1956
Gretsch 6120

ABOUT THIS 6120

Drawn to its Dynasonic pickups and the look of the G brand, yocca in Kyoto chose a 1956 6120 and plays it hard.

This 6120 came to yocca through a senior friend they had met on social media, who mentioned they were thinking of letting their guitars go. The friend owned both a '59 and a '56 6120, and yocca first took the '59.

But then, as yocca puts it, "I just couldn't stop thinking about the '56 with the Dynasonic." They loved the sound, with its full, rounded lows and sparkling highs, and were also drawn to the look of the G brand. So yocca passed the '59 on to someone else and brought home the '56.

Two weeks after getting it, the guitar fell when a guitar stand toppled over, and the headstock broke. "Any Mac user will know what I mean," yocca says: in that moment he kept hitting Command+Z — the undo shortcut — over and over in his head. But reality wouldn't roll back. That night he talked himself round: "It's not like I crashed a car and hit someone. It could have been worse." Thanks to a repairman he was introduced to, the break has been mended so cleanly that you can hardly see it unless you look closely.

The neck has also been reset. The neck angle was originally shallow and the string tension felt slack, so the angle was corrected to allow the bridge to be set at a proper height. Afterward, the low end became firm and centered, with a "kolin" quality, and the "pachin" snap of the notes came through more clearly. yocca says it was a joy to get closer to the sound they love.

When it comes to tone, yocca generally prefers clean sounds. They want thickness but not muddiness, and brilliance but not something hard and brittle. To find that sweet spot, they try small changes to strings, picks and pickup height. For amps, yocca uses a Standel 25L15 and a '62 Fender Tremolux that came along with the guitar. The Standel has a "distinctive ring, like a bell chiming," which feels just right for hillbilly. The Tremolux is demanding to maintain and is resting for now.