About the Gretsch duo jet and the Vox amp

[Rudolf Wagner]

Hi Angelo! Thanks for the guitar geeky question, I love answering those. So let’s get to it.

1. I believe the exact name of my model is Duo Jet G6128T-DSV. It’s got the Dynasonics pickups which I absolutely adore. It came with a fixed Bigsby that I wasn’t a huge fan of and I also replaced the Bridge with a Custom Compton Bridge. So no, it’s not a vintage instrument but was built in 2010 (Japan). I changed the Bigsby to a Düsenberg tremolo. I loved the look of the Bigsby but I didn’t like the fixed arm and the fact that the whole tremolo wasn’t fixed to the body which, together with the floating Bridge, made an already somewhat temperamental guitar even more of a pain to keep in tune. I tried a Düsenberg at a store and fell in love with its tremolo. So I decided to get rid of the Bigsby and put this one on instead. Best idea ever! I love how the whammy bar feels and how changing strings is super easy now.
To me, it’s now as perfect of a guitar as it can get 😉

2. About the amps. When we are giggin on our own we use two AC30 VR – the valve hybrids, just because they are a bit more reliable than something “all valve” and still sound pretty decent.
The models we had at the Cavern were always “all valve” but we used slightly different models throughout the years (whenever one went into maintenance). They had a room in the Cavern that would be filled to the brim with different AC30s. For something like the Beatle Week festival, where they had multiple venues going at once, all those amps would get used whereas throughout the year they provided the two main Cavern stages with whatever gear was in the best condition.

3. I’m glad you’d like to come to one of our live shows. As much as we’d love to hit the stage more often we are still on a live playing break. There are so many other projects we’re currently working on that we decided to have live shows take a bit of a back seat for now. But we will be back eventually! The Liverpool show is Mike Massé’s event, he just invited us to join him for a few songs, which we’ll happily do. At the moment it looks like we’ll be doing about 5 songs together.

Hope that answers your questions, thanks for asking them 🙂

[Angelo]

Hello Lisa

Thank you so much for all these explanations. As your fans say in the dedicated topic (interpretation vs. replication), you do not replicate but you interpret with exellence.Your customised Gretsch  is a good example. But all this is obviously history and you turn yourself to your new projects. Which we will all enjoy, I imagine, and for which I wish to all your team, a lot of success. As long as you stay together, we can wait to see you on stage again.
Wish you the best.
Angelo

[Angelo]

Here are some pictures to illustrate our comments.

Gretsch G6128T-DSV with the fixed Bigsby Lisa wasn’t a huge fan of

 

 

[Angelo]

and here is the Düsenberg tremolo

[Angelo]

” I also replaced the Bridge with a Custom Compton Bridge”

[Angelo]

And here’s the result

[Roger]

Angelo,

Great info.  Do you know if the new tremolo was a perfect fit on the jet duo, or were new holes drilled, etc?  I just purchased a Cliff Gallup Gretsch jet duo which is basically the same as the DSV model….with that fixed Bigsby.  I will want to switch it out.  Love the look of the Dusenberg Lisa opted to use.  Just curious if you know much about such work.  Obviously, with a brand new guitar, I want to do things right!  Thanks,  Roger

[Angelo]

Hello Roger,

You say” I just purchased a Cliff Gallup Gretsch jet duo which is basically the same as the DSV model….with that fixed Bigsby. “. Basically yes but I do not know if the internal structure of the DSV is the same as that of Cliff Gallup. That of George Harrison (the real one) is different and the Dusenberg would not fit perfectly on it. It is necessary, indeed, to drill three holes of which two on the soundboard (the front face) which will remain visible. In addition, the screws must hold well because they work in traction when using the tremolo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN5ahJ95gt4

On a new guitar you have to think twice about it. Here is the copy of the inquiry I made at Dusenberg. It’s in German but googletranslate is quite effective.

« Hallo,
Ich habe ein Duesenberg Deluxe Tremola gekauft, um mein Bigsby auf meinem Gretsch G6128T-DSV zu ersetzen.
Ich habe ihre Videos auf youtube gesehen, aber es gibt kein Tutorial für die Installation des Tremola Deluxe. Ich bemerkte, dass es Unterlegscheiben gibt, um den Körper des Tremolo verbessern. Gibt es eine spezielle Platte oder Schutzvorrichtungen (möglicherweise aus Filz) für die Platzierung des Tremola? In der Schachtel gab es keine Montageanleitung, keine Unterlegscheiben, nichts anders als das Tremolo, die Feder und die Schrauben und Schlüssel. Gibt es Anweisungen?
Vielen Dank und viele Grüße.
Angelo

Hallo Angelo,

Vielen Dank für Deine Email. Eine Einbauanleitung für das Diamond Deluxe Tremola gibt es leider nicht. Wir sind der Meinung, dass der Einbau durch einen professionellen Gitarrenbauer erfolgen sollte, der weiß was in solchen Fällen zu tun ist. Du solltest Dir also einen Fachman suchen und mit ihm besprechen, ob ein Einbau auf Deiner Gretsch möglich ist. Bei der G6128T scheint das Bigsby nicht fest auf der Decke montiert zu sein, das Diamond Tremola wird aber verschraubt damit die Saitenniederhalterolle die Saiten auch herunterdrückt. Zudem muss der Korpus der Gitarre groß genug sein, damit das Tremolo nicht zu nah an der Brücke montiert wird. Dadurch würde der Winkel der Saiten zu steil werden. Bitte bespreche diese Dinge daher persönlich mit einem Fachmann. Wir hoffen, dass der Einbau möglich ist und Du viel Spaß mit dem neuen Tremolo haben wirst. Wenn Du noch Fragen hast, schreibe uns einfach.

Viele Grüße aus Hannover,

Christian »

 

That said, it is much easier to change only the arm of the tremolo and replace it with a movable arm (see photo). In this way the guitar remains unaltered (and its value too …).

But if you really like Dusenberg, go ahead. It’s up to you, try the experience, it should work.

Regards

Angelo

[Roger]

Angelo,

Excellent information and I agree with the suggestion of giving much thought to the idea of changing the entire Bigsby hardware system.  I do not wish to decrease the value of the new guitar.  Good points about the internal differences between the Gretsch models.  I think that appearance-wise, the DSV and the Gallup are almost identical…and it is very difficult to locate a DSV these days.  I already made inquiries into just changing the arm.  If you have any additional input about that, I would welcome your thoughts.  I remain quite ignorant about what is involved in swapping out the arms, but it does sound like the way to go.  Again, thank you for such a detailed response.  Roger

[Angelo]

You’re welkome, here is what you need if you chose the easy (whise) way : Gretsch/Bigsby Chrome Standard 8″ Guitar Tremolo/Vibrato Arm/Handle 006-1702-000  just search on ebay.com it’s for sale at 48,5 USD.

When you change your strings,  pull the circlip ( you’ll need a circlip plier for that) retaining the axe of the bigsby then take the axe out and change the lever..

[Angelo]

She could have chosen to simply copy George Harrison’s guitar wich is equipped with a Bigsby® B3C tailpiece with an offset strap button on the bottom end.

[Angelo]

and have it painted in black

But she didn’t.

[Jung Roe]

Thank you both Lisa and Angelo for that detailed explanation and illustrations of the parts.  Now when I see Lisa’s Gretsch Duo Jet, I have an idea of what I am looking at, and how it’s customized  🙂

 

[Darryl Boyd]

Cool posts Angelo. Thanks.

This forum needs a like button for posts!

[Jacki Hopper]

Thankyou as well… I’m a visual person… This helped me understand more easily the explanations and etc.

[Jung Roe]

I really like the Gretsch Duo-Jet best when it is in Lisa’s hands doing her magic finger work on it.

[Jung Roe]

[Rudolf Wagner]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Angelo! Super interesting everything illustrated like that.

And we hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay in Liverpool! Thanks again for making the big trip, it was lovely meeting you in person 🙂
Rock on!!

[Angelo]

Thank you Lisa, all the pleasure was mine and the trip was outstanding.
Thanks to all the informations you gave , here is a picture of the guitar I’m working on.