Guitaripedia

Every guitar has a story.

Gretsch

Country Gentleman

Chet Atkins asked for a guitar without the cowboy flash. On Ed Sullivan, it didn’t even show its color.

RCA Studio B, 6 March 1958. The Everly Brothers are recording “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” and Chet Atkins hands Don and Phil two new Gretsch Country Gentlemen from the very first batch. The guitar has Chet’s name on it, and unlike his first Gretsch, it’s built the way he asked.

Introduced
1957
Type
Hollowbody electric
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

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Vintage 1964 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman in walnut, isolated catalog photo: double-cut, simulated f-holes, gold Filter’Trons, Bigsby, mute pads. Not a 1957 single-cut first batch and not a current Japan Players Edition.
Gretsch Country Gentleman 1964, 6122 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. Photo by matanao. Public domain (PD-self). Via Wikimedia Commons.Owner photograph of a 1964 double-cut 6122 (walnut, simulated f-holes, mutes). Not a 1957–61 single-cut first-run Gent and not a current Japan Players Edition.

The short version

  1. 1953

    The tune

    Chet records an instrumental called “Country Gentleman.” It was also his nickname.

  2. 1957

    The first fifty

    The first batch of 50 is built in the autumn, launched as a 1958 model.

  3. 1958

    A gift to the Everlys

    On 6 March, Chet gives Don and Phil two first-batch Gents at RCA Studio B.

  4. 1961

    Double-cut

    Late in the year the Gent gets two cutaways, a padded back, and built-in string mutes.

  5. 1963

    George’s Gents

    Harrison gets one in London in the spring and a second in October.

  6. 1964

    Ed Sullivan

    Three February broadcasts. On black-and-white TV, the walnut looks almost black.

  7. 1981

    The name goes

    Chet has taken his name to Gibson, and Gretsch stops making the Gent.

  8. 2007

    The name comes home

    Gretsch gets the Chet Atkins names back, in 2006 or 2007.

Side A

A1

No cowboy stuff

Chet Atkins already had a Gretsch with his name on it, the orange 6120, and it wasn’t quite what he wanted. It had Western trim all over it, and he didn’t care for the flash. Its DeArmond pickups hummed, and he didn’t care for the noise either. He was a working studio guitarist. He wanted a tool.

So Gretsch, the Brooklyn company that had signed him, built him one. It’s the top of the Chet line and the one he had the most hand in. Even the name is his. He’d recorded an instrumental called “Country Gentleman” back in 1953, and people called him that too.

It’s a funny thing about the guitar a player asks for. It’s almost always plainer than the one a company wants to sell him.

A2

A sealed box with fake holes

The Gent is a big guitar, 17 inches across, but thin. How thin depends on who’s holding the ruler; the measurements run from two inches to nearly three. It came in a brown walnut stain with gold hardware, dressed for a job interview.

Look closely at the f-holes. They’re fake. The top is sealed, so the body doesn’t howl with feedback when you turn up. On the first batch the holes are thin black plastic inserts, and later they’re painted on. A few guitars from around 1960 and 1961 have real holes, but don’t go looking for a clean date when Gretsch switched. There wasn’t one. Because you can’t reach inside a sealed body, the serial number went on a nameplate on the headstock.

The pickups were the other fix. From the first batch on, the Gent had Filter’Trons, Gretsch’s humbuckers, which cancel the hum Chet disliked. It was the first Chet Atkins Gretsch to get them.

Chet asked for no flash and no hum. Gretsch took him at his word.

The first fifty were built in the autumn of 1957 and sold as a 1958 model. It listed at $500, or $525, depending on who you ask. In Gretsch’s electric line, only the White Falcon cost more.

A3

The one on the records

Asked about it years later, Chet said he used the Country Gentleman on his records “continually,” and the 6120 “once in a while.” That’s about as clear as a player gets.

He also gave them away. In March 1958 he handed Don and Phil Everly two first-batch Gents at RCA Studio B, in the middle of the session for “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” Imagine being handed a guitar by the man it’s named after.

Late in 1961 the Gent went double-cut, with a padded back and built-in string mutes you could swing against the strings for a dampened, plucky sound. That’s the shape most people picture. It is also the shape that was about to get very famous.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • 50

    Guitars in the first batch, autumn 1957.

  • $500

    Original list price, or $525, depending on the source. Only the White Falcon cost more.

  • 2

    Country Gentlemen George Harrison got in 1963.

  • 3

    Ed Sullivan shows in February 1964. The Gent tied to Sullivan is his second one, from October 1963.

Side B

B1

Two Gents for George

In the spring of 1963, George Harrison bought his first Country Gentleman at Sound City in London. It’s the guitar tied to “She Loves You,” recorded that July. At some point it was damaged. In October he got a second one, with flip-up mutes. It quickly became his main guitar.

Keep your Harrison Gretsches straight. His 1957 Duo Jet is a different guitar. His Tennessean is a different guitar, too. And where the two Gents ended up afterward is a story with more than one version, so I won’t pick one.

B2

Nearly black

In February 1964 the Beatles were on The Ed Sullivan Show three times, on the 9th, the 16th, and the 23rd. Harrison had the second Gent. On black-and-white television, that walnut finish came out looking nearly black.

Chet eventually moved on. Around 1980 he withdrew his name from Gretsch and went to Gibson, which made its own Country Gentleman. That’s a different guitar, so don’t read every late photo of Chet as a Gretsch. Gretsch stopped making the Gent in 1981, got the Chet names back in 2006 or 2007, and now builds several versions in Japan. None of them is a 1957 first-batch single-cut.

But think about those three Sunday nights. The guitar that Chet wanted without the cowboy trim turned up on a black-and-white screen without even its color. No flash at all. Just a plain dark guitar and a young man playing it, which is all Chet ever asked it to be.

Put this on

You’ve read about it. Now hear it. Here’s what this guitar sounds like, and what to listen for.

  1. The Beatles · 1963

    She Loves You

    Harrison’s first Gent, bought in London that spring, is tied to this July 1963 session.

    Find it on YouTube

  2. The Beatles · 1964

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    The second Gent, the one with flip-up mutes. The walnut finish reads as nearly black on the broadcast.

    Watch it on YouTube

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 1957

    Chet Atkins

    Namesake

    Had more say in this Gretsch than in any before it, and said he used it on records “continually.”

  • 1958

    Don & Phil Everly

    Two first-batch Gents

    A gift from Chet, during the “All I Have to Do Is Dream” session.

  • 1963

    George Harrison

    Two double-cut Gents

    The first from Sound City in London, the second in October. The second is the Ed Sullivan guitar.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

If you want a new Country Gentleman, say which one. Gretsch is shipping a Players Edition, a ’59 clone, and a ’62 clone — and none of them is a 1957 first-batch single-cut.

Body
Laminated maple hollow double-cut, 17"-class, 2" deep, parallel bracing; simulated f-holes
Neck
Set maple “U”
Fingerboard
12" ebony, 22 medium-jumbo, neo-classic thumbnails, Luminlay side dots
Scale
25.5"
Pickups
FT-67 Filter’Trons
Hardware
Adjusto-Matic on pinned ebony; string-thru Bigsby B6GP; Grover Imperial locking; gold
Electronics
Two volumes, master volume with treble bleed, no-load master tone
Finish
Gloss, Walnut Stain
Nut
TUSQ XL, 1.6875"
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Current typical player spec: G6122TG Players Edition Country Gentleman. Parallel current SKUs — G6122T-59 Vintage Select ’59 and G6122T-62 Vintage Select ’62 — are year-clones. They are not this table. Factory PE table omits width; 17" is vintage identity + the included 17" G6242L case.

Construction

Gretsch 6122 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman: 17"-class hollow archtop, walnut/mahogany-grained stain, gold hardware, simulated f-holes on a sealed (“Electrotone”) top, Filter’Trons from the first batch. Not a 6120.

Keep the neighbors straight. 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body is 16"-class, orange/Western, open f-holes on the classic single-cuts, 24.6"-class scale. Full Western 6120 stories stay on that plate. White Falcon 6136 is 17" white/gold, 25.5" scale, open holes as identity. Country Club is another 17" hollow. 6119 Tennessean is the cheaper Atkins hollow. 6121 is the Atkins “solidbody” (chambered Jet-class). Duo Jet 6128 is chambered mahogany, not this guitar. Gibson’s later Country Gentleman (Chet’s 1980s–2000s Gibson line) is not a Gretsch 6122.

Vintage Guitar (Edward Ball / Country Gent #1): Atkins disliked 6120 Western flash and DeArmond noise; the 6122 is the Atkins-input top of the Chet line. Official debut late 1957 as a 1958 model. First batch autumn 1957, 50 guitars, SN 26400–26449 (Vintage Guitar; Guitar World). Catalog PX6122. Current professional 6122-shaped guitars are Japan Professional Collection unless a SKU is USA Custom Shop. Confirm factory on a given guitar.

Vintage identity. Laminated maple, 17" wide. Depth is not one number: guitarhq intro 2"; Vintage Guitar first-batch 2.25"; Everly-brothers Vintage Guitar piece and Jay Scott (quoted by Fretted Americana) 2 3/4". Attribute; measure the guitar. Current PE and ’62 VS: 2". Current ’59 VS: 2.25".

Scale is the other trap. guitarhq intro: 24 1/4", metal nut. Vintage Guitar on the Everlys: 24 1/2". Current G6122TG and G6122T-59: 25.5". Current G6122T-62: 24.6". Do not back-copy 25.5" onto every 1957–61 Gent. Chet-favored long-scale / 1.75" nut examples exist (Vintage Guitar on prototype #1; Cream City on the old G6122-1959 recreation). Date the guitar.

F-holes. Sealed top to cut feedback. First-batch: thin black plastic inserts (Vintage Guitar). Later: painted/decals. guitarhq: simulated paint as the intro spec, “varies on models up to 1961”; some early plastic; “also some have open f-holes.” Stephen Stern (MusicRadar): imitation holes first, real holes around 1960. Bluebook: a few 1960–61 open-hole Gents, probably special order. Do not write a clean factory switch. Baldwin-era 7670 (guitarhq 1971, open “F” holes) is not a 1958 Gent.

Filter’Trons from day one on this model — the first Atkins Gretsch so fitted (Guitar World; MusicRadar / Stern). Dual Filter’Trons through the single-cut years. guitarhq 1964: Super’Tron + Filter’Tron. Dual Filter’Trons return 1970 (guitarhq). Do not put DeArmond Dynasonics on a stock 6122.

guitarhq year map (late 1957 intro): single-cut; nameplate on peghead (serial lives there because the body is sealed); stairstep Grovers; gold hardware except the Bigsby; signpost pickguard. 1959: signpost off; zero fret; bone nut; Gretsch “V” Bigsby. Late 1961: double-cut, padded back, double mute, standby switch. 1962: gold-plated Gretsch Bigsby. 1963: smaller lever mutes (Harrison’s second Gent). 1965: non-stairstep buttons; serial off the nameplate onto the back of the neck. 1966: single mute. 1971: 7670; Adjustamatic; no mute; no nameplate. Discontinued 1981 (guitarhq). Early-’80s leftover Southern Belle 7176 (Guitar World) is not a 6122 SKU. Atkins withdrew the name and went to Gibson around 1980 (Reverb / Bacon; Wikipedia). Gretsch got the Chet names back after 2006–07 (Reverb).

Current Japan line is three 6122s, not one spec. G6122TG Players Edition is the table above: double-cut, 2", 25.5", parallel bracing, urethane/gloss, FT-67s, string-thru Bigsby, simulated holes, $3,099.99 street. G6122T-59 Vintage Select (’59 single-cut clone): 2.25", 25.5", 1.75" bone nut, nitro, TV Jones Super’Tron + Filter’Tron Classic Plus on the factory sheet — that Super’Tron is not a 1959 dual-Filter’Tron recreation; 1959 stock is dual Filter’Trons (guitarhq Super’Tron = 1964). G6122T-62 Vintage Select (’62 double-cut clone): 2", 24.6", TV Jones Filter’Tron Classic, rocking bar, Bigsby B6G, urethane, $3,799.99. A 12-string Gent is a sibling SKU when catalogued (Guitar World 2021 still listed G6122-6212); it is not this table. Japan Professional / Vintage Select Gents are not Brooklyn 6122s.

Players

Chet Atkins — namesake. More design input here than on the 6120 (Vintage Guitar; Guitar World). MusicRadar quotes Atkins to Stern (1995): he used the Country Gentleman on records “continually,” the 6120 “once in a while.” Name: Vintage Guitar prefers the 1953 Atkins instrumental “Country Gentleman”; Atkins also wore the nickname. Do not treat every late-career Atkins photo as a Gretsch 6122 — Gibson Gents exist.

George Harrison — two early-’60s double-cut 6122s. Official Gretsch (2014): first Gent from Sound City, London, spring 1963 (screw-down mutes); She Loves You (July 1963); damaged. Second Gent, October 1963, flip-up mutes; “quickly became his prime instrument” (Tony Bacon via Gretsch). The Ed Sullivan Show, 9 / 16 / 23 February 1964 — the walnut finish “appeared nearly black” on black-and-white TV (Peter Stuart Kohman, Vintage Guitar, March 2014, via Gretsch). Later whereabouts conflict (Babiuk / Fourmost gift vs later studio stories). Market factor. Never a price for ordinary 6122s. Harrison’s 1957 Duo Jet is a different guitar.

Don and Phil Everly — first-batch 6122s SN 26433 and 26446. Vintage Guitar: Atkins gifted them 6 March 1958 during the “All I Have to Do Is Dream” session at RCA Studio B.

Do not dump 6120 players here. Eddie Cochran, Duane Eddy, Brian Setzer’s Stray Cats guitar, Pete Townshend Who’s Next — those are 6120s. Malcolm Young is a 1963 Jet Firebird. Stephen Stills / Billy Duffy / Neil Young White Falcon stories stay on Falcon. John Lennon late-Beatles electric is the Casino, not a Gent.

Rarity

Modern Japan Professional / Vintage Select Gents are regular production. Not rare.

Vintage: factory yearly 6122 totals unpublished. Serials are shared across Gretsch models. Do not treat serial ranges as Gent counts. First-batch 50 (26400–26449) is the one sourced opening figure. 1957–61 single-cuts are the scarce sealed-body object. Late-1961/62+ double-cuts (Harrison silhouette) are the commoner vintage Gent. Baldwin/Booneville 7670 is a lower collector rung. Binding rot and neck-angle issues are endemic Gretsch, as on the 6120. Originality of Filter’Trons vs Super’Tron, mutes, Bigsby, nameplate, and whether the f-holes are plastic / paint / open drives value more than “it’s a Country Gentleman.”

Value

Informal estimate, 25 August 2026. Not an appraisal.

Factory yearly totals unpublished. No 2024–26 Heritage/Carter/Dave’s hammer for a clean 1950s–60s 6122 was captured. Prefer labeled asks over invented medians. Japan reissues are not Brooklyn 6122s. Harrison’s two Gents are not comps. A Gibson Country Gentleman is not a 6122 comparable.

New street. G6122TG Players Edition about $3,100 (manufacturer est. U.S. street $3,099.99). G6122T-59 and G6122T-62 Vintage Select $3,799.99 each (manufacturer). Japan Professional, not a 1957 Gent.

Used modern. Sold comps are thin; this is listings, not a sold average. No Reverb guide number captured. Expect used PE examples to trade below the ~$3,100 street. Do not invent a used-VS median.

Vintage / collectible. Original list $500 (Vintage Guitar Country Gentleman feature) vs $525 (Vintage Guitar 1962 custom; Jay Scott via Fretted Americana). Flag both; only the White Falcon sat above it in the electric line (Vintage Guitar). Asks, not hammers: Guitar Broker / Sweetwater Gear Exchange 1958 first-year $8,995 (listed ~April 2026). Stevie’s Guitars 1958 Walnut $9,999 (was $11,399). Watchtower Guitars 1959 $10,995, sold out — ask that left the shop, not a hammer. Gary’s Classic Guitars 1963 “Harrison features” $8,995. DTown Guitars 1963 $6,000 — pickup routes opened for humbuckers, originals back in; not a clean stock comp. Single-cut late-’50s asks sit above ordinary double-cut ’63s in this thin sample. Condition, binding, and mute/pickup originality swing it hard.

See also

  • gretsch-6120 — the 16" Chet hollowbody this guitar is not
  • gretsch-white-falcon — 17" white/gold, not a walnut Gent
  • gretsch-duo-jet — Harrison’s other Gretsch, chambered “solid body”
  • gretsch-tennessean — 6119 Chet hollow; not this 6122

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.