Just checking before I load it up with the text and pics from last night's aborted attempt.

I can respond to it, so far so good.

Here is my attempt.

Yeah, but so far it's not the most interesting thread...so far.

Great! So the story so far, from the previous DOA post:

"As most of you know, I won this guitar at the last Nashville Roundup. I have to be honest. When this model came out in 2008 I was somewhat underwhelmed with the cosmetics. When Bax got his that same year, I didn't get a good close look at it, nor did I get a chance to plug it in and play it.

Well, I've had mine for roughly 7 months now, and I can confidently say that it has become "My Number 1." There's still a lots of time left on this honeymoon!

IMHO it's the most versatile Hollowbody model that Gretsch currently makes (Power Tenny is out of production). This guitar can do it all... and do it VERY well."

At this point I went in to some diatribe about how I rarely name my guitars. To which I added that this particular guitar was certainly befitting of a name. So once again, in honor of the lovely lady in the first picture, who shook my winning pick out of the guitar at the 2011 Nashville Roundup, my 6118LTV-125 Anniversary shall from this point forward be christened as "Belle". (many thanks to the Fieldhouse clan!)

And now that everything seems to be working this time around, once again a very special thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, Amy, for taking and editing the additional pictures.

Last but not least, I now have my "blues name" from this thread, So I guess you could call the guy in the last three photos "Skinny Sugar Hopkins".

Seriously, This guitar is "it." At least until I acquire Curt's '58 Country Club!

You need to send it to me! You're gonna play it to much and wear it out !

Cool photos.

Congrats on an enduring love affair ! Nice guitar !

Hey what are those 3 ring thingies ? Dampeners I'd say, right ? What are they and where do you get em ? I occassionally get a weird vibration that seems to be coming from behind the bridge so I guess these little guys do the trick eh ?

Man, I love a happy ending.

However, I don't think you will get Curt's '58 Club without one hell of a fight.

It's a beauty. Congrats. I'm curious what other owners think.

The ring thingies are rubber grommets. You can buy them at a hardware store. They damp that behind-the-bridge nuisance we sometimes get.

You have to love a jag tan annie. Super. I like the photos.

good going, Rob. I mean, "Skinny Sugar Hopkins". you've chosen a good "old fashioned" Southern name. you could almost call her your Southern "Belle".

Buddy "Sugar" Bailey

Hot Damn Man!!! You got that beautiful axe for like FREE....sorry dude but your blues handle will be for always " LUCKY Skinny Sugar Hopkins ". Wow that is definetly "tits up"

These have got to be the best photos of the 125th Annie on the net, nicely captured.

The Jag Tan is a great color, its never too embarrassing or out of place in any venue or style. Looks like a players guitar.

What are the red rings under the volume controls? Makes a nice color contrast.

Nice! Congrats on that looker of a guit

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad I finally got a "functional" thread for this post.

MitchC--, MTurner is correct. the black rings are rubber grommets. Sympathetic "harp tones" behind the bridge really bug me, so I use the grommets to kill them. I picked up this trick years ago when I started playing mandolin-- it's a fairly common practice in the mandolin universe.

Rowbo-- the red rings are actually felt spool pads from a sewing machine. I learned this trick from fellow GDP member Wenzel. I've got green pads on a few guitars, and red on a few. Not much functionality here, I just like the contrast that they bring to the guitar's aesthetics. Also, the great thing about the Jag Tan color is that underneath multi-color stage lights, it behaves much like the finish on a White Falcon-- that is to say it takes on the colors of the stage lighting to a large degree-- which gives it a different look in different venues.

And I never thought I would like Powertrons-- boy, was I wrong! This baby made a believer out of me. It's got some great jangle when picked lightly, but when you dig in, it can really roar. And the thing is that, among my guitar-playing friends, EVERYONE wants to play the Jag-Tan Annie!

Spool pads........nice, I see them on ebay.

The Powertrons took a little bit of taming for me. I had too much bass happening and the output level tended to overwhelm the preamp adding mud. So I needed to have the ability to turn the volume down on the guitar. Therefore added the TV Jones tone bypass mod to the master volume and bridge pickup volume controls. This leaves the highs in place when turning down the volume.

Bridge pickup mainly needed some adjustment. Screwed down the pole pieces to be level on both sides of the pickup, dropped the bass side of both pickups down a little bit.
Modified my amp cabinet Hiwatt 2x12 with Fanes from port back enclosure to open back, to take the bass emphasis away. Fanes tend to be more broad spectrum than say celestions.

Viola sounds great with my rig.

I use to have Fender Twin silver face and I bet it would sound great with this amp straight out of the box. What amp are you running?

For small venues, I often run a Kustom Defender 15H Head (4/15 watts, 2xEL84) with a matchng 1x12 cab. For larger venues, its a Kustom 72 Coupe (72 watts, 4x6L6). The clean channel on the 72 has a very Silver-Face-ish vibe to it.

Wanna trade?

OK...I see, the guitar loves those big iron amps!!

Mine is a Hiwatt Studio/Stage 20/40W, 4 x EL84 . It has the usual Hiwatt parametric type tone controls unlike any other amp, so hence all the changes I made to get the tone I wanted.

I hear you....its nice how the guitar takes on the personality of the lighting environment just like the White Falcon without the bling overload.

Wanna trade?

"Wanna trade?" -- Curt

Curt, I don't think I'm even in the same country, much less the same the ballpark!

Rowbo, I WISH the Kustom 15H head had big iron-- it's transformer is tiny by vintage standards. The big 72 Coupe is nice though. Even so, I usually rehearse with a Fender Deluxe 112, which is a solid state amp. It works great on that too. However, the most impressive natural overdrive sound I've ever gotten out of it was with a 1950's Ampro Sylist 16mm Projector Amplifier (yes, a movie projector amp!) That was some snarly tone there!

I guess I am trying to say it may have the ability to overdrive those old Fender clean machines and the like, into the dream zone. Yeah its amazing how good 1 watt or less can sound, I have had similar experience with old tube portable record player amps etc. Anyway, play on thread

Rob, I can't say I'm surprised about your fondness for the Powertrons. Ever since I got my Power Tenny I've appreciated the versatility (thanks to Joel at Shanghai for demonstrating that). Through Fender style amps, they really show their stuff. I think the bracing gives it a unique voice too.

I wasn't sure about the Jag-Tan color at first, but I've since learned to appreciate it. Never seen one under stage lights.

Belle will be flattered to hear about you naming the guitar after her. I can tell you she needed something like that after losing my father in law. She recently told me that the last Roundup was the most fun she had in many years, and she was honored to be a part of it.

Congratulations Lucky Skinny Sugar Hopkins! I can see why this guitar is your #1. I just got a Powertron pickup for a custom project so I'm glad to hear how much you like them.

I'm excited for you that you won this for free. It's like you've been handed your destiny!

You didn't even ask Curt what he wants to trade. What if he wants to trade his Club for it? I know it's a long shot but you never know.