Question for guitar players. How do you feel about Gretsch guitars?

#26
#26
I agree on the import guitars more than holding their own now. American made guitars are hit or miss as well. Play a lot of them, find one that is close to right and then do a nice pro setup / enjoy.
 
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#27
#27
sona said:
I agree on the import guitars more than holding their own now. American made guitars are hit or miss as well. Play a lot of them, find one that is close to right and then do a nice pro setup / enjoy.
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Really the biggest difference now with high end import guitars and USA made guitars is the finish. Most USA models have nitrocellulose finishes where imports have polyurethane finishes. Nitrocellulose is a thinner, slightly duller, more porous finish that allows more resonance from the guitar. The down side is nitrocellulose eventually yellows and cracks due to the wood of the guitar expanding and contracting over time. Its also horrible for the environment. Polyurethane is thicker, lasts way longer, and will preserve the look of the guitar for much much longer. The downside is Polyurethane isnt porous at all and "dampens" the sound more where it's less resonant and doesn't ring out quite as much. Thats not to say poly guitars sound bad. Far from it actually. Only in a side by side would you even hear a difference and I guarantee you a listening audience would NEVER hear the difference. Considering the cost difference between them, I would say the difference is not worth it.
 
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#28
#28
Thought I would update this thread. I finally pulled the trigger on this baby today! It's a G5420T "aspen green" Gretsch hollowbody, made in S. Korea. These have a list price of 849.99 but I was able to get it for 699.99. It should be arriving around the end of next week! I'm so excited to play it! Merry Christmas to me!

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#29
#29
Brave Volunteer said:
I haven't bought a new guitar in over 10 years and lately, I've really been wanting to add a hollow body to my collection. I like the idea of having something with that big, wide, Beatle-esque sound that I can just pick up and either strum on acoustically or plug in and play through my Amp. Gretsch seems to have a pretty good reputation with these kinds of guitars and I was wondering if anyone here owns/has owned or played Gretsch before that can give me their feedback (no pun intended) on their experience with them.
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I purchased a used Gretch Electromatic Double Jet with a bigsby from reverb a couple months ago. I like it. Plays great, very solid. Veristle as well. I like the master volume with two independent volume and one tone feature. This is my first Gretch. The neck is very nice and was setup great. I'm not sure if this was related to the previous owner or good quality work from factory. Neck scale is 24.75 same as a Gibson. I hope this helps.
 
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#30
#30
Brave Volunteer said:
Thought I would update this thread. I finally pulled the trigger on this baby today! It's a G5420T "aspen green" Gretsch hollowbody, made in S. Korea. These have a list price of 849.99 but I was able to get it for 699.99. It should be arriving around the end of next week! I'm so excited to play it! Merry Christmas to me!

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Awesome, that is sharp. I was late to the party.
 
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#31
#31
FïreBall said:
I purchased a used Gretch Electromatic Double Jet with a bigsby from reverb a couple months ago. I like it. Plays great, very solid. Veristle as well. I like the master volume with two independent volume and one tone feature. This is my first Gretch. The neck is very nice and was setup great. I'm not sure if this was related to the previous owner or good quality work from factory. Neck scale is 24.75 same as a Gibson. I hope this helps.
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Awesome! This will be my first Gretsch as well. I've been wanting a hollow body to add to my arsenal for a while and the Gretsch just "speaks" to me!

Tell me, how do you like the Bigsby? That's the one thing about this guitar that I'm not enamored with. Converting to a stoptail will be easy enough though, if I decide to do so. I've just heard a lot of negative feedback regarding Bigsbys and making the guitar go out of tune. Plus I hear that changing strings is kind of a pain in the butt on Bigsbys. Have you experience that with yours?
 
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#32
#32
Brave Volunteer said:
Awesome! This will be my first Gretsch as well. I've been wanting a hollow body to add to my arsenal for a while and the Gretsch just "speaks" to me!

Tell me, how do you like the Bigsby? That's the one thing about this guitar that I'm not enamored with. Converting to a stoptail will be easy enough though, if I decide to do so. I've just heard a lot of negative feedback regarding Bigsbys and making the guitar go out of tune. Plus I hear that changing strings is kind of a pain in the butt on Bigsbys. Have you experience that with yours?
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This is my first bigsby guitar. I have a couple with Floyds, one floating and the Wolfgang that will dive only. The bigsby is cool. It doesn't dive like a Floyd.. Is good for tremolo effects. Mine stays in tune well. I normally stretch strings to help with this and try to keep wraps on tuning keys to a minimum. When changing strings.. The ball end hooks on the bigsby then wraps basically.. You'll need to keep tension by hand until you get tension with the tuning keys. Mine is black with sort of a dark red back.

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#36
#36
FïreBall said:
But you gotta check it out for quality, warranty, correct shipment... Uhh... I'm trying to think of more excuses... 😂
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Ha! I will say this, the damn thing is light as a feather! It came in box within a box packaging and its very easy to carry. Even my wife had no trouble carrying it. A far cry from my Les Paul thats heavy AF!
 
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#37
#37
Brave Volunteer said:
Ha! I will say this, the damn thing is light as a feather! It came in box within a box packaging and its very easy to carry. Even my wife had no trouble carrying it. A far cry from my Les Paul thats heavy AF!
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I wish I had a scale to weigh mine.. Yeah it ain't heavy like your Les Paul for sure.

Edit.. Found a person post online that my 5445T weighs about 7.5lbs. Seems lighter to me.
 
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#38
#38
I just thought I'd give an update on this. In short, I believe this is my favorite guitar I've ever owned! My god, how did I allow myself to go this long without having a hollowbody guitar? Both acoustically and plugged in, this thing rings! It has so much resonance, you dont just hear it. You feel it! It has so much vibrancy! It feels..."alive" when you strum a chord! Its truly an inspiring instrument and its a joy to play! It inspires me to play! I haven't been able to put it down since I started playing it!
 
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