1953 Gretsch Duo-Jet Black

It's 1953 and Gibson is showing early success with its new Les Paul model and Gretsch needs to play catch up. The first of it's single cut solid (well almost) body guitars is a run of 150 Duo-Jets. This first batch is the only one with the script logo. The design is very Les Paul like (at 1/50th the price today) with it's small single cut body and two single coil pickups. The bodies were weight relieved-not a lot but enough to keep most under 8 lbs. The circuit was somewhat different offering a master volume, an individual volume for each pickup and a master tone control. Pickup selection was the usual 3 way toggle. Neck profile is large and round, not unlike the early Les Pauls. The black top isn't paint. It's drum wrap (plastic) which keeps it looking almost new after nearly 70 years. No binding rot on early Gretsches. That "feature" comes later. This example is fairly late in the run of 150 and has all the early features-the very advanced floating Melitta bridge, block markers and the very competent and musical D'Armond Dynasonic pickups. This is a no issue, all original example with the probable exception of the case. It's an old Gretsch case but this guitar should be in a tweed case. George Harrison played a Duo Jet in the early days. You can hear it on "I Saw Her Standing There", "Please Please Me" and "Twist and Shout." A good Gretsch is a great guitar. Unfortunately, some aren't so good and the bad Gretsches have kept them out of the pantheon of great vintage guitars. This is a wonderful player with great single coil tone. Best vintage guitars you can buy for under ten grand.