I have to say that after using my G6122-1959 in band situation it was slightly more muddy than my single coil pickuped Jazzmaster. It could just be the pickups. The G6122-1959 is REALLY boomy, or the Super Tron is very boomy and that may make both the trestle braced and waffle braced variations of this guitar.

My G6122-1959, as much as I love it is turning into my sit at home and play Chet tunes on more so than my live band guitar.

So what might you consider to be the best pickups for the G6122-1959?

Would it be practical to swap the Super'Tron for a T-Armond, or an HT, for example?

Or a Mega'Tron or a Power'Tron?

Good point on the pickups Captainvideo. It may just be the nature of this particular guitar despite the type of internal bracing. The selection of the pickups for the G6122-59 and especially the Super-Tron are a very large part of giving this guitar the Chet Atkins sound which was perhaps the main incentive for my purchasing it to begin with. I knew I really wanted one after hearing Paul Yandell’s album “In The Groove” which featured him using an early version of the G6122-59 Nashville Classic.

Nothern_Twang, I'm going to bet the pickups make the biggest difference in the nature of the beast that the G6122-1959 is. For example if you took a trestle braced G6122-1959 and put TV Classics in it I'm willing to bet the tonal change would be more noticible than if you were to swap the trestles for waffles.

So what might you consider to be the best pickups for the G6122-1959?

Would it be practical to swap the Super'Tron for a T-Armond, or an HT, for example?

Or a Mega'Tron or a Power'Tron?

I think the G6122-1959 already has the best pickups in it.
I guess if you wanted to make it cut through a bit more at band levels you'd have to address those instances by the band, player, and the amp that player is using.

For my example I found the G6122-1959 not cutting through enough with a surf band where the other guitarist was playing a Stratocaster. Rhythm and chord strumming the G6122-1959 was fantastic. But when it came to my turn taking a lead it just lacked the the single coil balls that the Stratocaster had. I'm probably just going to use my Jazzmaster in that band and leave the G6122-1959 at home unmolested and w/ its original pickups.

Thanks, CaptainVideo and Northern_Twang, for the feedback of your practical Experience!

Regarding the bracing that Chet's Original Guitar has, we can read what Paul Yandell wrote about this in the page that Baxter has provided for us, - which describes the Country Gentleman 6122-1959 model:

• http://gretschpages.com/gui...

"This guitar has a brace under the bridge in between the top and back. It's about 3 inches across the top and bottom and has good sustain down the neck on the bass and treble."

This is all he is all he wrote about it for us, or, at least, all we're given that he wrote, and it is clear he was trying to tell us enough to go on!

But he's definitely NOT describing trestle-bracing (let alone waffle-bracing), but actually a wider than usual sound-post, - "under the bridge in between the top and back. It's about 3 inches across the top and bottom".......... Period.

Evidently it is so much wider than is usual for sound-posts that he refers to it as a "brace," - to distinguish it from the very commonly much narrower sound-posts.

My Nashville 6120TM, from January of '92, also has a sound-post under the bridge in between the top and back. It's only about 1 3/8ths inches across at the top and bottom and narrows to about an inch most of the way through the middle. I was originally a little surprised to find that it is attached directly to the inside of the back with no other bracing or support there. It's just glued (I presume it's glued) to the back. On the inside of the top, I can see (with a dental mirror and a special 'flashlight') - and feel - two softwood stiffeners that run along parallel on each side of the pick-ups, extending to near the limits of the face. These are rounded, almost like tapered half-round dowels. The top of the sound-post rests on a sturdy block between the softwood rails, directly under the bridge.

As minimal as the bracing in my Nashville is, it sure cranks out That Great GreTscH Sound! - So much so that it makes this guitar my all around favorite to play! (Although I dearly Love the wider neck and nut of the CG-59.)

Obviously Chet's guitar has some sort of stiffeners under the face, but Paul Yandell clearly did not describe trestle-bracing! - What he did describe is really a sound-post, although a significantly wider one than my Nashville has. It seems more likely to me than anything else, that the stiffeners under the face would be similar to what my Nashville has, or Paul would have mentioned something about it!

At least that's what seems most likely to me from the info I've seen so far.