It's a 1962 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman (walnut finish) gold hardware, Neo-Classic inlays, dial-up mutes, Gretsch Bigsby vibrato, two Filter'Tron pickups, made famous by George Harrison (after his 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet semi-solid mahogany body, black finish, silver pick-guard; Serial #21179, boy I'm an anorack!).
In May 1963 Harrison upgraded to this more deluxe Gretsch he found at Sound City London, and after removing the mutes (and later the bass-side screw-up knob) used it extensively for touring and recording (first on "She Loves You" and then With The Beatles). It's also seen in the famous Royal Command performance.
When this guitar went into the shop for repair, Sound City gave him another one, but while in the shop this first Gent was stolen. It was later recovered, and Harrison, by then prefered his second Gent.
The Gent met its fate on a roadway. On 2 December 65 the Beatles' limo, bound for Glasgow for the first stop of the band's last British tour, hit a bump at Berwick on Tweed. The first Gent had been lashed to the boot and came untied, and it wound up on the road. When Ringo Starr noticed a trucker flashing his lights, he notified the driver, Alf Bicknell, who pulled over. "You've just lost a banjo back down the road," the trucker told Alf. Alf broke the news to Lennon, who told him that if he found the banjo, the driver would get a bonus: he could keep his job. Alf doubled back and found it (in pieces) but kept his job anyway. As the band was in a hurry, they left the pieces in the road and kept going.
George would later switch to a Gretsch Tennessean and his Country Gentleman made its last appearance in the music video of 'You're Going To Lose That Girl' where you can really hear its tone in the solo, (check out Ringo's ciggie) from the movie 'Help!'
I really enjoyed playing my friends guitar (which incidentally is for sale so let me know if you are interested in owning a piece of rock and roll history, if only I had the money....sigh) it has a surprisingly good action and once I got used to the electronics I managed to get some cracking authentic sounds and would love to have tried this cranked up through my Blackstar Artisan 30, I don't think I would have been able to put it down.
