest forays into this new generation of guitars were shaped by artist/endorser/guitar superstar Chet Atkins who had experienced some noise problems with the DeArmond pickups used on his Chet Atkins Hollow Body Model 6120 and Chet Atkins Solid Body Model 6121. Chet was a “no frills” guy, and while delighted to have an endorsement deal, he wasn’t completely enamored with the “flashiness” of his 6120 and 6121. He preferred a high-end, no nonsense instrument with quality design and construction rather than making a visual statement. He was also interested in increasing an instrument’s sustain and thus was a proponent of solid construction – from the nut to the end pin. He made several recommendations to achieve this (including using a metal nut and bridge) and even suggested that having a closed body might make the instrument sustain more. The earliest version of Chet’s vision/philosophy was produced in mid 1957 and has come to be known by Gretsch aficionados as the “White Gentleman” (appropriately named for its white colored top). Bearing no official name, just a lable affixed to the bottom of the pickguard with the model number 6122, these instruments appear to be Country Gent prototypes. And very few were produced. Three or four have surfaced and all of them have serial numbers in the 23000 range. It’s clear from examining these “White Gents” that Gretsch was developing one of the earliest semi-solid, thin body electric guitars.

The Country Gentleman (numerically designated in Gretsch catalogs as Model PX6122) made its official debut in late 1957, as a 1958 model. While the name “Country Gentleman” could aptly describe Chet Atkins himself, it’s more likely in reference to a song of the same name that Chet originally recorded in 1953. As a high-end model (it was the top of the line in the Chet Atkins series), it was produced in limited numbers. And given the $500 price tage, a substantial sum of money in 1958, it sold in limited numbers (in Gretsch’s electric line, only the White Falcon was more expensive). Produced as a single cutaway from model year 1958 through model year 1961, there’s a simple understated elegance to this version of the Gent. Sporting a closed 17” wide “electrotone” body (with solid bracing and simulated f-holes), Gretsch’s new humbucking pickup (the Ray Butts-designed Filter’Tron), and its trademark metal nameplate on the headstock, the Gent was fairly conservative in its appearance. Its walnut/mahogany stained finish was quite a contrast to the rest of the Grestch line which featured wild colors like Oriental Red, Bordeaux Burgundy, Cadillac Green, Lotus Ivory, Bamboo Yellow, Copper Mist, Spotlight Sparkle silver, Smoke Green, Jaguar Tan, and Amber Red/Orange. From the sophisticated Art-Deco stairstep Grover Imperial tuners, to the ebony fingerboard with the neo-classical position markers, to the exquisitely figured curly maple used to construct many Gents from this period, it’s clear that this is a very fine, high-end instrument. Just look at our beautiful examples from 1959, 1960, and ’61.

By ’61, Gretsch had decided to revamp its line of electric guitars. The single biggest change was the decision to phase out the single cutaway construction in favor or a double cutaway design. The Country Gentleman made this transition in late 1961. Other significant changes included a snap-on back pad for more comfortable playing, and the addition of two felt “string mutes” (one for the bass strings and one for the treble strings) that could be raised or lowered by dialing up the appropriate knob. Still a high quality instrument, the Gent retained the Grover Imperial tuners, dual Filter’Tron picups, and metal nameplate. As with the single cutaway Gent, many of these early double cuts continued to feature beautifully figured maple tops.

In Feburary 1964 the Beatles visited America for the first time. Their appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show” marked the beginning of the “British Invasion” and is touted as “the day popular music in America was changed forever.” By this time George Harrison had been a Gretsch player for several years (his first quality American electric guitar was a Duo Jet) and when he appeared on the Sullivan show playing a 1963 Country Gentleman (with a very dark mahogany stained finish that on television looked black), this marked the beginning of the Country Gent’s rapid rise to the role of cultural icon. It also marked the beginning of a huge increase in the production of the Country Gent and of Gretsch guitars in general. If Gretsch had a rough equivalent to Fender’s Stratocaster in terms of production numbers/volume, the “post Sullivan appearance” 6122 was it. Gretsch sold thousands of Country Gents based on George Harrison’s unofficial “endorsement.” Gretsch couldn’t produce them fast enough and, for quite a while, demand far exceeded supply. Today, even though the single-cutaway Gents are much harder to come by, the ’63 version, with stair-step tuners and “flip-up” string mutes with red felt pads, may well be the most sought-after by collectors.

Like most of Gretsch’s other instruments, the double-cutaway version of the Country Gent went through many changes in its production life, including different pickup configurations, truss-rod systems, tuners, mutes, control knobs, and closed/open f-shaped sound holes (our example from ’67 has a single string mute for all six strings and large button Grover tuners.) There were very few 12-string versions produced, quite possibly only one or two.

This article originally appeared in VG Classics #02 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

1962 Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket
Preamp tubes: two 6SL7, two 6SN7
Output tubes: two 6V6, cathode-biased
Rectifier: 5Y3
Controls: Volume, Tone, Dimension (reverb), Speed, and Intensity (tremolo)
Speakers: Jensen Special Design C12R
Output: approximately 18 watts RMS

In the view of Ampeg main man Everett Hull, rock and roll was not a musical form to which his company desired to cater. As related by the late amp guru Ken Fischer, who worked as an Ampeg engineer long before founding Trainwreck Circuits, Hull felt “rock and roll doesn’t swing – it never will.” What did swing for Hull? Jazz, of course, and the piano and bass-playing Hull himself preferred, therefore, to cast his pearls before the princes of the jazz world – not the swine of rock and roll. For that very reason, and very much by design, Ampeg guitar amps of the 1950s and ’60s were bold, clean, clear, and rich, but they didn’t really grind, bite, or sting unless you really pushed them past their optimal parameters. There was one amp, however – and again, this is a Fischer-certified tip – that fell through the cracks.

Part of the key to the early-’60s R-12-R Reverberocket’s rockability is its pair of 6V6 output tubes. This long-standing Ampeg combo went through several iterations from the late 1950s into the ’70s, and many were made with output tubes that just didn’t want to break up much. We already know, though, that 6V6s give up the goods pretty readily in plenty of other amps, and the rest of the Reverberocket of this era seemed predisposed to go along with it. “That was Everett Hull’s one effort to make an amp a little more Fendery,” Ken told me some years ago, and while it might have helped an Ampeg finally appeal to a more youthful crowd, its playing against type doomed it to an early demise. “You’ve got to keep in mind that Everett Hull hated rock and roll, he hated distortion – even when blues guys would play distortion,” Ken continued. “Amps were not to be distorted. So those R-12-Rs had blue Jensens in them, 6SN7 and 6SL7 octals [preamp tubes], which are always nice, fat-sounding tubes. That amp would be a great indie-rock machine. Ampeg made it for a short while and all the jazz guys were complaining, ‘What’s wrong with the new Reverberockets? They break up too early!’ So Everett Hull converted them back to 7591 [output tubes] because people were complaining. But if they had marketed them as a rock-and-roll amp they probably would have been very successful.”

Fischer’s analysis is fascinating because, the way tastes have shifted, the very same characteristics that made Hull and his jazzer pals denigrate the 6V6-loaded Reverberocket are more likely to make players today dig it. Honestly, you want to play one now, right? Be aware, though, that while Ken called our 1962 Reverberocket an amp that was “a little more Fendery,” in context, he only meant slightly so. As a point of pride, Ampeg never did anything quite like Fender, Gibson, Valco, or any other American maker of the day, and this R-12-R does plenty of things in its own way. The 6V6s are cathode-biased, a la Fender’s tweed Deluxe, but Ampeg adds a little negative feedback to tighten it up a bit, something Fender only did with its fixed-bias amps. The Reverberocket’s tremolo and reverb circuits were also very different from anything Fender ever used… even though, ahem, Fender didn’t have reverb in an amp until the year after this came out. The bias-modulating tremolo circuit is simple and a little weak, but sounds pretty good regardless, something akin to that of Gibson’s smaller amps of the era. Back to the reverb, though, which really lives up to the common acclaim for Ampeg’s watery wonders. The older amps like this often need a little circuit work, perhaps new caps and resistors for those that have shorted or strayed far from spec, and occasionally a replacement for that impressively long spring pan, too, but gotten up and running right, with a fresh couple of 6SN7s to boot, this Ampeg reverb can sound lush and thick, without burying the tonal clarity the way some overly deep reverbs do. Note, in fact, that the Reverberocket’s control panel calls it “Echo” and labels the depth control “Dimension,” which tells you from the outset that this might be something a little special.

In addition, Fender, Gibson, and Valco had all stopped using octal preamp tubes like the 6SL7s and 6SN7s here in the R-12-R nearly a decade before. Combined with the 6V6s’ easy crunch and chewy compression, though, these fat bottles are a big part of the Reverberocket’s magic. Put single coils through it and the Reverberocket retains decent clarity and a crystalline bite up to a usable club volume, then juices up as you roll the Volume on past noon or so. With humbuckers, it gets into bluesy or gritty rock-and-roll territory pretty quickly, though still retains a firm edge that helps keep from flabbing out – for a while, at least. Of course, the vintage Jensen C12R speaker will start to flab out a little in its own right after a point, though should sound glorious in doing so, and just before, but a stouter, more efficient speaker might be worth considering if you want to get maximum gusto out of the circuit here (the four-bolt speaker mounting even lets you easily sub a contemporary Celestion or other speaker with four-hole frame, if that’s your flavor of choice).

This Reverberocket also harks to an earlier age in the looks department, holding on to an aesthetic that was rapidly vanishing at the hands of other makers. The dark-navy vinyl is a little more fun than black, yet still quite serious and businesslike, and the checkerboard pattern adds a little extra flair, too. And with looks and tone admirably covered, it’s an impressively well-built combo, top to tail, too, from the logically laid-out and neatly wired circuit to the fingerjointed solid-wood cabinet and the plywood baffle.

As groovy a little rock-and-roller as this thing is, it’s difficult to pin its use down to any specific non-jazz players, and of course the long list of jazz artists who played its brethren helped drive it out of production alarmingly quickly, so it wasn’t on the shelf for very long. In good shape, though, and with fresh tubes and a lively speaker, the early-’60s Reverberocket still offers a lot of honey-drippin’ tone for not a lot of cash.

This article originally appeared in VG January 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

The Stratocaster was born in 1954. A solidbody with three pickups, contoured back and top, vibrato, and bolt-on neck, it was different. And it changed the way people looked at, thought of, heard, and played guitar. With the exception of opera and classical music, it has played a considerable role in modern music.

Over the years, the instrument has evolved. Early on, Fender changed materials for the pickguard, pickups, and control knobs, and wood for the body – from ash to alder. In 1959, the company moved from a single-piece maple neck to a capped fingerboard of rosewood. Today, Fender produces more historically-accurate reissues than it does new models, and an interesting feature of the reissues is the array of available finishes. The original Strat was available only in a two-tone sunburst and a transparent blond. From its introduction, customers expressed a desire for something different. “The only custom color would have been special order, it would have been done for a customer. There wasn’t any stock custom color before the late ’50s,” explained George Fullerton, ex-Fender production foreman and the “G” in G&L Music Sales.

Some early custom-color customers included Howard Reed (of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps), who played a black Strat, Eldon Shamblin (with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys) and his gold Strat, and Bill Carson’s Cimmaron Red Strat.

For the average Joe, the wait was over in 1958, when the Fender catalog allowed ordering color as an option. “I kept trying to push this color thing and I couldn’t get anybody interested,” added Fullerton. “I had an idea about a color I thought would be neat, and I went to a paint store and had [it] mixed. I worked with the man in the paint store, we added different things to it until I got the color I wanted. I had this guitar sprayed with it and I thought it turned out really neat. All the people at the sales office laughed at it and said, “Who would want a red guitar?” We did make a few of them and put them out into the field and, boy, they caught on like wildfire. Matter of fact, the people in England liked them so well, that’s about the only thing they would order for a long time. Around the factory, they dubbed it ‘Fullerton Red’ for quite a while, because there wasn’t any name for it. When they finally manufactured the color, they called it Fiesta Red, but, if I had known how popular it was going to be, they could have used my name.”

The paint of choice became DuPont Duco automotive paints – the standard in automotive paint, which meant anyone, with a stop at a local auto-body shop, could touch up or even refinish an instrument if necessary.

Custom colors were available in the late ‘50s but they really didn’t catch on until the ‘60s, all listed in Fender catalogs. Some, including Olive Drab Metallic (or Metallic Olive Drab) and Coral Pink, did not appear in catalogs and have spurred debate over the authenticity of certain colors.
So, while Leo Fender apparently adapted the Henry Ford axiom to read “Any color as long as it’s sunburst,” many would rather have a Strat in Olympic White, Ice Blue Metallic, Candy Apple Red, or Inca Silver. – Robert W. Watkins

You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.

This article originally appeared in VG Classics No. 1. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was Epiphone’s second-from-the-top electric guitar produced from the late 1940s through the mid ’50s. The instrument went through several name changes, from Zephyr De Luxe Cutaway, in 1948, to Zephyr De Luxe Regent, in 1950, to the DeLuxe Electric, by 1954. In Epiphone nomenclature, the word “Zephyr” indicated “electric” and the word “Regent” indicated “cutaway.” For the sake of clarity the term Zephyr De Luxe Regent will be used in this article to refer to all incarnations of the instrument.

The Zephyr De Luxe Regent had cosmetic appointments generally similar to the Epiphone De Luxe Regent, which was its acoustic cousin. However, the Zephyr De Luxe Regent did not share the same construction techniques with the carved top acoustic De Luxe Regent; the electric variation had a laminated (plywood) body. Epiphone utilized laminates in an effort to reduce troublesome feedback. The outer ply on the rims and the back of the 17 1/8” body often featured flamed or birdseye maple and the top was faced with spruce.

The curly maple neck of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent was fitted with a rosewood figerboard inlaid with a pearl and abalone “split V-block” design. Prior to 1951, truss rod adjustment was at the body end of the neck and subsequently on the headstock, with a white plastic truss rod cover. The headstock was inlaid with the Epiphone name and a vine pattern often referred to as the “tree of life” and was equipped with Epiphone’s exclusive “16 to 1 ratio enclosed tuners.” These tuning machines had plastic pearloid buttons and the enclosed backs were stamped with the Epiphone “E” logo. Other features included multi-ply binding on the body and headstock. The neck was bound with single-ply binding and featured parallel white stripes inlaid approximately 1/8” from either edge of the fingerboard. The f-shaped sound holes were not bound. The tortoise shell celluloid pickguard with multiple bindings was secured to the body with a bent metal support and a small metal cleat which was attached to the side of the neck. The Frequensator tailpiece secured the strings which then passed over a rosewood bridge. All metal parts were plated with gold. The instrument was available either in a natural blond finish or in a golden brown sunburst.

Like the name of the instrument, there were minor cosmetic changes over the years, but they were not always consistent. The period between 1953 and ’56 (approximately) saw the Zephyr De Luxe Regent sometimes featuring a maple-faced to and sometimes spruce. Likewise, the fingerboard inlay was sometimes the split V-block and sometimes pearl “clouds” (which was the inlay pattern on the acoustic version), and the headstock sometimes had the tree of life and sometimes had a large flower (used on the ’50s Broadway acoustic and some ’50s De Luxe acoustics). These variations have been seen in all combinations and there seems to be no logical pattern to them.

The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was equipped with two pickups, though there were some single-pickup cutaway instruments produced. The 1948 literature introduced the new “Tone Spectrum” pickup, which was a single-coil model with adjustable polepieces, approximately 1 ½” by 3 ¼”, encased in cream-colored plastic. The pickups were controlled by a single Volume and “Mastervoicer” Tone controls mounted on round aluminum plates perpendicular to the strings in the lower treble bout. Pickup select was accomplished with a three-way slider switch mounted on a gold-plated metal base. In 1949, the Tone Spectrum pickup was enclosed in a metal case with a cream-colored plastic surround. This pickup was approximately the size of a humbucker.

In 1950, the Mastervoicer mounting plates were discontinued and the contols were installed in a line parallel to the strings. Control knobs were the familiar octagonal pointer knobs in white plastic. The other important change of this year was the redesign of the Tone Spectrum pickup, which then measured 1 1/8”, by 3 ½”. This is commonly referred to as the “New York” pickup, though that term was never used in company literature. By 1951, the Volume and Tone controls were angled away from the strings. Some Epiphones were equipped with DeArmond pickups between 1954 and ’56, though the Tone Spectrum pickup was specified for the Zephyr De Luxe Regent in all company literature.

This is a very collectible guitar – a full-body cutaway electric with aesthetically pleasing ornamentation. However, as a “performance guitar,” certain features leave a bit to be desired. The most commonly Zephyr De Luxe Regents are from the ’50s, and equipped with the smaller Tone Spectrum (New York) pickups. These pickups can vary in tonal quality; many produce a rather thin sound and are subject to feedback when amplified much beyond that comfortable in a small room. It often takes a great deal of experimentation with the controls on an amplifier to get an acceptable sound. The pre-1950 models with the larger pickups tend to have a fuller range of response, with plenty of bass and a much more pleasing sound, though feedback can still be a problem. The most noted modern player of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent, Duke Robillard, had Gibson mini-humbucking pickups installed in his, with wonderful results, though such a modification cannot be recommended due to the negative result in vintage value of the instrument.

Circa 1953, the neck coutour of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent, as on most Epiphone instruments, changed somewhat to a fuller, rounder shape. Prior, the shape was a slight V and not as full.

The Zephyr De Luxe Regent is a wonderful example of the meticulous craftsmanship and beauty produced by the Epiphone employees. Given an understanding of the shortcomings of its pickups, this can be a fabulous addition to any vintage instrument collection.

The matching Zephyr amplifier was housed in a maple-faced plywood cabinet. A single-channel amp, it had three inputs, optional vibrato, a 12” speaker, and produced 20 watts of output.

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This article originally appeared in VG Classics #02 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

What makes these two Martins remarkable is not necessarily their rarity or historical importance, though both would be welcome additions to any serious collection.

Martin has offered sunburst finishes as an option since the 1930s.The earliest Martin catalog reference is a 1932 C-1 archtop with a “top shaded golden brown;” sunburst R-series archtops and dreadnoughts followed in 1933 and ’34, respectively. It was also a popular finish on Martin’s O-18H and 00-40H Hawaiian guitars during this period.

Over the years, however, most Martins have been finished in clear nitrocellulose lacquer, which ages to a mellow golden color. So the occasional sunburst has always been something of a rarity and a special treat.

Sunbursting is truly an individual art, the most spectacular examples have a subtlety – a delicate blending of colors – that only comes from years of practice. To my knowledge, Martin sunbursts have always been two-tone, either tobacco (natural to brown or black) or, more recently, cherry (natural to red). But in the hands of a master airbrush artist, you’d swear the finishes are three- or even four-tone. Martin sunburst finishes exist in just about every imaginable shade and hue – yellow, amber, brown, black, gold, red, light, dark, medium, and on and on.

In the ’60s, even Martin’s F-series acoustic, electrics featured a unique “shaded honey maple” top, with a natural center and caramel color feathering.

Surprisingly, many feel sunburst finishes are used primarily to hide poor materials or sloppy workmanship. That may be the case with other companies, but not Martin. Their sunburst finishes re, for the most part, translucent so there’s not much top area to “hide” anything. Certainly, a top that is less than perfect, cosmetically, would benefit from sunbursting, but Martin grades its top wood by model, with the most expensive receiving higher-grade wood.

This article originally appeared in Vintage Guitar Classics No. 2 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.