The neck-position pickup looks out of place among the vintage style appointments of this reissue of the 1957 Chet Atkins Hollow Body (Model 6120).

It’s actually a Gibson-style P-90, and it’s on this Gretsch because rockabilly star Eddie Cochran put on one on his Gretsch 6120 in the 1950s. Cochran hit the Top Ten in 1958 with “Summertime Blues” and appeared in three rock’n’roll movies before he died in a London traffic accident in 1960. Along with instrumental star Duane Eddy (whose “twangy guitar” was a Gretsch 6120 before it was a Guild), Cochran helped build Gretsch’s reputation as the home of the rockabilly guitar – a reputation that continues today with Brian Setzer’s instrument.

Gretsch’s press announcement for the model in 2001 was headlined “Rockabilly Legend Eddie Cochran Remembered with G6120W-1957 Model”, but before long, Gretsch seemed to forget. The more current promotional pitch for the model known as the 1957 Chet Atkins Hollow Body begins with “C’mon Everybody”, the title of one of Cochran’s singles, but Cochran’s name is no longer mentioned.