A Very Rare 1961 Model 6113.

1961 Gretsch Model 6113.

This super-rare Model 6113 has a 15 3/4-inch-wide, 2 1/4 inch-thick body and weighs just 6.60 lbs. Double-bound (white and black) maple body with two painted-on f-holes (with no white border). Three-piece maple/ebony/maple neck with a nut width of just over 1 1/16 inches, a short scale length of 24 1/2 inches and a medium profile. Unbound rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium-to-small frets and neo-classic inlaid pearloid thumbprint (half-moon) position markers. Black-finished headstock with inlaid pearl Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover secured by three screws. Serial number "41975" impressed into the top edge of the headstock. Individual Grover StaTite tuners with cloverleaf metal buttons. Two Gretsch Hi-Lo'Tron (humbucker) pickups with silver plastic surrounds and outputs of 2.81k and 2.87k. Silver-gray Lucite pickguard with Gretsch "T-roof" logo in black. Three controls (two volume on lower treble bout and one master volume on cutaway bout) plus two three-way tone selector switches on upper bass bout. Chrome "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Gretsch "bar" bridge on ebony base and aluminum V-cutout Bigsby ("Gretsch by Bigsby") vibrato tailpiece. This rare guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with the absolute bare minimum of belt buckle wear on the back of the body, a few tiny marks on the edges (including one small ding on the edge of the treble horn), and a tiny amount of playing wear on the back of the neck. There were less than 200 made of the 6113 with the thicker body (2 1/4 inches deep) no standby switch and no reference to Chet Atkins. Housed in the original Gretsch silver gray hardshell case with five latches and purple velvet lining (8.75).

"The 6113 is a little-known footnote in Tennesseean history, with more than slightly hazy origins... As the 6119 Tennessean was transitioning from the early, single-pickup version to the Electrotone-bodied version in the early 60s, there was apparently some movement at Gretsch HQ to drop the 6119 and instead offer an all-new 6113 model. This reportedly created a bit of kefluffle with Chet Atkins regarding royalties, so the 6113 was shelved and the twin-pickup 6119 Tennessean we know and love picked up where the stillborn 6113 left off. Very, very few 6113 models escaped the factory, but they are out there, confounding Tennessean fans." (Gretschpages.com)

Ed Ball (the author of several fine books on Gretsch guitars) has researched this very rare 'intermediate' model and has confirmed that the first generation of 6113s were produced in 1961 at batch #419XX (100 units) without any reference to Chet's endorsement. Another batch was produced at #421XX (a mixed batch with maybe just 50 Model 6113 guitars). The (apparent) final batch of these occurs at #426XX and is probably a smaller 50 unit group. More than one of these has been found with the "6113" indicator on both it's warrantee certificate and OK card.

We made a Phil X video of this guitar several years ago - you can watch it at the following link:

http://www.frettedamericana.com/video/1961-gretsch-6119-chet-atkins-tennessean-dark-cherry-walnut-900-603

We originally thought that it was a model 6119 'Chet Atkins' Tennessean - that is how Phil X describes it - but now that this new information has come to light we thought that we should share it with our audience…