Celebrating Seventy-Five Years Of The Company's Founding.

1959 Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary Model.

This original "Two-Tone Smoke Green" 6118 Double Anniversary weighs just 6.70 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Double-bound on top and single-bound on bottom laminated maple body with two unbound f-holes. Medium to thick profile maple neck, and ebony fretboard with 21 original thin frets and neoclassic inlaid pearl half-moon (thumbprint) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo and "Anniversary Model" plaque. Individual Grover StaTite open-back tuners with oval metal buttons. Two Gretsch 'Pat Applied For' Filter'Tron humbucking pickups with silver iucite surrounds and outputs of 4.17k and 4.13k. Green Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in relief in white. Two volume controls + one master volume control on treble side, one three-way pickup selector switch and one three-way tone selector switch on bass side. Chrome-plated "Arrow-through-G" control knobs with knurled sides. Gretsch 'Roller' bridge on ebony base and Gretsch tailpiece with "G" cutout secured to side of body with three screws. Inside the bass f-hole is the original rectangular white, gray and orange label with serial no. "34340" typed in black. The original frets show some playing wear - but this is mostly confined to the first three frets. There is also some minor playing wear to the fretboard (first two frets only). The original pickguard has been neatly repaired (there is a spare reproduction pickguard in the case). Overall this fine guitar is in exceptionally fine(9.00) condition with just a few very small and insignificant surface marks/indentations on the body. The back of the neck shows some slight surface loss due to playing wear which again is confined to the first four frets. Original Gretsch five-latch, two-tone gray shaped hardshell case with maroon plush lining (8.75).

"In 1958 Gretsch marked the 75th anniversary of the company's founding with a pair of special Anniversary model guitars. These were offered in one- and two-pickup versions that have since been nicknamed as the Single Anniversary and Double Anniversary models. Remarkably, they lasted in the Gretsch catalog until as late as 1977" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, p. 172).

"The revolutionary year 1958 saw dynamic electronic and cosmetic innovation in Gretsch electrics. At the same time, the company issued new models to capture more of both the high-end and less-expensive, utility or student market. To this latter end, four affordable models were issued to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the company in 1883...it saw fit to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee by debuting four low-rent -- although they were long-lived since they survived from '58 to the late-1970s -- Anniversary models: the sunburst-finished, one pickup Model 6124; two pickup, sunburst-finished Model 6117; the one pickup Model 6125 in two-tone Smoke Green finish and two pickup Model 6118 in the same two-tone motif. In 1958, the single Patent Applied For Filter'Tron-equipped 6124 and 6125 cost $198 while the twin-pickup models were $285...The 16-inch-wide, 2 1/2-inch-deep, true (unbound) f-hole, all-maple-bodied archtops utilize a 24 1/2-inch scale and have an interior wooden center strut that runs from the top to the back as on the Model 6120. This support ensures rigidity of the top and also forms a platform on which the PAF(s) sit... All Anniversary models changed little -- a Tone-Twister here, a two-tone Tan variation there -- in the decade since their introduction in 1958 including the price" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 205-211).