The Gretsch G6131, popularly known as the Gretsch Jet Firebird, is an

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 ...

made 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 ...

. The most popular use of this guitar is by late

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rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

ist

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and

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lead singer and

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co-frontman

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

History

The G6131 was released shortly after the Duo Jet and Silver Jet were issued. The early Jet Firebirds had two

DeArmond Rowe Industries was a manufacturer of guitar pickups and other music-related devices, as well as electrical components utilized in the aerospace industry into the 1980s. Owner Horace "Bud" Rowe established a working relationship with budding el ...

single coil pickup A single-coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. Single-coil pickups are one of the two most po ...

s and block fret-markers. In the end of the 1950s decade, the guitars had Neo-Classic Thumbnail fret-markers and two

Filtertron humbucking pickups. In 1962, however, they became double cutaway guitars with gold hardware rather than chrome. Also, instead of the standard vibratos of the earlier age, there were Burns tremolos. Then, in 1968 the Bigsbys were optional with the guitars, and instead of the Filtertrons, there were Super-trons added on it. This lasted until 1971, when Gretsch decided to switch back to the original single cut models.

Variations

There are many different versions of this guitar, such as: * G6131T — Single cut model with dual Filtertrons; standard model * G6131TDS — Single cut with DynaSonic pickups * G6131TVP — Power Jet with dual

TV Jones TV Jones is an American guitar pickup manufacturer founded in 1993 by luthier Thomas V. Jones in Whittier, California. Now based in Poulsbo, Washington, the company is best known for creating vintage-style Filter'Tron pickups, using materials a ...

Powertron pickups; with Gretsch tailpiece * G6131T-TVP — Power Jet with dual TV Jones Powertron pickups; with Bigsby, Only Current Firebird in production as of 2015. * G6131MY — Signature Model for

with optional single or dual Filtertrons; double cutaway; released in 2008 and reissued in 2017; based on Young’s modified 1963 Jet Firebird * G6131-1962 — Double Cutaway with two Filtertrons; Discontinued in 1971; Burns vibrato

References

External links

* http://www.gretschguitars.com/ {{Gretsch G6131