Neil Young has been reunited with the Gretsch 6120 electric guitar he played during his Squires days after finding it online – and he brought it out on stage for the first time in 60 years during a recent gig in Ohio.
Young has played a handful of Gretsch 6120s over the years – including the two he favored in Buffalo Springfield – but his very first orange-finished hollowbody is perhaps his most revered. First acquired in Winnipeg in 1963, the Gretsch was Young’s guitar of choice in one of his first bands, The Squires, and stayed with him until it was either sold or pawned in September 1965.
According to Sugar Mountain, Young parted ways with this particular Gretsch 6120 so he could purchase a Gibson 12-string. Now, six decades later, Young finally has his hands on his Squires guitar, and he’s wasted no time in putting it back into action.
During a show last Friday (August 15), Young told the story of how he managed to re-acquire the famed Gretsch, revealing that Randy Bachman – who found his own missing guitar in a similar fashion – is partly to thank.
“Randy Bachman called me up and he said, ‘Remember when we used to have those guitars?’ We played together 50 or 60 years ago in a little town called Winnipeg. We knew each other for a long time.
“He says, ‘I found my guitar, the guitar I used to have when I was with Bachman Turner Overdrive.’ I said, ‘That’s great, Randy.’ He says, ‘I can tell you how I got it. I got a picture of it taken back in the day and I put it on the internet and looked and looked.’”
Bachman's recovery of his own 6120 is, of course, well-documented. The guitarist's reunion with his long-lost Gretsch made headlines back in 2022, after it was returned to him by Japanese rockabilly great Takeshi.
As such, Bachman’s advice proved to be the game-changer. Some time after, Young discovered that a picture of his own guitar had been put online, and after matching the grain between pictures – and, we imagine, some more extensive authentication – was promptly reunited with it.
“Finally, someone has taken my guitar from the Squires and put it online. You could see the grain, it was the same. So, here it is,” Young concludes, before refamiliarising himself with the Squires Gretsch by taking it for a spin on Mr. Soul.
For the tour shows that have followed, Young has continued to take out the 6120 out for Mr. Soul. It was but one of many notable occurrences to have taken place so far on Young’s tour – last week, he also debuted a new song, Silver Eagle.
Young and Bachman's gear connection goes far beyond a shared experience for recovering Gretsch guitars. Earlier this year, Bachman revealed how he and Young used to share guitar amps as up-and-coming guitarists.
