Anyone I.D. this Gretsch?

[screefer]

https://static01.nyt.com/images/201...4caiola-obit-1-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp

This page..
https://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2016/11/al-caiola-one-of-new-york-cities-most.html..
..IDs it as a Chet Atkins g6210DSW but it is not.

I was researching Luther Perkin's take on "Bonanza" and came across this fellow Al Caiola, the "eastcoast Tommy Tedesco" who played the original. I've been googling for Als guitar model with no luck so I turn to to the learned folks here?

 

[wacolo]

This ad refers to this as a Country Club. The model in the pic looks pretty close.

 

[screefer]

The model in the pic looks pretty close.

I think you're right! Thanks

I had found this.. http://gretschpages.com/forum/garage-sale/al-caiolas-country-club-on-reverb/60229/page1/
but there is only one switch on the upper bout.

What would the extra switch control?

 

[ndcaster]

https://static01.nyt.com/images/201...4caiola-obit-1-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp

This page..
https://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2016/11/al-caiola-one-of-new-york-cities-most.html..
..IDs it as a Chet Atkins g6210DSW but it is not.

I was researching Luther Perkin's take on "Bonanza" and came across this fellow Al Caiola, the "eastcoast Tommy Tedesco" who played the original. I've been googling for Als guitar model with no luck so I turn to to the learned folks here?

that's a typo

it should be 6120DSW

and it's a post-1960 model, ie with HiLoTron (low output) pickups

 

[ndcaster]

I think you're right! Thanks

I had found this.. http://gretschpages.com/forum/garage-sale/al-caiolas-country-club-on-reverb/60229/page1/
but there is only one switch on the upper bout.

What would the extra switch control?

one is a three-way, and the second is a "tone switch," affectionately known as the "mud" switch:

http://alexplorer.net/guitar/mods/toneswitch.html

from a non-engaged middle position, it it toggles between two cap values

 

[screefer]

Thanks guys.
It's great to start on one search (bonanza by Perkins) and end up learning such cool stuff.

 

[JL_LI]

one is a three-way, and the second is a "tone switch," affectionately known as the "mud" switch:

http://alexplorer.net/guitar/mods/toneswitch.html

from a non-engaged middle position, it it toggles between two cap values

Not “mud switch”. Dreaded mud switch. What’s lost in the alexplorer description is that the individual volume controls roll off treble faster than loudness, especially when a cap is selected, making them functionally both volume and tone controls. The solution I found to making this control set useful is a BOSS EQ-200 equalizer. I have Gretsch settings in Memory 1 that roll off low frequencies. This improves clarity. It doesn’t compensate for the volume loss up the neck but you have to remember that these controls were invented in the 1950’s for jazz and country jazz players. I use my Gretsch Anniversary to back vocals. Very old school. It’s a forced fit for most everything else but it still can be made to work. One more thing. The controls were invented for HiLo-Tron pickups which are low output single coils. Filter-Trons and the mud problem came later.

 

[BorderRadio]

The first pic shows a custom 6118 Double Anniversary model in Smoke Green, with two HiLotron pickups and a long G-cut tailpiece, no Bigsby. The rosewood neck is unbound, I think that's an early 60s feature, so probably a '60-'62 model. The custom part comes in with the top, it has painted f-holes, which wasn't a stock feature on Annies. Double Annies also came with the mud switch. The 'gold' guitar pictured in the other link (and Al's album "50 Fabulous Guitar Favorites") is a Country Club, spray painted gold maybe. The linked video? That's not clear with the crap resolution. It could be a mid-50s vintage 6120 with the western-themed inlays and G-branding, but it could be a modern repro, a G6120DSW, instead. Designations like "G" and "DSW" or "VS" all came in the post-80s Gretsch era, IIRC.