This was really cool to watch. One thing i noticed is that the beatles not only changed and influenced music and musicians but, they also changed the face of the instruments they played. Take this Duo Jet for instance, they painted it black in the back and added a bigsby tailpiece just how George modded it as it wasn’t on the original one which had a stop tailpiece bar at the bridge with a mahogany back. All Rickenbacker 325s come in black just like the way that john Lennon modified it, the original one was a natural finish. Very seldom you get a musician who changes the aesthetic of guitar builds, of course, the Beatles were the exception.
Wow, what a wonderful documentary - fab! And yes, heartwarming seeing Dhani Harrison playing the finished model. I recently saw another TH-cam feature on Crowded House where Gretsch made a duplicate of Neil Finns' Gretsch - same deal, x-rays and relic work etc. - he needed a spare! (Don't we all?). Bought my first Gretsch last week - Japan made, 2018, Cheery Red, solid body, Bigsby, filtertrons - same basic layout as this one. It's beautiful - it was reduced to half price at Tom Lee here (in HK), I guess because it had been sitting there for 4+ years . . . cost USD 1,200, so very happy to finally have a Gretsch - complements my 1968 Les Paul Custom which I played all thru the 70's - definitely a bit more 'airy' feel.
This story is rock n roll history and needs to told and the skills involved in building this guitar is priceless just magical thanks for keeping these guitars still going for the next story waiting to be told peace ✌️🎸 keep rock n roll going because the music we have now is just well I have no words for it apart from trash rubbish garbage toxic waste of time songs about love life peace feelings not gun drugs disrespecting woman now my money have because some of these artists sound very unhappy to me
CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I LIVED RIGHT UP THE STREET FROM THIS PLACE AND NEVER THOUGHT OF BUYING A GUITAR. HECK, HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GUITARS ADMITTEDLY. UGH!
Yup and what people probably don't realise was even with that 20 quid being owed, he still made a profit on it. 70 quid back then was about 280 dollars from what my dad said. Today, 70 quid is about 90 dollars 🤣 The signed IOU is probably worth as much as the original guitar, now.
I can't believe they didn't mention the fact that George played this guitar in Hamburg and on the Please Please me album. What about George's Gretsch Country Gentleman! I know the original fell off the top roof of a car but he had a 2nd one. That's guitar is important too.
@EuropaMan You raise excellent points about George having played that Gretsch Duo Jet in Hamburg and on the Please Please Me album! That was sad about the fate of one of George's Gretsch Country Gentleman guitars! I believe the story was that, during a road journey between band engagements, the case holding that guitar was packed with the band's other instruments atop a vehicle which the Beatles were traveling in. Somehow that case holding the guitar, became loose, was seen falling off the vehicle, and then seen being run over by a truck!
@@chrisst8922 Thank you for sharing that account. I had always wondered what had become of George's other Gretsch Country Gentleman. There's something suspicious about a person taking possession of an instrument like that, then later claiming that they don't know what happened to it!
Wonderful attention to detail in the build. But it seems to me that most of the music used wasn’t made with the Gretsch at all? Certainly the slide tracks would have been made with “Rocky” and did he even own the guitar when he made What is Life? Quibbles, perhaps, but this is about being “most accurate” as Joey says himself.
I think the importance of it is that it was, as George described it, his first decent guitar, and it is still in existence. Sadly his other Gretsches don't seem to be around - one was run over when the case it was in flew off the roof rack of their car, another was sold to another guitarist and then sold on, and one just seems to have disappeared into a collection somewhere.
When George played this guitar for Please Please Me the body back, neck, and front of the headstock showed the mahogany grain like it should have. Why don't you make one that looks like THAT instead of the way it looked in 1989, painted black. That could have been done by Klaus for all you know. Poor choice in my opinion, I want one how it looked when it was, not how it is. Edited to add.... The tuning machines are wrong! For $10,000 each you'd think they could machine replica WAVERLY tuners, but this reissue clearly has incorrect Grover Sta-Tite tuners. These bozos are going on and on about how awesome this guitar is and they are lying, they took shortcuts.
Whenever you hear them say, "they wouldn't have....". Don't believe it. Gretsch had some of the worst quality control at the time, including misspelled "Gretsch" logo's on the headstock. Standards were minimal. Flaking drum finishes. Terrible. ...And yet.... Those horribly produced guitars are pure magic. No two are alike. Which is something lacking in today's guitars. With the "perfection" of CNC manufacturing, the production instruments you get today are mediocre by _definition_ . Gone is that one in a million guitar that feels like it was made just for you.
Great job I knew all the history of the guitar and why it was painted all black. Brian Epstein wanted them all to match so George and John painted their guitars all black. Paul left his bass as is.. We don’t even believe it’s spray paint, we think they rolled it on with a paint roller. That’s how bad it was done.
Know that George probably had back painted black to match what John did to his 325. There’s a special place in hell for the guy that did such lousy paint jobs Personally think George’s guitar looks just fine as a Standard 6128TDS Though I’ll add the B6C and rocker bridge.
OK Mr. Negative: The roller bridge can always be replaced with a tune-o-matic style bridge for not much money. I mean really! That’s not even a constructive criticism. Go be Dhani Downer somewhere else, @$$hole!
Huge fan of George here ! 😄
This was really cool to watch. One thing i noticed is that the beatles not only changed and influenced music and musicians but, they also changed the face of the instruments they played. Take this Duo Jet for instance, they painted it black in the back and added a bigsby tailpiece just how George modded it as it wasn’t on the original one which had a stop tailpiece bar at the bridge with a mahogany back. All Rickenbacker 325s come in black just like the way that john Lennon modified it, the original one was a natural finish. Very seldom you get a musician who changes the aesthetic of guitar builds, of course, the Beatles were the exception.
Fascinating to watch true craftsmanship !!!
Awesome piece. I have a Japanese Duo Jet 2014 that I absolutely love. They are super cool guitars!⚡️
Very cool. Awesome how they were able to do that. An interesting video! A must watch for Beatle fans. Thank you for sharing! 😊🎶🎸🎶
I’ve got a 57 reissue….love this video. Love George.
Wow, what a wonderful documentary - fab! And yes, heartwarming seeing Dhani Harrison playing the finished model. I recently saw another TH-cam feature on Crowded House where Gretsch made a duplicate of Neil Finns' Gretsch - same deal, x-rays and relic work etc. - he needed a spare! (Don't we all?). Bought my first Gretsch last week - Japan made, 2018, Cheery Red, solid body, Bigsby, filtertrons - same basic layout as this one. It's beautiful - it was reduced to half price at Tom Lee here (in HK), I guess because it had been sitting there for 4+ years . . . cost USD 1,200, so very happy to finally have a Gretsch - complements my 1968 Les Paul Custom which I played all thru the 70's - definitely a bit more 'airy' feel.
This story is rock n roll history and needs to told and the skills involved in building this guitar is priceless just magical thanks for keeping these guitars still going for the next story waiting to be told peace ✌️🎸 keep rock n roll going because the music we have now is just well I have no words for it apart from trash rubbish garbage toxic waste of time songs about love life peace feelings not gun drugs disrespecting woman now my money have because some of these artists sound very unhappy to me
you said it brother
CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I LIVED RIGHT UP THE STREET FROM THIS PLACE AND NEVER THOUGHT OF BUYING A GUITAR. HECK, HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GUITARS ADMITTEDLY. UGH!
Really enjoyed this! Thanks for the upload✌🏻
When they got to the original owner interview- wow. That's some ding dang history.
Yup and what people probably don't realise was even with that 20 quid being owed, he still made a profit on it. 70 quid back then was about 280 dollars from what my dad said. Today, 70 quid is about 90 dollars 🤣 The signed IOU is probably worth as much as the original guitar, now.
now the angels can really sing
Thanks for uploading this. Im buying the non custom shop version GH sig.
A 1957 Duo Jet, exactly what a guitar should sound like!👍👍
George invent Rock Pop music as we know Today , playing with other 3 Terrífics Partners this Beautiful Instrment. This is part of Modern Music History
I'm quite proud to be a gretsch owner ..its a unique guitar
Dhani is the spitting image of his father!
It's almost as if we're looking at George in the Cavern Club with long hair and in color!
They forgot to mention the Duo Jet was used on the Please Please Me album.
Extremely enlightening 💫⚡
Rocklove ! Arty Than ☆♡☆
Conan wanted to "steal" George's guitar
I can't believe they didn't mention the fact that George played this guitar in Hamburg and on the Please Please me album. What about George's Gretsch Country Gentleman! I know the original fell off the top roof of a car but he had a 2nd one. That's guitar is important too.
Yep. The second one is missing too. The story was that George gave it to someone who says he can't remember what happened to it.
@EuropaMan You raise excellent points about George having played that Gretsch Duo Jet in Hamburg and on the Please Please Me album! That was sad about the fate of one of George's Gretsch Country Gentleman guitars! I believe the story was that, during a road journey between band engagements, the case holding that guitar was packed with the band's other instruments atop a vehicle which the Beatles were traveling in. Somehow that case holding the guitar, became loose, was seen falling off the vehicle, and then seen being run over by a truck!
@@chrisst8922 Thank you for sharing that account. I had always wondered what had become of George's other Gretsch Country Gentleman. There's something suspicious about a person taking possession of an instrument like that, then later claiming that they don't know what happened to it!
Good to see that Dhani can play a bit
Wonderful attention to detail in the build. But it seems to me that most of the music used wasn’t made with the Gretsch at all? Certainly the slide tracks would have been made with “Rocky” and did he even own the guitar when he made What is Life? Quibbles, perhaps, but this is about being “most accurate” as Joey says himself.
I think the importance of it is that it was, as George described it, his first decent guitar, and it is still in existence. Sadly his other Gretsches don't seem to be around - one was run over when the case it was in flew off the roof rack of their car, another was sold to another guitarist and then sold on, and one just seems to have disappeared into a collection somewhere.
When George played this guitar for Please Please Me the body back, neck, and front of the headstock showed the mahogany grain like it should have. Why don't you make one that looks like THAT instead of the way it looked in 1989, painted black. That could have been done by Klaus for all you know. Poor choice in my opinion, I want one how it looked when it was, not how it is.
Edited to add....
The tuning machines are wrong! For $10,000 each you'd think they could machine replica WAVERLY tuners, but this reissue clearly has incorrect Grover Sta-Tite tuners. These bozos are going on and on about how awesome this guitar is and they are lying, they took shortcuts.
Does anyone know if George's IOU for 20 pounds was ever paid?
The IOU is probably worth $50,000!
I recently heard an interview with some guitar aficionado that George never did pay up the 20 Quid! Don't know for sure though.
There were no specs from the factory?
Whenever you hear them say, "they wouldn't have....". Don't believe it. Gretsch had some of the worst quality control at the time, including misspelled "Gretsch" logo's on the headstock. Standards were minimal. Flaking drum finishes. Terrible.
...And yet....
Those horribly produced guitars are pure magic. No two are alike. Which is something lacking in today's guitars. With the "perfection" of CNC manufacturing, the production instruments you get today are mediocre by _definition_ . Gone is that one in a million guitar that feels like it was made just for you.
Great job I knew all the history of the guitar and why it was painted all black.
Brian Epstein wanted them all to match so George and John painted their guitars all black.
Paul left his bass as is..
We don’t even believe it’s spray paint, we think they rolled it on with a paint roller.
That’s how bad it was done.
Just curious who "we" is referring to? Do you work for Gretsch?
Know that George probably had back painted black to match what John did to his 325.
There’s a special place in hell for the guy that did such lousy paint jobs
Personally think George’s guitar looks just fine as a Standard 6128TDS
Though I’ll add the B6C and rocker bridge.
That’s a lot of money for a guitar you can’t intonate accurately.
OK Mr. Negative: The roller bridge can always be replaced with a tune-o-matic style bridge for not much money. I mean really! That’s not even a constructive criticism. Go be Dhani Downer somewhere else, @$$hole!
I’ve just realised…these people have no idea how insane they sound.
This guitar went to the right "Hands", no it was for The Monkees ...
Robert de Niro 1:42
Johnny Depp 7:14
good oh klaus a
well whats up with all your china guitars cost to much to make in the good ole USA
the cheaper ones are China and Korea, the fanciest ones are Japan...I wish they were all American