Show your support and Subscribe!! If you would like to show even more support please Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/fredguit... Fred Guitar Maniac - Gretsch 5222 Double Jet - Gibson SG Standard - AC/DC - Sin City
In 2017 I bought the G5445T Double Jet Black Bigsby. The guitar sounds good, but I am very disappointed about the frets. The guitar early got notches in the first three frets of the unwounded strings. It's really bad on the B string.
I do all my own guitar work and maintenance, ruff frets are no big deal if you know how to crown, dress and polish them. You can not expect a G5 series gretsch to be perfect out of the box, but with a bit of TLC they can play as good as a G6 series IMHO.
dude. you even got the Man's moves down. brings a tear to the eye of a crotchety old Aussie guitarist. like the guy below, just got a Gretsch (g5655t, pretty sure it's called "Broadcaster Junior") and am FLOORED by the quality. i'm 50 next year and i'm wondering how long Electromatics have been THIS good, because i never even tried one until i tried the Jr a few months ago. i've never really *ever* played a Gretsch for the same reason i've never really played a *Gibson* Les Paul, i try not to test the guitars in the store that are out of my means, why bother. i've played *plenty* of LPs and Epi Les Pauls, tho, and Epi SGs, Squiers, etc and i have TRIED a few Gibsons and American Fenders that guitarist friends had, plus some sweet Ibanez numbers, i have a nice Axion Iron Label Multi-scale 6 string with Fluence Moderns. i have 2 *superb acoustics, a Cole-Clark 12 string and a cedar-topped Japanese Takamine that is the most elegantly beautiful acoustic i've ever seen, and the cedar top lets you poke through the middle of the mix the way a "brighter" acoustic (like a 12 string) doesn't. point is, i know a *proper* guitar when i play one. the g5655t i got needs a good quality roller-bridge installed and locking tuners. i don't use the Bigsby so with those 2 upgrades the tuning stability *should* be 90% better. it's the one thing on the guitar that, if you know what you're looking for, you know is mediocre; the LICENSED Bigsby's are not great, not terrible, but nowhere near as reliable as a "proper" one. the licensed ones use plastic sleeves instead of micro-bearings in the mechanism, not important. point is every other metric of build quality and appointment is top-shelf. probably going to pick up a Jet ASAP, thinking of getting 2. a p90 hard-tail single-cut and *probably* a regular Broadtron single-cut hard-tail tho i won't be too upset if it's a Double. the ONLY thing that annoys the absolute crap out of me is that the only *hard-tail* Electromatic Jet that comes with Filtertron Blacktops is the LEFT-HANDED ONE. i'm not even kidding, go to the Gretsch website, *left-handed* hard-tail Electro Jet, Filtertops. i dig the Broadtrons but i got those, lol. if i get a Broadtron Jet i'll keep it like that for a few years, see if Gretsch release a righty HT Jet with FTrons so i can grab one. either way, if it holds up, i might splurge on a couple TV Jones pups. at 50 i find *my* guitar and it's a bloody Jet 😲i should have known, some of my favourite musicians rock a Jet. Uncle Mal (RIP), Chris Cornell (RIP) was a Sparkle Jet guy, George Harrison (RIP i'm seeing a pattern here), and i've always liked Billy Duffy's stuff, tho White Falcon ain't a Jet. i like that the Gretsch scale is a *tiny* bit shorter than Gibson, i like the feel of the set neck, i like the flatter radius, i like the neck shape, i love the way the Broadcaster Jr responds to everything i put in, IT COMES TO LIFE! u can feel it under ur hands and against ur body. and tho the store had no hard-tail Jet, i played a Jet w/bigsby and played a es335 looking Gretsch with a hard-tail. i haven't even played a HT Jet yet and i already know. it's *MY* guitar. i'm 50 years old in 6 months, been mucking around with guitar for 30 years, last 20 pretty much acoustic only, for the first 10 years i had a couple of crappy LP knock-offs, couple of cheap nylon strings, a dubious old Squier strat and a Washburn metal-type guitar (it was half decent). for the last 20 years the only electric i had and still have and LOVE (needs some work, too), *are u ready for it?* a Washburn N2 because Nuno is the f'n GOAT and i'll hear no more on the subject, it is settled. electric guitar GOAT, anyway, acoustic GOAT is and always was Tommy Emmanuel. he'd be electric too but he hasn't really played one in decades (he was a Tele guy, his brother Phil (RIP) played a Strat). that's not my opinion, btw, both Les Paul and Chet Atkins said Tommy was the best in the world, i just happen to agree with Chester and Lester. if *they* say you are the best, you just might be. so, in the last 5 years i got a few electrics. got a bargain on the Multi-scale. picked up a cheap but well put together Ibanez 7 string to muck around on (be nice with a Nazgul 7 in the bridge Sentient 7 neck isn't really needed tho i ride the bridge pup only really on the 7 string). i also got a *sweet* Squier Tele (don't like strats) with a lightly roasted maple neck that is worth what i payed for the guitar, and the rest of the guitar is good too. all these are 25.5 scale and up, i *preferred* 24.75 until i played 24.6, any shorter is too small, tho i always wanted a Mustang, might get a Squier to muck around on, they are *very* cheap. ANYWAY, i can't stop playing along with this particular track, i'm addicted. but i sussed your catalogue and saw a few thumbnails with you playing an N2 so i, of course, immediately subbed. because there are 3 types of guitarist, those who know Nuno is the GOAT, those who haven't listened to him, and those who are in denial. how good is the new Extreme record? YEAH, new Extreme in my lifetime! i been with him all up thru Schizophonic to Mourning Widows, dude don't quit, it's *all* top shelf. tho the N4 dropped from the top of my bucket-list-never-get-one-but-$$$ guitars for a Washburn Standard Nele www.washburn.com/product/nele-standard/ tho it'd be more expensive than a Players line Gretsch Jet. Standard for the birds-eye maple fretboard 🤤
@@fredguitarmaniac indeed yes. at first i was wondering why someone with so many nice guitars would play an N2 instead of an N4. then i noticed there is no place to adjust the truss rod on that guitar. holy shit, that's an early 90s, Japanese made, Davies spec N2. and not a mark on it, too. nice piece. i'm just a hack with the "worst" one, the Chinese, but at least the Chinese one didn't alter the design like the Korean line did. the whole bottom horn area is wrong on the Koreans. enthusiasts and collectors will always have an N Series for what it *represents* as probably the best "superstrat" design to come from the 80s, and had it been an "endorsed model" for Washburn rather than a signature series, and regular 4-bolt neck attachment instead of the Stevens Cutaway i, personally, think it would be the Ibanez RG of Washburn. but a pure enthusiast will have an N4, a collecter will have a Davies N2. a financially challenged Nuno fan, like myself, usually has a mediocre 20 year old Chinese N2, lol. but there has always been a bit of a "stigma" on playing another artists signature series until QUITE recently. ATM it is quite popular for guitarists to use their favorite artists signature guitar, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a signature guitar. shit, Gibson gave Rick Beato a signature Les Paul Jr (they really just let him pick a couple of colors, then slapped his name on em and increased the $$$, lol), and i am REALLY hoping this unusual trend sparks interest in the N series and Washburn join all the other companies releasing OUTSTANDING mid-tier guitars ATM and drop an equivalent quality N2 into the mix. it looks awkward to play. the top horn is pushed so far forward, to the eye it *looks* bulky, plus it's slightly different shape. but as soon as it's hanging on a strap and you start playing, that top horn has shifted the balance nicely and your body *snaps* into the contour cuts and it feels SO good. it should have been Washburn's "RG", all manner of models with different necks, fretboards, pups, hardtail vaiants, etc. all same body and head. a big part of why it didn't was the Steven's was compulsory in the N4s and the N2 *platform* was never capitalized on like the RG/Jem was. and the RG has signature artists other than Vai, Tim Henson's signature is, basically, a personalized Jem. and there's a neat mid-tier Jem available now because Ibanez aren't stupid, they see that trend to preference signature series ATM. the N Series had RG potential, *technically* it still does. the Jem and N Series are the only signature guitars i've felt comfortable playing because they aren't a name on a customized existent model, they are "original" superstrat body designs. the Jem (now PIA) is just the "ultimate" RG.
