The Gretsch Pages: Discussions: Vintage Gretsch Guitars: Whatever became of Mike Nesmith's 6076 12-String?

Whatever became of Mike Nesmith's 6076 12-String?

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- Rated: 44 ↑
Apr 6, 2008 9:26 p.m. audiodrome:

I've read a little bit about this guitar, but the info is kind of scarce. Was his particular guitar a one-off model or just a very limited production model? Does anyone know whatever ever became of this actual guitar? I wonder if he still owns it. I know that he still has his "Black Beauty" Les Paul. To me, that Gretsch 12-string is iconic as any Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughn guitar.
- Rated: 98 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 8:44 a.m. sassy:

I wish it was for sale...I'd love to have it
- Rated: 44 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 10:06 a.m. audiodrome:

I hate it when people answer their own questions, but I just found out that it was stolen from "Red" Rhodes guitar shop in Hollywood in late 1967, so it's out there somewhere. The last appearance of this guitar was at a filming session at Fred Niles Film Studios in Chicago, which produced those classic "Rainbow Room" clips of Daydream Believer, Love Is Only Sleeping, and Randy Scouse Git.
- Rated: 98 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 10:11 a.m. sassy:

What's a Gretsch 12 String doing in a guitar repair shop ???

What a shame....Freakin' Thieves
- Rated: 59 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 10:35 a.m. dmanlow:

Is this the only model with the Shark Fin fret inlays?
- Rated: 20 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 11:59 a.m. jameslynch:

Always loved that guitar! They should reissue it.
- Rated: 58 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 1:26 p.m. JC:

And his was the rare 17" wide model, as most i have seen are 16" wide.

Ya gotta reissue this one Joe
- Rated: 16 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 1:55 p.m. caliban335:

It would be nice to see a re-issue, but I wonder how well 12s do in the market these days. I took my Guild Starfire XII in for a setup about 18 months ago and the tech asked if I wanted it strung for 6 or 12. I was really surprised at the question, but he said more than a few people take te 6 string route.

12 string guitars are magical, particularly when played by someone like Roger McGuinn or Mike Campbell.
audiodrome said: I've read a little bit about this guitar, but the info is kind of scarce.

Do you know the neck scale and width? I'd love to get a short scale 12 with a 1.75" neck.
- Rated: 40 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 3:20 p.m. Parabar:

Isn't this the model Eastwood based their "Classic 12" on? They offer it in either walnut or sunburst, but it even has the "sharkfin" inlays.
- Rated: 21 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 6:37 p.m. DCBirdMan:

Well, they reissued the Gent in a 12 string version... you see those around. So the Monkees Gretsch 12 is out there, just like those several "lost" Harrison Gretsches, (or at least his Tennesean. Then a while ago a guy wrote in here saying how his father from the Sounds, Inc. in the UK had the Gretsch 12 that had belonged to George...

Makes you wonder what happened to the Peter Tork Gretsch 6073 bass. I read somewhere he went thru a rough patch in the early 70s, dropped out, sold all his gear... this is unsubstantiated info, of course.
- Rated: 21 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 6:39 p.m. DCBirdMan:

And that is Jeff Skunk Baxter who was working there?? No slouch of a guitar player ,he.
- Rated: 14 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 8:01 p.m. SJB66:

I would love to have one of these guitars. I am seriously thinking about getting one from a place in South Bend Indiana (about 4 hours from here)called 'Woodwing & Brass'. They have the newer version without the triangular inlay's. They are $1999 w/case and free shipping and 45 day trial period. The picture on the site looks amazing. Also, I would love to know what happened to the Viking he sometimes played, the black and red sunburst. That was a nice looking guitar also. Karl
- Rated: 32 ↑
Apr 7, 2008 8:36 p.m. TomfromPA:

In response to the original question I'm tempted to say "a musician bought it". But that would be mean spirited.
- Rated: 14 ↑
Apr 8, 2008 10:05 a.m. SJB66:

Back in 1996 Mike had Gretsch make him a new one which he used for the 'Justus' album sessions. There are pix floating around of him using it. Karl
- Rated: 15 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 2:42 a.m. Drew Morrison:

audiodrome said: To me, that Gretsch 12-string is iconic as any Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughn guitar.

I could not agree more!

Mike Nesmith what a class act, an unsung Hero methinks.

Gretsch reissued this guitar some years ago, I never managed to locate one (here in the UK), in order to give it a try but they looked really good in the brochure.

Yours

Drew
- Rated: 15 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 9:42 a.m. Drew Morrison:

audiodrome,

Here is a link to the reissue I was mentioning.

http://www.wwbw.com/Gretsch-6122-12-String-Amber---Limited-Edition--Hollowbody-Gui...

Apparently, Mike Nesmith asked Gretsch to make him his famous twelve string. Please see link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretsch

Yours

Drew
- Rated: 44 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 11:47 a.m. audiodrome:

Drew Morrison said: Here is a link to the reissue I was mentioning.

http://www.wwbw.com/Gretsch-6122-12-String-Amber---Limited-Edition--Hollowbody-Guitar...
Wow - I never knew! That is one beautiful guitar! I'm surprised that they didn't call it the Mike Nesmith model, but I guess it's not exactly the same as the 6076. It's more like an amber/natural finish 12-string Country Gentleman.

According to the Jay Scott Gretsch book, Mike's 6076 was one-of-a-kind. None of the stock models, as rare as they are, had gold holdware, or a back pad, so if that guitar ever showed up in public, it would be a dead giveaway!
- Rated: 3 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 2:19 p.m. MattMPa:

This post has been deleted
- Rated: 3 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 2:21 p.m. MattMPa:

I'd agree that Nesmith is an unsung hero of Rock & Roll. (For that matter, I tend to go with underdogs anyhow)

In my opinion, the Monkees best material were pieces written by him.

To this day, I still think Joanne and Silver Moon are great tunes.

Since the Monkees were "manufactured", they never got much credit...but some of their stuff was great.
- Rated: 13 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 2:59 p.m. cardesnr99:

Mike's not quite unsung...my ten-year-old daughter (the light of my life) is named after a song on his "Tropical Campfires..." album: "Juliana".
- Rated: 20 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 3:29 p.m. jameslynch:

when I joined "The Cavern Beat" in the George Harrison role, I was having a REAL hard time finding a C-series Ric 360/12. Nobody was selling and the wait (as all you ric guys know) is like 18 years or something...

So I found someone with a brand new Country Gent 12 string and ALMOST bought it!! I figured it looked enough like my regular six string Gent that nobody would notice the switch!! I love Gretsch anyways and I knew the guitar would play and sound great... as luck would have it I found a c-series less than a year old in MINT condition and was forced to "settle" for it. still think about it from time to time though...
- Rated: 20 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 3:33 p.m. jameslynch:

on the subject of Nesmith...

he is an AMAZING talent that is not sufficiently recognized. Awesome song writer, great vocalist..cool guy and a BRILLIANT innovator in MANY aspects of music and film.

when I play acoustic solo shows, I almost ALWAYS include "Some of Shelley's blues" and "Listen to the band" but there are so many other great songs to choose from.. "Harmony Constant" for example.
- Rated: 9 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 5:46 p.m. zero:

i was under the impression they were all actors save Nesmith who could actually play damn well as well as have good musicianship.
- Rated: 21 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 6:31 p.m. guitarcapo:

The story I heard was that casting was ordered to hire two musicians and two actor/singers. Tork and Nesmith were the musicians and Micky and Davey were the actor/singers
- Rated: 84 ↑
Apr 10, 2008 6:41 p.m. Mark Synchro:

Tork was a musician too, friends with Stephen Stills, etc. Nesmith was very serious about his music and the fact that there were two different camps (actors and musicians) caused problems. As I understand it, they all got along fairly well, but the musicians wanted to express themselves musically and wanted a voice in the musical direction of the show while the actors were satisfied to play their roles and to let the music be, as it were, outsourced to some extent. Neither side was wrong, but it did cause its share of trouble.

Edited to add: I wrote my post before seing GuitarCapo's post. Sorry for the overlap.