When I think of rock’n’roll guitars, I think of Gretsch. And when I think of Gretsch, I think of two contradictory, or at least unconnected, things. One: Billy Duffy, with The Cult, onstage in the mid-80s, looking like the coolest guitarist in the world. And two: Eddie Cochran, several decades before, sounding like the coolest rock’n’roll star in the world.
Eddie Cochran used only two guitars on virtually all of his records: a Martin D-18 acoustic – the guitar that drives Summertime Blues and C'mon Everybody – and a Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body electric. That guitar was one of the most influential in rock – but more of that in a minute.
Today, Gretsch honour Eddie’s legacy with the Eddie Cochran Signature 6120 that retails for just under $3500. But for those of us who fell in love with the orange-y western maple stain of Eddie’s guitar, there’s 16% off the less snappily titled vintage orange Gretsch G5420TG-59 at Sweetwater, now $749.
Reviewing the G5420T Electromatic for our sister site, MusicRadar, reviewer Dave Burrluck said: "Picking up this model is kind of like playing an amp'd acoustic, which isn't too far from what it actually is… There's the versatility, but not in the manner of a modern solidbody with its full humbuckers and single-coil splits. While it's more subtle here, there are plenty of shades from the slightly damped, muted response with the pickup volumes and tone pulled back, to the thinner, brighter and twangier voices with the master volume rolled back and the pickup volumes full on.
"It's true that this would not be our first choice as the only guitar we took to a jam or function-band gig - but for a whole host of older-genre styles, from the obvious rock 'n' roll and rockabilly through to much rootsier swampier voices that love a little 'hair' or outright grunt and grunge, it's hard to think of a guitar that is better suited."
In England for what would be his final tour in 1960, Eddie Cochran performed for the TV show Boy Meets Girl at the Hackney Empire in London. Waiting outside, was a 13-year old fan, Mark Feld. Striking up a conversation, Mark offered to carry Eddie’s guitar for him. Mark Feld became better known as Marc Bolan*.
George Harrison caught some shows on that tour, George Harrison just so he could watch Eddie's fingers.
After a series of shows with Gene Vincent in Bristol, Cochran and Vincent, and their close entourage got in a car and headed to Heathrow airport. They never made. The driver lost control of the car near the small town of Chippenham, and hit a tree. Eddie was thrown from the car and died in hospital the following day.
His Gretsch was taken to the local police station by a policeman at the scene called David Harman. Upset at the death of one of his musical heroes, but left alone with that hero’s guitar, Harman did what any of us would do: He played it that Gretsch.
And the experience inspired that lowly policeman to give up policing and pursue his dreams in music. He changed his name to… David Bowie. OK, nah he didn’t. It would have been a better story but I can’t just make stuff up, you know – we're not AI – and what we have is pretty good too.
He changed his name to Dave Dee and became famous as part of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, a Brit beat combo who had a UK no.1 with The Legend of Xanadu, in 1968. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich did not change the world of rock. But Dave did. Dave went into A&R for WEA records where he signed… AC/DC.
And what guitar did Malcolm Young use to play those killer rhythm parts? You got it: A Gretsch. When I think of rock’n’roll guitars, I think of Gretsch.
*Marc Bolan, of course, also died in a car crash, just like Eddie Cochran. It's a cruel world.
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