[[email protected]]

I have a Gretsch 6120, an old single cut '60. It has a floating
bridge. How in the world did people play these things
professionally? I tend to rest my hand on the bridge so I can mute as
I play. it is really easy to bump and slide it out of place. I put a
piece of 2 sided tape under it to keep it still. I'd drill a hole and
mount it if it weren't for the vintage value. BUT, this guitar just
doesn't stay in tune, aside from the bridge issue. Is it the
tuners, the neck, or what? The tuners don't seem to be slipping. I
hardly play it because it is such a pain in the ass. It's a shame
because it has some wonderful tones.

Aside, I think that an overlooked tone is the neck pick up fairly
heavily distorted...talk about milky. Any one out there a Gretsch
fan? Leo had the better product in those days, IMO.

Tom Paul

[hank alrich]

chezestake wrote:

I have a Gretsch 6120, an old single cut '60. It has a floating
bridge. How in the world did people play these things
professionally? I tend to rest my hand on the bridge so I can mute as
I play. it is really easy to bump and slide it out of place. I put a
piece of 2 sided tape under it to keep it still. I'd drill a hole and
mount it if it weren't for the vintage value. BUT, this guitar just
doesn't stay in tune, aside from the bridge issue. Is it the
tuners, the neck, or what? The tuners don't seem to be slipping. I
hardly play it because it is such a pain in the ass. It's a shame
because it has some wonderful tones.

Aside, I think that an overlooked tone is the neck pick up fairly
heavily distorted...talk about milky. Any one out there a Gretsch
fan? Leo had the better product in those days, IMO.

Tom Paul

Could be many things. Take it to a competent luthier.

--
ha
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam

[Baabin]

I have had my 6120-60 for five years or so now, and don't have a problem
unless I use the Bigsby Arm quite a bit. Is your Bridge the correct arch for
the guitar (Does it have any gaps between the bottom and the arched top) ?
Perhaps you can LIGHTLY sand the bottom of the bridge to offer a new and
slightly roughened point of contact, if it is polished and/or has any
coating on it there might be the answer. Mine will move, but I have to work
at it or loosen the strings to make that happen.

Smitty

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Gretsch 6120, an old single cut '60. It has a floating
bridge. How in the world did people play these things
professionally? I tend to rest my hand on the bridge so I can mute as
I play. it is really easy to bump and slide it out of place. I put a
piece of 2 sided tape under it to keep it still. I'd drill a hole and
mount it if it weren't for the vintage value. BUT, this guitar just
doesn't stay in tune, aside from the bridge issue. Is it the
tuners, the neck, or what? The tuners don't seem to be slipping. I
hardly play it because it is such a pain in the ass. It's a shame
because it has some wonderful tones.

Aside, I think that an overlooked tone is the neck pick up fairly
heavily distorted...talk about milky. Any one out there a Gretsch
fan? Leo had the better product in those days, IMO.

Tom Paul

[Richard Kuschel]

wrote:
I have a Gretsch 6120, an old single cut '60. It has a floating
bridge. How in the world did people play these things
professionally? I tend to rest my hand on the bridge so I can mute as
I play. it is really easy to bump and slide it out of place. I put a
piece of 2 sided tape under it to keep it still. I'd drill a hole and
mount it if it weren't for the vintage value. BUT, this guitar just
doesn't stay in tune, aside from the bridge issue. Is it the
tuners, the neck, or what? The tuners don't seem to be slipping. I
hardly play it because it is such a pain in the ass. It's a shame
because it has some wonderful tones.

Aside, I think that an overlooked tone is the neck pick up fairly
heavily distorted...talk about milky. Any one out there a Gretsch
fan? Leo had the better product in those days, IMO.

Tom Paul


The one thing that you are probably not using is a set of strings like
those used in the '60's.
You don't have to go to Ebay to get the correct strings, and vintage
strings won't give a vintage sound.

What you will need is a set gauged from .013 to .056. with a wound G
string. Some were as heavy as 014-058 or the really heavy flatwounds.
Oh yes, you could get Gibson or Fender strings and a few stores
carried Black Diamond. ( Cheaper, lasted a long time, but were
brittle)

The heavier strings will hold the bridge down and prevent it from
moving all over the place.

Some companies used a piece of approx 80 grit sandpaper under the
bridge contact points to keep them from moving around. With a vintage
guitar, I might consider using either small blobs of mastic or even
low temp hot glue.

The Bigsby also makes tuning a little more difficult. Some players who
don't use it will just take off the arm and remove the spring to make
a solid tailpiece.

As far as the Leo Fender comment, the only guitars that really made
the switch to lighter strings without too much bother were the
Stratocaster and the Mustang. Tele's need the later six saddle
adjustable bridge to play in tune and Jazzmaster whammies with the
floating vibrato lock won't work correctly with light strings.

[HKC]

I had a 64 Tennesean some time ago which had similar problems but of course
I never tried the heavy 13-56 gauge. That does make sense though and Brian
Setzer doesn't really seem to be overcautious when hitting his guitar so
there must be a way.
Actually I have regretted selling that guitar for ages, it was in the super
strat days where it made sense to have one (very expensive) guitar that
could do it all. That of course turned out to be an impossible mission and
today I have quite a few guitars but no Gretsch at the moment.

[Mickey530]

On Apr 29, 7:46 pm, Richard Kuschel wrote:
wrote:
I have a Gretsch 6120, an old single cut '60. It has a floating
bridge. How in the world did people play these things
professionally? I tend to rest my hand on the bridge so I can mute as
I play. it is really easy to bump and slide it out of place. I put a
piece of 2 sided tape under it to keep it still. I'd drill a hole and
mount it if it weren't for the vintage value. BUT, this guitar just
doesn't stay in tune, aside from the bridge issue. Is it the
tuners, the neck, or what? The tuners don't seem to be slipping. I
hardly play it because it is such a pain in the ass. It's a shame
because it has some wonderful tones.

Aside, I think that an overlooked tone is the neck pick up fairly
heavily distorted...talk about milky. Any one out there a Gretsch
fan? Leo had the better product in those days, IMO.

Tom Paul

The one thing that you are probably not using is a set of strings like
those used in the '60's.
You don't have to go to Ebay to get the correct strings, and vintage
strings won't give a vintage sound.

What you will need is a set gauged from .013 to .056. with a wound G
string. Some were as heavy as 014-058 or the really heavy flatwounds.
Oh yes, you could get Gibson or Fender strings and a few stores
carried Black Diamond. ( Cheaper, lasted a long time, but were
brittle)

The heavier strings will hold the bridge down and prevent it from
moving all over the place.

Some companies used a piece of approx 80 grit sandpaper under the
bridge contact points to keep them from moving around. With a vintage
guitar, I might consider using either small blobs of mastic or even
low temp hot glue.

The Bigsby also makes tuning a little more difficult. Some players who
don't use it will just take off the arm and remove the spring to make
a solid tailpiece.

As far as the Leo Fender comment, the only guitars that really made
the switch to lighter strings without too much bother were the
Stratocaster and the Mustang. Tele's need the later six saddle
adjustable bridge to play in tune and Jazzmaster whammies with the
floating vibrato lock won't work correctly with light strings.



Thought I'd add my 2 cents to this. I had the same problem with a
Guild Starfire (wannabe Gibson 335). Heavier strings did solve the
problem for the most part.
However, you will need to get a new setup performed on the neck to
compensate for the increased tension on the neck.
Intonation will always be a problem especially after a string change
and depending on your playing style, wear and tear on the truss rod
could be a concern.

MickeyD

[Richard Kuschel]

On Apr 30, 10:53 am, Mickey530 wrote:

Thought I'd add my 2 cents to this. I had the same problem with a
Guild Starfire (wannabe Gibson 335). Heavier strings did solve the
problem for the most part.
However, you will need to get a new setup performed on the neck to
compensate for the increased tension on the neck.
Intonation will always be a problem especially after a string change
and depending on your playing style, wear and tear on the truss rod
could be a concern.

MickeyD


Of course you will need to set up the guitar for playing with heavier
strings. there will be a little more tension on the neck, but I
wouldn't worry about wearing out the truss rod, especially since the
guitar in question was originally set up for heavier strings.

As far as intonation, just "strobe" the instrument. It will play in
tune much better than an instrument using lighter strings. It will
also be easier to tune and hold its tune longer.

A lot of instruments will play better with the strings that they were
originally designed for. --
A prime example is the older Rickenbacker bass. if ou didn't use rick
strings on them, they would not play in tune and the bridge didn't hve
enough adjustment to allow playing in tune with any string than
rickenbacker.

One way that I was able to set up a Rick bass to allow other than
Rickenbacker flat-wounds was to install a Fender Mustang bridge in
place of the Rickenbacker bridge assembly. It didn't require any major
modification to the bass and the Mustang plate hid the holes left by
the removal of the original bridge/tailpiece. The Mustang bridge was
adjustable for height and had adequate string leng adjustment for
Rotosound and other round wound or half round strings. The dual
trussrod rRckenbacker neck was more than adequate for any string that
one would use.

[[email protected]]

On May 3, 12:26 am, Richard Kuschel wrote:
On Apr 30, 10:53 am, Mickey530 wrote:

Thought I'd add my 2 cents to this. I had the same problem with a
Guild Starfire (wannabe Gibson 335). Heavier strings did solve the
problem for the most part.
However, you will need to get a new setup performed on the neck to
compensate for the increased tension on the neck.
Intonation will always be a problem especially after a string change
and depending on your playing style, wear and tear on the truss rod
could be a concern.

MickeyD

Of course you will need to set up the guitar for playing with heavier
strings. there will be a little more tension on the neck, but I
wouldn't worry about wearing out the truss rod, especially since the
guitar in question was originally set up for heavier strings.

As far as intonation, just "strobe" the instrument. It will play in
tune much better than an instrument using lighter strings. It will
also be easier to tune and hold its tune longer.

A lot of instruments will play better with the strings that they were
originally designed for. --
A prime example is the older Rickenbacker bass. if ou didn't use rick
strings on them, they would not play in tune and the bridge didn't hve
enough adjustment to allow playing in tune with any string than
rickenbacker.

One way that I was able to set up a Rick bass to allow other than
Rickenbacker flat-wounds was to install a Fender Mustang bridge in
place of the Rickenbacker bridge assembly. It didn't require any major
modification to the bass and the Mustang plate hid the holes left by
the removal of the original bridge/tailpiece. The Mustang bridge was
adjustable for height and had adequate string leng adjustment for
Rotosound and other round wound or half round strings. The dual
trussrod rRckenbacker neck was more than adequate for any string that
one would use.


Thanks to all who responded to this. I put a set of .13 ernie balls,
which is the heaviest electric strings they had down the street. A
little twist to the truss rod, a little graphite, using a pencil...and
I haven't had to tune it in days. I'd have never guessed. It plays
rock solid and I can bends, as much as the .13's will allow and it
stay in tune!

Tom

[Mickey530]

Glad it worked out Tom.

Stevie Ray Vaughn used a set that started with a .14 first string.
Bend Those Things !!!!!!


Mickey D

[Romeo Rondeau]

Mickey530 wrote:
Glad it worked out Tom.

Stevie Ray Vaughn used a set that started with a .14 first string.
Bend Those Things !!!!!!


Mickey D

And high action on top of that :-)