Gretsch 7660 Chet Atkins Nashville

This 7660 is a very fine example of a Baldwin era Arkansas Gretsch - this has a nice deep hollow body and a nice balance. At 3.7kg (a touch over 8lbs), it is quite weighty for a Nashville, but perfectly balanced - a bit more maple on a deeper body. The deep orange finish is amazing - just a few polishing marks and little to demonstrate 51 years of life - you will have to hold it up to the light to see the imperfections. At a fraction under 3 inches deep at the f-hole this is one of the sought after versions. This is on its original frets and there are signs of minor wear on the lower few frets, but it does not affect playability in any way. The neck profile is thin enough to achieve some Setzer speed but not skinny. The nut is 43mm, and 48mm at the 12th fret.

Unlike a few of these 7660 models, this one is intonated perfectly and the action can be varied to suit you. It currently has a low action for a fast light touch Setzer style, but I had it up 1 mm to suit my fat fingered slow style and it performed equally as well.

All the famous sounds are there - the tone filter is actually very useful, and with the 2 independent volume controlled pick-ups, an enormous array of tones are available. The Bigsby behaves itself - no sliding around and keeps tune admirably. To get the best out of these, you need to get familiar with the controls, they are not one-trick ponies. Have a listen to the video to hear it in action.

It comes with a non-original Gretsch case - still a Gretsch case, but not specifically for this model.

Unless you go right to the top of the range and have Tom Jones or Stephen Stern breathe some magic on it, a new Gretsch wouldn't make you smile like this one does. It's an absolute cracker, and not a bad investment. 1960s 6120 models are getting further and further out of reach, this really is a brilliant alternative.