T.K. Smith's 1956 Gretsch 6128

I am a big fan of T.K. Smith's work. I had seen him play guitar years ago with Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys and thought he was a great player...but I didn't know who he was. Years later, through the miracle of technology and chance, I now follow him and his fine work on Instagram (@tksmithguitar). He does some cool custom work, mods and other cool things to Telecasters and pickguards and whatnot. I just went to his website to check out more of his work and discovered this story that he posted about wanting to know whatever happened to his 1956 Gretsch 6128. Here is his story:

1956 Gretsch 6128

by T.K. Smith

Lately I’ve been wondering where my ’56 Gretsch 6128 ended up. It was in my possession for about six years from ’89 until ’95. During that time, I used it on Big Sandy’s ‘’On the Go’’ LP, and a few other Fly Rite Trio recordings.  Of all the guitars I’ve bought and sold over the years, I wish I ‘d hung on to this one. Throughout the eighties I owned a couple of Duo Jets and a Jet Firebird, you could find them for around $600 to $1200. The one I ended up keeping I found at a place on Sunset Blvd called ‘’Guitars R Us’’. I think I paid $1100 for it. It was a ’56, the neck had been reset and the back was refinished.  This guitar was nice because unlike the other beat up old Gretsch guitars that I had owned, I could use 13’s on it and not worry about the neck coming unglued. Of the few details I can remember about it, one is that the headstock had been drilled out for 3/8’’ tuners, so I stuck an old set of PMMH-015 Grovers on it. The guitar also had a push-pull pot on the tone control to put it in and out of phase. I used to have the S/N written down on a little piece of paper in my toolbox but it’s long gone now. When I left the band in ’92 I didn’t play it much and thought it was a shame to have such a nice guitar just sit in a case under the bed. So around ’95 or ’96 I put it on consignment at a music store called Music Music down in El Cajon, Ca. I think it sat there for about a year before it sold. I know it’s a long shot, but if anyone has a clue as to where my Gretsch is now, I’d love to know.

(Here is a video of T.K. on this very guitar with Big Sandy...)