Gretsch Custom Shop Masterbuilt Chad Henrichsen 1959 Duo Jet NOS Olympic White

Gretsch Custom Shop Masterbuilt G6128CS 1959 Duo Jet NOS Olympic White

The Gretsch Custom Shop is where the time-honored legacy reaches its creative apex. No instruments epitomize the extraordinary expertise and attention to detail of Gretsch’s most trusted hands like Custom Shop instruments. From modern versions of legendary Gretsch instruments to artist tribute models and specially requested one-off guitars, the Gretsch Custom Shop takes “That Great Gretsch Sound” to an entirely new plane, but also preserves and perfects it.

Truetone Music is proud to have a long and close relationship with Gretsch, especially with the Custom Shop.  A few years ago, we made a pilgrimage there to sit down with original Masterbuilder Stephen Stern and his team to cook up a batch of Custom Shop guitars.  Some were vintage-styled recreations, some had modernized tweaks.  Over the years, we kept it going, sometimes it's a classic color, sometimes it's a totally new color or even reclaimed wood.  No matter what, they always knock it out of the park!

This G6128CS 1959 Duo Jet is a a result of this partnership.  A slightly reinvisioned recreation of the Duo Jet, it has the classic Gretsch sound and feel, perfected by Masterbuilder Chad Henrichsen .  From TV Jones Classic pickups to the Bigsby B3C Vibrato, it will be familiar to any Gretsch fan.  It has a chambered mahogany body, reducing the weight - this one comes in at 7.9 lbs, quite light for a Duo Jet.  We chose the NOS finish package, to give it a "fresh off the line" look - there is no aging on this one.  The neck is a very comfortable C shape (standard on Duo Jets).  The fit and finish is perfect - you won't want to put this one down.

We also went with the Tru Arc bridge, which is radiused to match the fretboard of the guitar.  This enhances playability (and allows for lower action, if you're a close-to-the-frets kind of picker), as well as a slight improvement to intonation. The Tru-Arc has a more pronounced radius than the standard Gretsch bridge. It's also heavier, which increases tone and sustain.  Typically, you'll see brass Tru-Arc bridges, but for this guitar we went for stainless steel at Stern's suggestion - not only does it match the rest of the hardware better, but it also has a full, even and smooth hi-fi response, with max sustain.

The guitar comes complete with a beautiful Gretsch tweed case (only available with Custom Shop models), a proprietary El Dorado leather strap, and a Certificate of Authenticity.

When we put together a run of Custom Shop Duo Jets with Stephen Stern, in various versions, this spec guitar was the first to arrive.  It sold quickly and we knew we had to do it again.  Now, built by Chad Henrichsen, it's just as good as we remember - he nailed it!  Come to Truetone Music to experience it in person, or make it yours right here.