I have the same one. I changed out the tuners for Grover mini rotomatics, bought a softer spring and a metal bearing roller for the Bigsby. Love it, great value. I really like the neck, my frets are perfect . I really don’t like the pots, will be doing a swap to a TV Jones wiring harness in the future. Pickups are what I wanted. With a little TLC and setting it up these guitars are awesome.
You can take out the Bigsby arm and vile it so that you can spin it 360 degrees. It allows for glide strumming. A Jazzmaster is way better at it but it's free and it's decent. I love mine.
I love this guitar that's why i bought it!! I love the pickups cos it's warm but have the bite at the end of that warmth. It's like in the middle of a Tele and a ES335. I own an ES 335. This has a little distinct edge over every warm notes. That's what I meant! Ver versatile!! LOVE it!!!
Shame about the neck. Being a Beatles fan, Ive always liked the look of a Gretsch and as someone not into the sound of humbuckers, I find that the right Filtertron style pickup can give you more of a single coil vibe while still being hum cancelling. 🙂🎸🎸
I have this guitar and really enjoy everything about it. The thin neck works for me. Interestingly, the thin neck works well with my old arthritic hand. I use a Fender Champion 40 amp quite a bit with this and get a variety of nice sounds from it thru that amp. I also use for recording connected directly into the computer via an audio interface. It has nice tone as is directly into the computer via 1/4 inch cable. I can hardly walk buy the Gretsch without picking it up and playing it, amp or not. Like motorcycles, guitars often match one’s personal preferences and interests over the long haul. I greatly appreciated your review and the great tip on lubricating the nut and other friction points, really makes sense. I have not had trouble keeping this guitar in tune even while using Bigsby but look forward to seeing what effect the “sauce” has on that variable.
I have this guitar in Orange Stain and the gloss is fine. Yes, if you are filming and with high power LED lights straight on it is going to reflect and accentuate everything. The gloss is not over the top and these are just really gorgeous guitars. Also, there seems to be a price difference between the States and Europe. Got mine for £613 UK pounds whilst the Imperial Stain like yours is available for £599. A Gretsch case is £79. For the quality of guitar a true bargain. The only fault I could find was the loose feeling pickup switch you pointed out. Tuning stability like you said is great out the box even with the whammy. Love the neck and pick ups. One thing I would say is that they look very different and much nicer than the product shots on the guitar store websites. My Orange Stain is a deeper reddish orange than it appears and had the product pics of the Imperial Stain looked like that I would have given it serious consideration. If you look at the pics online you’d barely believe it was the same guitar.
Great review! I'm going to get one and play shoegaze and rock-a-billie on it. After this review, I'm going to get a Plek on it and add some locking tuners. I don't want it to be super clean. I have plenty of guitars that can do that. I went to Guitar Center today to try it and compare it to an Epiphone es335. After playing them both, I won't even consider the Epiphone. I LOVE the neck on the Gretsch and the feel and features are far superior to the es335 in my opinion.
Great review , if it came with a case that let’s face it FMI could buy for no money at all it would make it a great alternative for someone that wants a thinner neck semi hollow
Even just a padded gig bag would be great. You look at other MIC guitars around this price and they all come with protection of some sort, this one you're immediately forced to shop around and the cost of a decent bag or case raises the total cost of this guitar to $1000 and at that point there is no way I would say this is worth it.
I have a Gretsch G5622 in Dark Cherry, as a fan of thin necks i find it very easy to play compared to Fenders thick baseball bat necks. As for tuning stabilty, the Bigsby trems don't help, there are some mods that improve them, but they will never compete with modern trems. Sadly like a lot of brands that switched production from Korea, the Chinese samples are just not as good. These guitars are an aquired taste, and don't suit all types of music, i rarely play mine and should sell it for a guitar that i will play. Thanks for your thoughts on this one Jim. The ESP should be a far better guitar.🙂
Yeah Gretsch guitars basically require a demonstration with either Chet Atkins or Eddie Cochran songs played on it lol It's pretty much the best way to get the iconic sound from them
Great info!! Completely agree! I have it and I love it!! But I’m not sure at all the pickups circuit works properly, could you please help me? When I chose the middle position on the selector pickups both sound togueter as expected, but when I decrease to 0 any volume pickup, the another one continuos sounding. Probably it’s obvious but i have other models like epi casino or firebird and the volumes behave differet: if you decrease to 0 any of them in the middle position, all the sound of the guitar goes to 0. Thanks!
New subscriber. This is the kind of detail that I was looking for. As someone who's never spent more than $350 on a guitar, I was surprised about the imperfection on some brand's instruments even ones above $1000. From what I've heard, if you're going to buy something made over seas in Asia, Japan is probably the best, then Korea, then China being the lowest in terms of quality control. Though I'm sure there are more variables. I've seen amp techs do in depth reviews about internal quality of electronics and many from overseas are very poor. I'd assume the same is with guitars.
For overall quality I would argue Japan is even doing a better job the US at the moment. They never cease to amaze me, and it's from a variety of brands so it's not like it's only one or two that are absolutely killing it. The electronics on this gretsch were absolutely poor in my opinion, and due to it being a semi hollow not the easiest swap for the majority of people who would choose to upgrade them later on - thus adding to the cost. I really would recommend checking out some of the Japanese manufacturers, it's shocking how good they are.
Hey. What's the deal with the Gretsch manual saying the pick-up selector toggles between the "interior" pick-up, the "exterior" pick-up, or both? Is it not: up is neck; middle is both; and down is bridge?
Are these "black top broad'tron" pickups the same size as a PAF humbucker or are they the size of filtertrons? Looking to replace them but don't want to do any modifications.
I respect your review in regard to playability, tone etc. The issue of a non recommendation on the basis of it not coming with a case or gig bag, though, is silly.
Quote,”I don’t think I can recommend that guitar…” I still think it’s silly. Anytime you can buy something for less, it’s a better deal. The proverbial no brainer.
@emil8446 yep I can see your point. I should have initially worded it better and especially now with the borderline insane pricing of mass produced Chinese guitars it’s not nearly as big of a deal to many people.
I want to see a review of this guitar along with a G5222 both with BROAD'TRON pickups & have them used with various overdrives that would *compliment* the pickups. Think out of the box with GRETSCH. Don't assume the overdrive that works w/a PAF humbucker will work w/GRETSCH. A Broad'tron is more PAF slanted in it's voice, yes, but it's *still* much more hi-fidelity than a PAF & a G5622 will not sound like an ES 335.
Serious question hrre. Could I still see the clear protective plastic over the pickups? I literally bought one of these 2 days ago, but nearly didn't because it sounded dark and muddy. I asked the guy from the shop about it and he goes I can fix that, i said how, and he says the plastic is still over the pickups, I didn't believe it would make a difference. He took it off, gave it back and it was a different guitar. I'm not even kidding. I bought it right then and there. If this guy left the plastic on.... you see what I'm saying.
It's such a shame that the first iteration of this model is being overlooked. That was the one with three Super Hilitrons and a cat's eye's body. I've been playing Gretsch since the late sixties, and the early 5622 is easily the most versatile of all of them all.
I never have a problem and Gretsch has been my shit since the 80s. Stretch your strings good when you put em on and make sure they slide freely through the nut.
Ithink the center block means there is a small pesce of wood right under the bridge the goes from the bridge down to the back of the Guitar.. just a small block of wood. It doesn't run all the way from the neck to the rear of the guitar. Your a mirror and look inside the guitar.
I have been looking for an alternative to the country gentlemen to get the sound and look of lou reeds during the velvet underground maybe this is the one to get
Great job on the review. (And on Mr Sandman) it is a shame that they don't come with a case, but the bigger shame is the cost of a gretsch hard shell case. I would purchase a gretsch for clean only. When i wanna get dirty well i own the Nashville tele and that gets every bit as dirty as i need. I would love to be able to play with you sometime ya liar! Y'all played just like i do and were both a tad off from Chet Atkins but not far. And that, my man is the highest compliment you'll ever get from me.
It really is the best compliment you can give, I took it as such. The saddest thing to me Bob is so many people my age and younger don't even know who Chet is. It's a damn shame, what a player. I can only do my own adaptation of that song, my wife loves to sing it as part of our set so I kind of put my own twist on his version and went from there.
I thought you were getting some great sounds out of it and heading into some interesting directions without using the vibrato. Makes me think the vibrato on such a guitar is not something I'd really use.
That's a good observation and worth nothing in Gretsch's defense, they make a version of this guitar without a vibrato at all... maybe that's a good option indeed.
Looking for a new guitar have prs ce semi hollow and se hb ii. Never found a strat or tele I like and les Paul to heavy. Looking at gretsch and D’angelico and recommendations Play jam band music phish and dead
So long as you aren't throwing crazy gain at it ( triple rec kinda stuff ) you'll be fine, just make sure it isn't the hollowbody version - that won't do as well with the gain as the semi hollow version will.
I toured playing a Gretsch with a punk band for years, they're great. When you think feedback, think Ted Nugent. You can use it, it doesn't have to be a negative.
Thanks I appreciate that, I feel it's best to play simple for the most part when demoing an instrument because it actually shows what you can roughly expect it to sound like - no reason to go over the top for stuff like this
I played 4 today and they all felt really dead. I also played a used Korean one they had and it played just like my old one did, a lot more life to it. Small sample size, but it's funny that I'm seeing this comment on the day this happened.
Pour l'upgrader un peu ça commence à faire un peu d'argent. Une reprise du frettage, un changement de l'axe du bigsby, des mécaniques à bloquage de qualité.,une reprise de certains composants électroniques., un fly case. On arrive à 1000 euros pour une gretsch, mais une gretsch chinoise. Dommage qu'il n'y ait pas de modèle intermédiaire entre les 5622, 5422 et les modèles plus haut de gamme. On passe de 1000 euros pour une 5422 à plus de 2000 euros pour une gretsch un peu plus haut de gamme, et il n'ont pas fait de modèle intermédiaire dans les tarifs d'une d'angelico excel Dc,ou d'u'e guild starfire iv coréenne à 1300 euros.
wow dude you don't even get cases with guitars 3 times the price of this guitar. Plus the pickups are very good try a different pedal. the one you used just wasn't for this guitar. I have a G5410T Rat Rod and its stock save the bridge,that was only changed because it was buzzing and a Space Control bridge costs nothing so I swapped it out and I Love my Rat Rod. plays great sounds great stays in tune. The only ppl I ever here complain about a Gretsch are fairly petty and not the best players half the time. Fit and Finish of my Rat Rod was flawless,save the bridge.
“The pickups are very good.Try a different pedal”. Then you go on to not even directly insult me while making such a comical solution to a cheap set of Chinese made pickups matched with cheap import electronics? No pedal is going to make a mediocre set of pickups magically sound good, clarity is everything and you don’t get that from a pedal it comes from the pickup itself but you knew that already right? I wonder what you would think of an actual quality instrument such as a Japanese made Gretsch from the Terada factory or a Deviser instrument. Perhaps you’d have a different perspective.
