![]() This particular guitar has had only a couple of owners over the past five decades, and has not seen extensive use. Longtime Gretsch employee and unofficial keeper of the flame Duke Kramer recalled 300 being produced, although no official record survives. The Monkees model never appeared in Gretsch literature, but a limited number were produced from late 1966 through the summer of 1967. The Super'Tron pickups have white surrounds, and the headstock bears a plaque proclaiming the Monkees connection. The double "thumbprint" inlay pattern on the fingerboard was not unknown, but usually appeared only on left-handed instruments! The control array along the lower bout is unusual as well-other Gretsch guitars mounted the selector and tone control switches on the upper cutaway bout. The back-painted Lucite "Monkees" logo pickguard and truss rod cover are the most prominent-and in later years were often removed by later owners. While similar overall to the Rally, Streamliner and Blackhawk models that followed it into production, it carries several unique features. The guitar itself is a fire-engine red double cutaway thinline hollow body, with two Super'tron pickups and a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The actual Monkees Model appeared in only 4 episodes, part of the last batch filmed in the autumn of '67: "Monkees Mind Their Manor", "Some Like It Lukewarm", "The Monkey's Paw", & "The Christmas Episode". Monkee Guitarist Mike Nesmith primarily appeared on the show with an unusual custom Gretsch 12-srting, although he used several other of the company's guitars on screen as well. ![]() #Old gretsch guitar identification tv#The "Monkees Rock"N"Roll Model" was specifically designed to be a relatively affordable but flashy guitar to hopefully appeal to the group's giant teenage audience, at least some of whom were assumed to be aspiring to play in similar groups themselves! Having seen a massive spike in demand for the company's guitars after Beatle George Harrison appeared with one on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, Gretsch likely saw the Monkees TV exposure as another marketing coup, but this one actually planned in advance! Although it didn't quite work out that way, the Gretsch-Monkees link did create this fairly unique instrument, and lead to a lasting association between the company and the group. When the "The Monkees" debuted in the fall of 1966, the band were shown playing only Gretsch guitars and Vox amps-but nothing that exactly resembled this particular instrument. The Gretsch Monkees model guitar is a fairly rare relic of one of the more off-the-wall of 1960's Gretsch endeavors-an endorsement deal cut with Screen Gems to provide instruments for the originally fictional group to play on their TV show. Gretsch PX-6123 Monkees Rock'N'Roll Model Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1967), made in Brooklyn, NY, red lacquer finish, laminated maple body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original grey hard shell case.
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