FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

The Gretsch 6196 was introduced in 1953 and was essentially a Cadillac Green finish variant of the 6192 Country Club. This was unusual since most guitars at the time were finished natural or sunburst. Gretsch would continue to "colorize" the guitar world with the black 6128, silver sparkle 6129, red 6131, orange 6120 and white 6136 models. The 6196 followed all the same changes through the years as the 6192 until it was discontinued in 1968. Gretsch  re-introduced the 6196 in the 1990s using the 1970s Country Club body shape followed by a complete 1950s style facelift in 2003. The model shown here isn't a reissue of any particular model year, but bears close resemblance to the 1959-60 model years. If we must call it a reissue, we could close our eyes and imagine that the 6196TCG represents a Country Club that was made in 1961 using a leftover 1959 body (but without trestle bracing) with the 1961 standby switch (but without the 1961 dial-up mute), and a factory optional Bigsby tailpiece. Gretsch must have grown tired of people playing the "let's imagine" game and discontinued the 6196TCG in 2015. The company revised the model to be a more accurate rendition of a 1959 model and dubbed it the 6196T-59GE (renamed 6196T-59VS in 2017). Unfortunately, the revised version uses an incorrect metallic finish (but if we close our eyes and imagine...). 

 Body:  Hollow; laminated 2-piece spruce top, laminated maple back and sides; triple bound top, double bound back

 Finish:  Cadillac Green, polyurethane

 Neck:  3-piece maple/walnut/maple, set-in; double bound stained maple headstock overlay with pearloid logo

 Fingerboard:  Ebony, double bound; pearloid Neo-classic inlays

 Number of Frets:  21

 Pickguard:  Acrylic

 Bridge:  Gretsch Space Control on ebony base with Gretsch/Bigsby B-6 tailpiece, gold

 Nut:  Plastic

 Tuners:  Grover Imperial, gold

 Pickups:  Two, Gretsch Filter'Tron humbucking, gold

 Controls:  Master volume, volume control for each pickup, 3-way tone selector, 3-way pickup selector, standby switch

 Scale Length:  25 1/2 inches

 Neck Width at Nut:  1 11/16 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout:  17 inches

 Body Depth:  2 3/4  inches

 Weight:  7.8 lb