Product: Gretsch 7611 Roc Jet
Price Paid: US $150 used
Submitted
01/12/2003
at
08:15am
by
Carl
Features
:
9
This is a USA built, Gretsch 7611 (formally 6127) Roc Jet. Serial number is 4-2098, which stands for April 1972, the 98th guitar in that model built that month. "4"month, "2"year, "098"number that month.
Has 22 frets (plus the "0" fret).
Solid one piece maple top.
Has a 3 way switch with 2 tone, 2 volume, and a master volume on the cutaway.
Has 2 SuperTron pickups.
The body and neck are mahogony, with an ebony fingerboard.
Finish was originally the Porsche Pumpkin Orange with dark stain on the body and neck. I stupidly had it refinished in the late 70's to natural (which I love, but destroys the value).
The body style is a Roc Jet, which is a little larger then a LP, but thinner and lighter.
Has a chrome tail piece, and an adjustable bridge.
Stock tuners, but concealed and hold tune.
The neck is wide but thin, and easy to play.
Have the original Roc Jet hard case.
I purchased this guitar in 1974 used for about $150.00.
It originally had the Porsche Pumpkin orange paint, which
Sound
:
8
Sound has always been thinish compared to an LP, but has more body then a strat. I used to run through a distortion box to rough up the sound a little, into either a Fender Twin, and earlier into a Traner(not sure on the spelling) solid State amp (which was awful toneless). I ended up doing a funky stack of combining a Lafayette Tube amp with the Traner, and got a pretty good sound out the the Gretch.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
Action is great, as it has the adjustable bridge, which can be raised or lowered, and has a straight on neck.
Guitar used to be a butt ugly "Porsche Pumpkin" orange, which I hated. I had a guy refinish it back in the late 70's. After he pulled off the original finish, I just fell in love with the natural look of the guitar, and had him literally clear coat it. The grain of the wood is beautiful!
Reliability/Durability
:
9
Well, 30 yeears later, and I am still playing it. In all honesty, I had the thing basically complete redone in the late 70's though (rewired after being refinished), but it has the original pots, pickups, hardware. The neck came off at the body, but was basically a reglue by a violin/guitar builder up in Vermont. The strap bottons are screw-ons, and keep the strap on tight!
I gigged without a back-up to this guitar for many years.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
The original Gretsch company is long gone, so I don't know if the new Gretsch (which is basically a jobber, and I think they source from Samick or someone else) would be helpful at all. Never had to contact them.
Overall Rating
:
9
Overall, I have come to love this guitar. Used to hate it. All my friends had LPs or Strats. This Roc Jet was sort of the odd lot of the guitars. But after all these years, I would bet I'm the only one to still have their original guitar, and I just love the action and such.
If stolen, would be heart broken, but I couldn't afford to buy a Vintage Roc Jet today.
