NBD : ´63 Gretsch 6070

[amptech]

Just in!
Nice bass, fantastic hollowbody sound... The neck is a huge log, though.
Killer looks for sure. So now I´m in the Gretsch club, too.
Had to let a ´67 EB3 go to get this one.

[Pilgrim]

Oh, mama.  What a GREAT-looking bass! 

I wonder what kind of -tron pickup they used in 1967??

[amptech]

The Gretsch bass is from 1963, I was told it was a ´supertron´but not sure. My gruhn´s guide say little about these basses. It is looks like a filtertron with blades.

It sounds really good, but the pickup lies on top of the body - cannot adjust it´s height. If I lower the action for better playability, the strings hit the blades. Maybe a neck reset is needed.

But the acoustic sound, wow....

[godofthunder]

  The House of Guitars gad one of these for years. Bigest neck I ever played!

[ilan]

Welcome to the club!

Here's my 6070

[Dave W]

Congratulations.

I've played one in a store before, in the late 90s, it also had an enormous neck.

[amptech]

That neck is so big you just gotta laugh, but such a big lump of maple sure does something with the sound.

Ilan; nice sunburst.. I have a couple of questions : Can you set the action on yours low enough without touching the pickup?

And, the previous owner said he had someone to disengage the switch below the mute, as it was just a ´kill´switch.
Is that right? It has three positions?

[drbassman]

That is nice looking!  Very cool vintage vibe.  I played one too, the neck's too big for me.  The RI 6072 was much more playable.

Is this a short scale?  I don't remember if they were or not.

[amptech]

It´s long. I must say it is very much playable - I have played skinnier necks that was ´harder´to play.

According to gruhn, the 6070 and the two pickup 6072 are long scale, while the 6071 and two pickup 6073 were shorties.
The 6071/3´s had 29" scale, only one cutaway zero fret, 4-on a side tuners, and they were only produced between 1968 and 1972. But the book says nothing wether or not the short scales had log neck like the long scales

[ilan]

Can you set the action on yours low enough without touching the pickup?

And, the previous owner said he had someone to disengage the switch below the mute, as it was just a ´kill´switch.
Is that right? It has three positions?

Some previous owner messed with the electronics on my bass too, so I don't know. I also made it a kill switch...

The action is low and the strings don't touch the pickup, but if I could I'd lower it a bit.

[Dave W]

The only short scale one I've ever seen also looked like it had a big neck although I didn't play it.

There's a 6071 for sale now at Cream City Music in Wisconsin. The neck is described as chunky.

[Hörnisse]

They called them the "John Holmes" model for a reason.

[chromium]

Congrats- nice looking bass!

This is only one I recall seeing "in the wild":

[ilan]

Entwistle had a 6070 in 1965.

In a 1975 interview he said: "... Then I got rid of the Precision and got a Gretsch bass, which I could hardly play. I played it for ten minutes, and my hand got worn out."

[ilan]

According to Gretsch, the switch below the mute was originally a kill switch.

http://www.gretschguitars.com/blog/product-plugs/six-great-extinct-gretsch-basses/