Duane Eddy severed his relationship with Gretsch when Fender took over distribution. Consequently there are no more Gretsch Duane Eddy Guitars being made ever again.  Which is a real loss because The Duane Eddy Model was one of the stepped up versions and will most definitely be a collectable very valuable guitar. The guitar was introduced in 1997 and by the time they were just starting to ramp up production the model was discontinued.

Ed Roman Guitars has 1 in stock and if you are interested it is for sale.  Price will escalate depending on how long I have it.

Gretsch Introduces 6120 Duane Eddy Electric Guitar

Forty years after Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Duane Eddy purchased his first Gretsch guitar in Phoenix, the Gretsch Duane Eddy 6120 electric guitars are being introduced by Fred Gretsch Enterprises. Two Duane Eddy models are faithful reproductions of Duane's classic 1957 6120.

"My '57 red Gretsch has been part of the Duane Eddy sound since the day I got it," explained Duane. "I still have that guitar and it's still my #1 instrument. We have worked hard to make sure that these new guitars are as close as we can get to that old classic."

The Gretsch Duane Eddy 6120 incorporates many of the design features of the early Gretsch 6120 models. Single coil DynaSonic^TM pickups provide a sharp, clear tone and are identical to the guitar's original DeArmond pickups. Even the Bigsby tailpiece is authentic to the era, bringing back a Bigsby handle not available since the 1950's.

"We are delighted to have a Gretsch guitar with Duane's name and stamp of approval on it. It has been a long time coming and we are thrilled," stated Fred Gretsch, president of Fred Gretsch Enterprises. "We are very selective with the artists we work with at Gretsch. An artist must have a longtime visibility with a brand for an artist instrument to be viable. With Duane, forty years of playing Gretsch makes the Duane Eddy model a natural."

Two distinctive finishes will be available for this guitar. A new Gretsch finish, Ebony Burst, has a gray to black tone which highlights the guitar's mix of gold and silver hardware. Of course, it will also be available in Gretsch Orange.

The Duane Eddy 6120 also has an ebony fingerboard with humped-block inlay, headstock with the Gretsch horseshoe logo, and brass nut. Electronics include two DynaSonic^TM pickups, pickup selector switch, master volume and tone controls, individual pickup volume controls. The guitar's body is 16" wide and 3" deep. The Gretsch Duane Eddy models G6120-DE (ebony burst) and G6120-DEO (orange finish) will be available September, 1997 with a suggested retail price of $4500.

Specifications

Finishes: Gretsch Orange and Ebony Burst, urethane.

Hardware: Gold-plated brass knobs, switches, strap knobs.

Pickups: Two gold-plated DynaSonic^TM pickups.

Electronics: Master volume; two pickup volume; master tone; pickup selection switch.

Bridge: Space control bridge.

Tailpiece: Bigsby vibrato with flat bar. Size: 16" wide, 3" deep. Single cutaway.

Neck Scale: 24 1/2".
Joint: Set in body. Joins body at 14th fret.
Wood: Rock maple.
Fingerboard: Bound ebony with humped block markers.
Frets: 22 Nickel silver.
Nut: Brass.
Tuners: Gold-plated enclosed high gear ratio.
Headstock: Horseshoe, engraved truss rod cover.
Other: Adjustable truss rod.

Gold name plate with serial number.
 

Duane Eddy's instrumental hits from the late '50s can sound unduly basic and repetitive (especially when taken all at once), but he was vastly influential. Perhaps the most successful instrumental rocker of his time, he may have also been the man most responsible (along with Chuck Berry) for popularizing the electric rock guitar. His distinctively low, twangy riffs could be heard on no less than 15 Top Forty hits between 1958 and 1963. He was also one of the first rock stars to successfully crack the LP market.

Duane Eddy was born in Corning, New York, in 1938. Eddy started playing the guitar at age five and moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona area at thirteen. At sixteen he dropped out of high school, obtained a Chet Atkins model Gretsch guitar, performing locally, and met multi-instrumentalist Al Casey in 1955. It was while playing with Casey's group, that Eddy devised the technique of playing lead on his guitar's bass strings to produce a low, reverberant "twangy" sound.

In 1957 Eddy met Lee Hazlewood, an Arizona disc jockey who wrote songs and published music. By the late '50s, Hazlewood had branched out into production and had his own recording studio Before Duane began recording, his principal influence had been Chet Atkins, but at Hazlewood's suggestion, he started concentrating on guitar lines at the lower end of the strings. His opening riff of his debut single, "Movin' and Groovin'," cowritten with Hazelwood, would be lifted for the Beach Boys five years later to open "Surfin' U.S.A."  The song was sent to Dick Clark and Eddy was signed to a contract with Jamie Records. It was the next 45, "Rebel Rouser," that would really break him as a national star, reaching the Top Ten in 1958. Opening with a down-and-dirty, heavily echoed guitar riff, it remains the tune with which he's most often identified.

Eddy's phenomenally successful run of hits over the next few years was to some extent a variation on the "Rebel Rouser" theme. With cowboy whoops from the backup band helping driving things along, they weren't nearly as innovative as work of Link Wray during the same era, but they were much more popular. The singles -- "Peter Gunn," "Cannonball," "Shazam," and "Forty Miles of Bad Road" were probably the best -- also did their part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock & roll alive, during a time in which it was in danger of being watered down. Much of that raunch was not solely due to Eddy himself, but to the honking sax solos of Steve Douglas, who would go on to become one of the top session players in the industry. Duane would have his biggest hit, however, in 1960, when he sweetened the twang with strings for the movie theme "Because They're Young."

Eddy's records were also huge influences on legions of budding guitar players. In England, the Shadows no doubt took Eddy as one of their chief inspirations for their spare, moody sound, as one listen to their most famous hit, "Apache," makes obvious. More subtly, his influence can also be heard in the work of George Harrison. For evidence, listen to the growling riffs that decorate the verse of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

Eddy started to lose momentum in the early '60s, and left Hazelwood and the Jamie label in 1962 for the much bigger RCA. There he had a moderate hit with instrumental version of " The Palladin Ballad," the theme from the CBS television western Have Gone Will Travel, in which he also appeared  "(Dance with the) Guitar Man," which featured an atypical chorus of female chorus dubbed the Rebelettes (actually Darlene Love and the Blossoms), would be his last Top 20 hit that same year. His albums -- often based on loose themes, like A Million Dollars Worth of Twang, Twisting with Duane Eddy, and Surfing with Duane Eddy -- kept him afloat to some degree. But his style doggedly refused evolution, although scattered cuts indicate he was capable of abandoning the twang for more bluesy or straight-out rock sounds.

The British Invasion wiped Duane out commercially, although he recorded intermittently for RCA, Colpix, and Reprise through the '60s with little success. Eddy appeared in a straight dramatic role in the 1968 motorcycle movie The Savage Seven and later moved to California. He backed B.J. Thomas's 1972 hit "Rock and Roll Lullaby" and produced Phil Everly's 1973 album Star Spangled Springer.  He moved to Lake Tahoe in 1976 and had a British-only hit with " Play Me Like You Would Play Your Guitar" in 1975 and a country only hit with "You Are My Sunshine," backed by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

Eddy returned to live performing in 1983, backed by Ry Cooder and Steve Douglas In 1986, he enjoyed a brief comeback when the Art of Noise built their "Peter Gunn" hit around his guest contributions; Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ry Cooder, and Jeff Lynne all helped produce a 1987 album. It's that run of late-'50s and early-'60s hits, though, for which he'll principally be remembered.

Duane Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994