A SEMI SOLID-BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR, JET FIREBIRD 6131

Together with the following lot and other vintage Gretsch guitars in his collection, the Jet Firebird 6131 is an example of one of the few instances when Jeff Beck was motivated to find and purchase vintage instruments for a specific purpose. This Gretsch was almost certainly acquired by Jeff Beck in the mid-1980s, when he was looking to faithfully reproduce the sound of one of his heroes Cliff Gallup. In an interview with Douglas Noble, originally published in The Guitar Magazine, June 1993, Beck stated that 'For 'Crazy Legs' I used a Gretsch Duo Jet - I knew Cliff [Gallup] used one 'cause there's quite a good picture on the sleeve of the album 'Blue Jean Bop'. At the time it was a mystery guitar because you couldn't see the headstock so there were all these rumours flying around about what it could be. Once we'd established it was a Duo Jet we made inroads into getting one. I bought a totally wrong one - a '63, which is now sitting upstairs in my attic.'