There's its period-correct ’70s Baldwin-era styling, pure White gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish, V-shaped Falcon headstock, Silver Sparkle binding, custom wound hot “Black Top” Filter’Tron pickups with three-point adjustable ’70s-style metal bezels and Duffy’s preferred Bigsby tailpiece.
Duffy’s signature model features a 17-inch wide, 2 ¾-inch deep single cutaway three-ply maple body with a three-ply maple arched top and back and two spruce parallel tone bars and sound post, a three-piece maple neck with ebony fingerboard, a chrome-plated truss rod cover with Duffy’s signature emblazoned on it, a chrome-plated output jack plate, pearloid wide-block fretboard inlays, ’70s-style aluminum “G” arrow knobs and a premium gray speckled “Billy Duffy” case.
“This guitar is very personal to me,” Duffy said. “It’s hard to separate the guitar from the evolution of (The Cult’s) sound. In essence, the big white Gretsch became synonymous with the band very quickly. I’m not really that much of a sentimental person, but in a house fire it would be the first non-living thing that I’d be going for.
“It’s not for the faint-hearted,” Duffy added. “It’s massive. You’ve got to have big hands and you’ve got to really command the instrument when you play it. You can’t really play it with any degree of fear.”
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
