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Gretsch Sparkle Jet and Electrosonic Amplifier, January 24, 2013 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Gretsch Sparkle Jet, January 22, 2013 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

Impeccable guitar.

Some gorgeous guitars on here, guys!!!

zhivago wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 06, 2019 12:00 pm

Some gorgeous guitars on here, guys!!!

One nice thing about Gretsches is that their aesthetics. Even lower end models just look classy.

As some of you may remember, I spent way too long building a Gretsch/Telecaster hybrid. I absolutely love the thing & find myself playing it more than my other 2 vintage electrics...



Still, the only electric guitar I'd consider buying at this stage of my life is the one that influenced a lot of this build. I chop & change between which version I'd prefer - which tailpiece, pickups & bridge - but I'm pretty sure, if money was no issue, it'd have to be this one...




Gretsch Duo Jet - G6128T-53 - I think this particular model with these particular specifications is absolutely perfect! Although those awful, multi-coloured-ball-ended strings would be the swapped out for the same Pyramids I have on my own build!

I frequently think about getting a new chambered mahogany Telecaster body made with a bound front. Trouble is, then I'd have to stain the maple neck & headstock to match it (getting a mahogany neck with blocks & binding would cost a fortune). I think I'd be better off just buying the real thing.

One day, maybe. Sigh!

Lower tear of the Gretsch line 2420T Walnut my first Gretsch and its a lovely instrument:

I've owned several gretsches, but I'm still lying in wait for a nice duo jet DSV to pop up. I say it in every gretsch thread, but I firmly believe that Japanese gretsches are the highest quality mass production guitars being made right now.

Oh and my non guitar playing buddy owns this beauty that he picked up in a charity shop for £200 or £250 - just to annoy me I think - the Dearmond pickups are instant Jesus and Mary chain:

I just posted my NGD for my new Falcon. I love Gretsch. I've owned quite a few through the years. Filtertrons are my favorite pickup, but I like all of the Gretsch pickups.

Some amazing guitars in this thread that totally put my dead ordinary ones in the shade,

I'm not with the guitars so this is all I have, which is an old picture from three houses ago.

It's a G6120 SSLVO Nitro Lacquer with TV Jones filtertrons. It's the Brain Setzer sig model but every signature flourishbar the trestle bracing have been removed in favour of more classic parts, meaning no Sperzels, no dice and no Setzer pickguard, the TOM is long gone too. The map is Gretsch too, it's a Victoria made Playboy. When I was buying this I found it quite hard to find one without horrid flame maple.

I also have a G6136SLBP Black Phoenix like this, which is essentially a Black Falcon with all the gold replaced with silver, a lacquer paint job and Setzer style 'hot rod' wiring.

My eldest daughter has a G6136TLDS White Falcon whicch is the early style one like this but she's fitted it with TV Jones Dearmond sized Filtertrons.

Her sister of similar age had one of the two tone Country Clubs but it always felt like a compromise to her and she sold it and bought my second Black Phoenix off me. Why did I have a second? One of her wee sisters had a rough birth and we were told she wasn't going to make it, she was down so many times but kept coming back so we named her Phoenix and I rather rashly went straight out and bought a Black Phoenix for her and put it away in a case. When my older daughter decided she wanted rid of the Country Club (she'd lost the toss on a White Falcon and couldn't buy the same as sister) and wanted to buy a Phoenix, our own young Phoenix suggested we just pass it to her sister and put the money away for when she could pick her own guitar. Young Phoenix Shadowplay isn't very interested in guitars anyway, she's a total synth head and likes more spidery sounding guitars anyway.

D

Wow David! It is Gretsch City Central round yours, it seems!!

I didn't realise you had a Gretsch amp too!

Huh ... thinking about it I'd never have classed myself as a big Gretsch player. I like them a lot, and I've had a few ... but I'd always class myself as an ES Gibson player, or a Jazzmaster player. But when I started to list out how many Gretsch guitars I've had I was surprised!

1st - 2010 (iirc) 6119 - Tennessee Rose - This was my first 'proper' Gretsch. I'd had an Electromatic (5240?) and I quite liked it, but I tried the 6119 and immediately loved it.
2nd - Duo Jet - this was another Terada made one ... I think I had this for a relatively short stretsch of time. It felt like a very different beast than something like a Les Paul (in a good way) and I remember being surprised at how a guitar that I thought was very similar when I was a kid turned out to be a totally different animal.
3rd - White Falcon - I've only ever had one Falcon - a headstock repaired one that was repaired so well that you'd never have noticed the work unless it was pointed out to you. It felt big and fancy ... and probably a little intimidating (as a player I'm okay ... not bad, just okay - using a Falcon felt like something you'd have to be able to stand over ... like saying "yeah, I what this looks like ... but I've got the skills to back it up". I didn't ... I don't, so it got sold).
4th - 1967 Model 6119 - Tennessean - a vintage version of the modern 6119 that I had - fitted with HiLo Trons, which many seem to find weak and naff. I found these particular pickups (basically half a regular Filtertron in a similar cover/footprint!) to sound really great. However this guitar was bought on a gentleman's agreement that should the seller regret his decision within 90 days I would roll back the deal - he did, and I did. It paid off down the line though (that same gentleman's agreement formed the basis for how I managed to get that Firebird last year - or rather, my honouring it was the main reason I got that guitar).
5th - George Harrison Duo Jet - a great guitar ... I quite liked the dynasonics in it ... but I never really fell in love with it ... so it went.
6th - Silver Jet - this one was an odd story. I've loved Silver Jets since I first saw one being used in a gig here when I was a teenager ... it just looked incredible with stage lights bouncing off it and I remember thinking "I want that". They very rarely come up for sale here ... and when one did I jumped on it. But while I wanted to love it ... it felt a bit dead. The same guitar had been bouncing around for sale for a few years and I guess that was the reason why.

I haven't had a Gretsch since then. I came close to buying a vintage late '60s 6120 a while back ... but that was just as Operation Castle began and responsibility kicked in. The only one of those that I truly miss is that '67 6119 ... that guitar sang. It was just incredible. The current owner (from whom I bought it and to whom I resold it) still has it ... he's a store owner and could have any number of superb guitars, but he's kept that Gretsch. It's a really beautiful guitar - so totally out of kilter with other late '60s Gretsch guitars I've played ... a weird freakish outlier of brilliance. Huge baseball bat neck and great sounding pickups - anyone who has ever played that guitar has smiled ... and that's the best test there is for an instrument.

dezb1 wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 06, 2019 3:20 pm

Oh and my non guitar playing buddy owns this beauty that he picked up in a charity shop for £200 or £250 - just to annoy me I think - the Dearmond pickups are instant Jesus and Mary chain:

Mrs. Cestlamort has this one with the other bigsby style + floating bridge as her guitar. Sounds absolutely lovely. The 512x (5124, 5125, 5126, 5127, 5128, 5129) models are all great.

Aye... I keep waiting for him to sell it, Hopefully i can embarrass him into not hiking the price up too much

I have a 2017 6129-T Silver Jet. It is a factory prototype
You can see it over on gretschpages.com 6129-T Players Edition

The guys over there are very helpful in tracking and tracing the provenance of Gretsch instruments and they're a super nice bunch.

Squirrel wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 06, 2019 8:10 am

I'm a huge fan of Gretsch, I wouldn't even consider buying any other make of guitar at this point unless it was something really unusual. Here are mine:


O


1965 6120, 1967 Tennessean, 1966 Astro Jet. Aaaand I've just bought another, which shall be revealed fairly soon.

These are great, love the Tennessean. I desire a single cut painted holes Country Gentleman pretty badly ever since I saw one in that Tony Bacon book, I often think of boiling down my newer ones down into one with a bit of cash in the end. Like this but the one in Ultimate Guitars is even nicer.





Argh...need

Can't wait to see your new one.

D