[jimmy74]

I've come upon a 72 Gretsch 6117 which has a strange serial number:

5 2067 A

The letter A is a little smaller than the numbers but it is original and surely was stamped in the factory but what could it mean??

thanks

[Michiel]

Maybe a long shot, but could that be the 'A' of 'Made in USA'?
Maybe the rest of the letters have worn off?

[jimmy74]

no no the letter A is after the serial number, here's a photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7383552...83228/sizes/l/

The other strange thing about this 6117 is that the black part of the sunburst colour seems to cover a lot more of the guitar than on all the 6117's that I've seen from the 60's and 70's. And also the sides of the body are almost completely black with very little sunburst colour near the bouts.

thanks

[OpenMike1963]

WOW! Those tuners are odd-looking, too. Perhaps the "A" refers to Arkansas, where production was switched to from Brooklyn, NY, during the Baldwin era.

-OpenMike

[jimmy74]

those closed back tuners were standard when Baldwin hit full production in the early 70's...

A = Arkansas.... wouldn't that have been standard on all Baldwin produced Gretsch's?

[OpenMike1963]

Originally Posted by jimmy74

A = Arkansas.... wouldn't that have been standard on all Baldwin produced Gretsch's?

I couldn't tell ya, Jimmy. About the only thing I can say that nothing seems to have been consistent during the Baldwin era.

[Wayne Gretschzky]

I've seen my share of Gretsch serial numbers from all eras... never seen this "A". If I hadn't seen the photo, I probably wouldn't have believed you. So... thanks for the photo!