Lennon´s Gretsch

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 12:36 am

Here it is: The 'Gretsch 6120' trat Lennon used during the recording of 'Paperback Writer'. You can see the back of a 'Vox 7120' too, an hybrid tube -transistor model made by 'Jennings' in 1966, and poorly received by the costumers (it was not as good as a AC30).
Lennon did not use this guitar after the recording of 'Paperback Writer'.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:13 pm

Nice Guitar I think Gretsch guitars are really classy looking, and I love those old coke bottle tubes, they look like KT66's, how many watts was it Miguel?

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 2:41 am

120 watts, Robert. Powerful amp, but the tone wasn´t as good as the AC30´s. Anyway, this model was used in the 'Revolver' sessions. The Stones did use this model in concerts and recordings.

jimbunch · Post by **jimbunch** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 3:36 am

What ever happened to John's Gretsch 6120? Where is is now?

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 8:20 am

I don´t think that anybody knows, Jim. The guitar simply disappeared from sight. Who knows, maybe Lennon gave it to someone, Harrison and him use to do that with the guitars they didn´t use anymore.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:51 pm

That's a great shot of Lennon with a Gretsch 6120. But how do we know he owned it and used it on Paperback Writer? There is only this one photo of John playing that guitar. To say it was his and used on Paperback Writer is stretching things. It's more likely he borrowed it for a couple minutes or somebody promoting Gretsch guitars placed it in his hands for this photo. The guitars they really used a lot(325, 360/12, Hofner 500/1, Casinos, etc.) are always in the studio photos. It's really hard to say that a guitar that shows up in one photo could be owned by John and used on a particular song.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Sun Apr 04, 2004 10:43 pm

'The Beatles Monthly' documented that particular session, on April 13th 1966, and this is one of the pictures taken while recording 'Paperback Writer'. That´s the facts.

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:06 am

Right you are Miguel. Also interesting is the fact that McCartney used his Casino and Harrison used a Burns Nu-Sonic bass on this session. Neither the Gretsch 6120 or the Burns Nu-Sonic bass were ever seen again after this session which leads one to believe that maybe Lennon and Harrison didn't own these to begin with. Another great enigma in the world of Beatledom.

beatlesgear · Post by **beatlesgear** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 2:35 pm

"That´s the facts."??????

First off, that is the first day of the sessions (they were for both PW and Rain), I'm not even sure if the amps are even mic'd up in the rest of the pics from that day, so to say it's on the record is a stretch. Secondly, there are several more photos of John with the guitar from the same day (same cloths), so he at least used it for some extended time during that day, but that's all we know. Most likely, both the Burns and Gretsch were rented or borrowed from Burns of London, they did a ton of rentals (very well documented) to the Beatles. If you guys are interested in finding out about the Vox 7120s, there is some good stuff put up in www.beatlesgear.com

beatlesgear · Post by **beatlesgear** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 2:43 pm

See, here's one you've never seen before, lol.

What's wild about the Beatle Monthly pics is that they were all taken in color. Tho wouldn't love to go through all of the existing negs, it would make one great book of never before seen pics.

larrywassgren · Post by **larrywassgren** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 3:50 pm

Nick, now that I like! I'm still in the process of buying back all those Beatle Monthly/Beat Instrumental magazines which I foolishly borrowed to a friend(?) about fifteen years ago. I agree all those negatives would make for one awesome Beatle book. I've always felt that these photos were mostly staged for the magazine, that is they knew the photographer was coming in at a certain time and they would pose with guitars for the photos. I think from what I've read about the way they worked in the studio at this point in time, they would be a tight-knit group and hard at work and a photographer would only interfere with the flow of the recording session. So, to say a certain guitar was used on a certain record because it is in a photo from the session is stretching it. It is definitely possible they used the Nashville and Burns bass on the record but we can't say for certain.

beatlesgear · Post by **beatlesgear** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:03 pm

If you look at when Leslie took the studio pics for the mag, you'll quickly notice a trend, they were usually the first day of sessions. I've got a complete set of Beatle Monthly mags, it was a few pennies, but worth it.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 11:19 pm

Sure we can´t say for certain that the 'Gretsch' was used in the recording of 'Paperback Writer'. We all weren´t there, were we? But it seems that most of us have read a lot of original mags and papers about The Beatles and their recording sessions, and we all know that if The Beatles took a guitar to the studio 1) they used the guitar to a certain extent and 2) they owned the guitar. You know that The Beatles were given severals guitars along the years, but they gave them right away to someone else if they didn´t think they were going to use them (v.g: the 'Guild', the 'Gretsch' 12 string...). So it´s very likely that Lennon used that 'Gretsch 6120'. Does this guitar appears in the final recording? Well, who knows? But he played it and he probably owned it, at least for a while.

beatlesgear · Post by **beatlesgear** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:41 am

The thing I've learned about doing this type of research is that everything we've read in a book or mag over the years isn't fact. Many times the dates are wrong on photos, descriptions wrong, etc. We've taken the time to put every known photo of the Beatles in order by day, week, month and year. When you put them all in one place like that, the story of the gear unfolds, many times down to the exact day things happened. There is no evidence to support the idea that Lennon owned this guitar, non. When it comes to published works, Lewison is the only reliable source of info, but even he isn't a 100% and he knows nothing nothing about the gear, hence his forward in Babiuk's book.

miguel · Post by **miguel** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:01 am

That´s exactly where I found the photo, Nick: Babiuk´s book. And if he is not a reliable source, then...