WASHINGTON (AP) — Brian Setzer is giving his signature orange Gretsch guitar to the Smithsonian Institution.
The National Museum of American History announced Monday that the Grammy Award-winning musician is donating his guitar to the museum’s music collection. Setzer is known for reviving the 1950s rockabilly style with his 1980s group the Stray Cats, and later for his revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
The guitar is actually a replica of Setzer’s original 1959 Gretsch guitar. As that guitar aged, it began to fall apart. A master guitar builder replicated every detail of the original and created an exact replica in 2006 that Setzer has been playing.
Setzer’s guitar joins other instruments at the Smithsonian, including John Coltrane’s saxophone, Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet and Eddie Van Halen’s “Frank 2” guitar.
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