The Gretsch 6128 (Duo Jet) is a chambered solid body

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

which has been manufactured by

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...

since 1953.

Origins

The Duo Jet was first introduced in 1953, after the success of the

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

Goldtop. A difference between the two is that the Duo Jet has a semi-solid body with routed channels and internal pockets instead of a solid body. It is believed that the name Duo Jet was inspired by the fact that the guitar has two pickups (Duo) and by the advanced aircraft of the time (Jet). This was the first Gretsch guitar to feature a

truss rod The truss rod is a component of a guitar or other stringed instrument that stabilizes the lengthwise forward curvature (also called ''relief'') of the neck. Usually, it is a steel bar or rod that runs through the inside of the neck, beneath the fi ...

accessible through the

headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...

, a pickup selection switch on the body, and a master volume on the cutaway.

Construction

As is common with electric guitars, the body of the 6128 Duo Jet is made of wood, in this case chambered mahogany. The guitar shares its dual pickup, single cutaway design with the

, but the Duo Jet takes differing approaches to shaping the instrument’s tonality and has been made available in various configurations. The tone switch versions of the Duo Jet come equipped with Gretsch's

Filter'Tron The Filter'Tron (often written as Filtertron) is an early model of the Humbucking pickup, humbucker guitar pickup invented by Ray Butts.It is often erroneously debated whether the Filter'Tron or Gibson (guitar company), Gibson's PAF (pickup), PAF ...

humbucker A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...

pickup made popular by country music guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

Notable users

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

played a 1957 Duo Jet during

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' early days in Hamburg, and on their first album. Harrison also posed with the guitar for the cover of his 1987 solo album, '' Cloud Nine''. Other notable players of the Duo Jet include

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

, who used one on early

Quadrophenia ''Quadrophenia'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released as a double album on 26 October 1973 by Track Records. It is the group's third rock opera, the previous two being the "mini-opera" song "A Quick One, While ...

era gigs in the UK, and

Chris Cornell Christopher John Cornell ( Boyle; July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017) was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and the primary lyricist for the rock music, rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a ...

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink F ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

owned a 1950s Duo Jet which he used on some of his early work and then again later in his career.

Variations

* G6128 – Filtertron pickups, no Bigsby tailpiece * G6128T – Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6128T-DS – Bigsby and Dynasonic pickups, Rosewood fingerboard, originally based on 1957 version, currently based on 1955 version * G6128-DS – Dynasonic pickups, no bigsby, Rosewood fingerboard * G6128T-DCM – Bigsby and Filtertron pickups, Double Cut-away, Dark Cherry Metallic, Ebony Fretboard * G6128-1962 – Double cutaway version of the Duo Jet, equipped with Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6128T59 – Bigsby and TV Jones classic pickups (Vintage Select '59 Duo Jet edition) * G6128TCG – Bigsby and Dynasonic pickups, in a Cadillac Green finish with Gold hardware * G6128TVP – aka the "Power Jet" Pickups are upgraded to TV Jones Power'Trons * G6128T-TVP – Bigsby equipped version of the Power Jet * G6128T 6 12 – Double-necked six- and twelve-string guitar with 4 Filtertron pickups. * G6128T-GH – Custom shop and standard versions of George Harrison's Duo Jet. The custom shop version is designed and built to appear like George Harrison's original appears today. Standard version has the color scheme of Harrison's guitar and features his signature on truss-rod cover. Both versions include all black body and moved bottom strap pin. * G6128T-CLFG - Cliff Gallup Signature Duo Jet. Cliff Gallup kept his guitar stock, so this version is essentially a custom shop replica of a '54 Duo Jet. * G6128B - "Thunder Jet" bass version with TV Jones Thunder'Tron pickups

Other versions

"Silver Jet" * G6129 – topped with silver sparkle drum material. Same features as the standard G6128 Duo Jet * G6129T – equipped with Bigsby * G6129-1957 – Rosewood finger board, Dynasonic pickups, and no Bigsby * G6219T-1957 – Rosewood finger board, Dyansonic pickups, with Bigsby * G6219T-1962 – Double cutaway version, with Bigsby and Filtertrons "Round Up" * G6130 – Orange stain, leather bound with western motif carved into the leather, G Branded body, Dynasonic pickups, gold hardware, Rosewood fretboard, no Bigsby "Jet Firebird" * G6131 – Duo Jet in Fire Red finish, with Filtertrons, no Bigsby * G6131T – Fire Red, with Bigsby and Filtertron pickups * G6131TVP – "Power Jet" version with TV Jones Power'Tron pickups, pinned bridge, Schaller strap locks * G6131T-TVP – "Power Jet" version with TV Jones Power'Tron pickups, pinned bridge, Sperzel locking tuners, Schaller strap locks, and a Bigsby tailpiece

Rock Band controller

A replica of George Harrison's Duo Jet is the basis for a guitar controller for '' The Beatles: Rock Band''.

References

External links

*G6128T Duo Jet at Zuitar Guitar DataBase {{Gretsch 6128 Semi-acoustic guitars