Gretsch guitars: 6189 Viking

Gretsch 6189 Viking
<p>With less flash than a Falcon and more features than a Country Club, the Viking was all set to plunder and pillage the mid-60's marketplace. It didn't exactly work out that way, but the Viking was still a pretty nice guitar, especially for fans of Gretsch gadgetry. </p> <p>The Viking was second only to the White Falcon in the 1964 Gretsch lineup. Fittings and finish on the 17-inch guitars were the best Gretsch could offer, and it came complete with a full complement of the unusual Gretsch offerings of the day, such as the &quot;Floating Sound&quot; unit and &quot;T-zone tempered treble&quot; upper frets. </p> <p>Vikings were offered in 6187 (sunburst), 6188 (natural) and 6189 (Cadillac Green) variants, with the 6187 being the most common, and the 6189 being the rarest. </p> <p>SuperTron pickups were also standard on all Vikings. It was the first guitar to feature them. </p> <p>With gadgets being the Vikings main claim to fame, of course Balwin began dropping them. By the early 70s, there was little to distinguish the Viking from a Country Club. For 1973, the Viking was re-designated 7585 (sunburst) and 7586 (natural), and then it was unceremoniously dropped from the lineup for 1974. </p> <p>It didn't even get a Viking funeral. </p>

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Comments

  1. Prussia wrote:
    I own a l967 Cadillac Green Viking and it just rips! The Supertron bar pickup in the neck position allows for mellow, jazzy playing if you like while the bladed Supertron pickup in the bridge position is set slightly closer to the strings than usual so the trebles are really trebly. The Floating Sound Unit slightly deadens the lower octave wound strings but this can be compensated for by using the lightest gauge strings possible. The advantage (and there is an advantage) to the Floating Sound Unit is that the guitar has the sustain of a solid body guitar -- the notes just hang there forever -- and yet because it is a hollow body with "f" holes, it has the warmth of a hollow body. Just a great guitar to play and -- for me -- better sounding than Country Gentleman's of the same era.

    — Mar 8, 2007 3:53 p.m.

  2. shifrin wrote:
    I just bought a 1966 Cadillac Green Viking. It took an afternoon of work to strip it down, wax and polish the body as hardware, but after I was done, the 41 year old guitar shone remarkably well. After adjusting the floating bridge into the correct intonation, the sound was remarkable, both plugged into a Vox tube amp and even unplugged. You can hear the remarkable resnonance off the plastic resonator in the back of the body. The shound through a tube amp was bitingly sharp, something that some of the newer guitars truly lack. The one thing that surprised me was that when doing some research into this guitar, I wasn't able to find a single photo on the internet of the Cadillac Green model. I'll do my best to get a pic to this site.

    — Nov 4, 2007 4:36 p.m.

User Ratings:

Overall rating:
5 (out of 5), 2 ratings
Playability rating:
5 (out of 5), 2 ratings
Collectibility rating:
5 (out of 5), 2 ratings

Basic Viking specs:

Body Material
Maple
Scale
25&frac12;"
Binding
Black and white on body, neck and headstock

1964:

The Cadillac Green 6189 Viking would prove to be the shortest-lived and rarest of the tribe.

Body Width
17"
Body Depth
1 7/8"
Body Style
Double Cutaway Hollowbody
Colors
  • Cadillac Green
Fretboard Wood
Ebony
Fretboard Markers
T-Zone Tempered Treble
Nut
Zero Fret/Bone
Tuners
Grover Imperial
Neck Pickup
SuperTron
Bridge Pickup
SuperTron
Controls
  • Master Volume
  • Neck pickup volume
  • Bridge pickup volume
  • Pickup selector switch
  • Tone Switch
  • Standby Switch
  • String Mute
Bridge
Space Control
Tailpiece
Telescoping arm Bigsby
Pickguard
Gold, with Gretsch and Viking logo in black

1966:

Like the other Vikings, for 1966 the 6189 got a Floating Sound Unit bridge.

Body Width
17"
Body Depth
1 7/8"
Body Style
Double Cutaway Hollowbody
Colors
  • Cadillac Green
Fretboard Wood
Ebony
Fretboard Markers
T-Zone Tempered Treble
Nut
Zero Fret/Bone
Tuners
Grover Imperial
Neck Pickup
SuperTron
Bridge Pickup
SuperTron
Controls
  • Master Volume
  • Neck pickup volume
  • Bridge pickup volume
  • Pickup selector switch
  • Tone Switch
  • Standby Switch
  • String Mute
Bridge
Floating Sound Unit
Tailpiece
Telescoping arm Bigsby
Pickguard
Gold, with Gretsch and Viking logo in black

1967:

Final year for Cadillac Green 6189 Viking.

Body Width
17"
Body Depth
1 7/8"
Body Style
Double Cutaway Hollowbody
Colors
  • Cadillac Green
Fretboard Wood
Ebony
Fretboard Markers
T-Zone Tempered Treble
Nut
Zero Fret/Bone
Tuners
Grover Imperial
Neck Pickup
SuperTron
Bridge Pickup
SuperTron
Controls
  • Master Volume
  • Neck pickup volume
  • Bridge pickup volume
  • Pickup selector switch
  • Tone Switch
  • Standby Switch
  • String Mute
Bridge
Floating Sound Unit
Tailpiece
Telescoping arm Bigsby
Pickguard
Gold, with Gretsch and Viking logo in black