1957 Gretsch 6189 Streamliner Semihollow Electric Guitar

A local consignor dropped-by with three instruments to sell -- all of them excellent. This one was the rattiest and I bought it for myself right on the spot, handing him a wad of cash. I love old Gretsches and have owned a number of them but hadn't found the right mix of features until this one walked in.

It's got the narrower and shallower body that I like (15 5/8" lower bout), the DeArmond Dynasonic pickup I adore, a short-scale and comfy neck, and a semihollow/soundposted build internally. That ticks the boxes -- plus it's banana yellow. Oops! I mean, "Bamboo Yellow." It's also beat-up enough that I'm not going to care about bumping it into things -- and by the looks of it, most of the wear and tear is honest playwear.

There are things I would do (and will do, probably) with this guitar if I want it to be 100% perfect -- like a neck reset, board plane, and refret -- but I got away with just leveling/dressing the frets a whole bunch and setting it up decently. It's good to go for the now.

What's nice is that, aside from the tuners and my new strap button on the upper bout, it's entirely-original. The pickguard still has its funny pad of paper behind the bracket, even. Oops! Well, there's also a replacement inlay -- the 15th-fret marker is pearl instead of pearloid. The Melita bridge is also a little wonky. It was missing half of its adjuster-tightening mechanisms so I've just slide the adjustable saddle inserts into place and tacked them with a dot of superglue. A simple tap of a small hammer and they'll pop out, no problem. Bridge muting is a lot more possible this way, too...

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, cleaning, replacement tuners, and setup.

Body wood: ply maple

Bridge: original Melita adjustable

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 1x DeArmond Dynasonic single coil

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 50w-11

Neck shape: slim C/D

Board radius: ~10"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-wider

Scale length: 24 9/16"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 15 5/8"

Body depth: 2 3/4" + arching

Weight: 7 lbs 1 oz