NGD -- Bird of Prey & some Family Photos...

[Surfysonic]

It's well established on OSG that I'm a Fender/Squier addict. My other guitar addiction are Gretsch guitars. You see where there this is going...

To me, the pinnacle Gretsch guitars are the Falcon and Penguin. One day I'll get a Falcon, I'd say to myself at various times in the past 20 or so years. Guitar addict that I am, my guitar purchasing tended toward impulse buying quantity over quality. This mindset always pushed off the high-end guitars like the Falcon. I was lucky to get a used FSR Penguin from Wildwood Guitars some years back but eventually moved it on - fantastic guitar but for me, it was a bit of a boat anchor. Lately, I'm really trying to thin the herd a bit and keep great quality and maybe not-so great but my emotionally connected guitars.

I've always loved Gretsch Falcons but aesthetically, the only finishes that appealed to me were the lacquered white, black, and various blue ones. The original white was a bit too flashy for me but I respect it's classic look. Then the Gretsch G6136TG Players Edition Falcon with the slightly thinner depth (2.5" as opposed to the standard 2.75") and Midnight Sapphire finish came out. Totally got my attention.

Last week, I made a reasonably low offer on a used one for sale on Reverb and was pleasantly surprised yet terrified that it was actually accepted. Welp - it's been a long time coming but I finally have a Gretsch Falcon! The beautiful Midnight Sapphire finish is so dark that you could easily assume it's black. I can only capture the blue at certain angles - sometimes even a little green. Really loving it.

I wasn't sure if I'd get on with the new FT-67 Filter’Tron pickups. However, my uncertainty went away - these are wonderful pickups and they're total keepers. They sound great, whether playing chords or single notes - I can even get my surf on. Love that about Gretsch guitars in general - they do surf very well (along with everything else IMHO).



















It was such a nice day today, I thought I'd take some photos of my Gretsch guitar family...





















I'm off to learn as many The Cult songs as I can - always loved Billy Duffy's playing.

Oh - due to this being a bit of a high-end purchase (for my budget), be on the lookout for an offset-related sale outside of the Summer Purge sale I have going on now. This one's gonna be big.

[PapaB]

Very nice guitar. Perfect color. Love the Bigsby with Gretsch scrip. Congrats.

(BTW, I may have to dig up Fire Woman in a CD. It's a great song, takes me back ....)

[Jonesie]

Perfection. That is the correct Falcon headstock and inlay for my Chris Cheney loving heart.

[Surfysonic]

Very nice guitar. Perfect color. Love the Bigsby with Gretsch scrip. Congrats.

(BTW, I may have to dig up Fire Woman in a CD. It's a great song, takes me back ....)

Thanks! Oh, yeah, Fire Woman, Sanctuary, etc. - great tones from BD!

Perfection. That is the correct Falcon headstock and inlay for my Chris Cheney loving heart.

Thanks! Chris Cheney rocks! Love his signature Falcon, too.

[F15hface]

That is fabulous. Falcons just look too damn cool. With how good the MIJ jet i tried was I assume that this is as good to play as it is to look at.

Great selection of gretsches all in though, besides this I particuarly like the blueburst and the white one with P90s.

[MrFingers]

Do you notice a difference in quality between the Falcon and a “regular” 6xxx-series Gretsch?

[Surfysonic]

That is fabulous. Falcons just look too damn cool. With how good the MIJ jet i tried was I assume that this is as good to play as it is to look at.

Great selection of gretsches all in though, besides this I particuarly like the blueburst and the white one with P90s.

Thanks! The blueburst is my first pro series Gretsch. I've gigged with it a lot so I'm very attached to it. The white Gretsch G5210T Electromatic Rat Rod (Made in Korea) was modded with Lindy Fralin Hum-Cancelling Dog Eared P90s. Love it!

Do you notice a difference in quality between the Falcon and a “regular” 6xxx-series Gretsch?

Overall, the quality is on par with the wide-range of 6xxx-series Gretsch guitars (Made in Japan) which are fantastic quality guitars. Aesthetically, there are significant differences between the Falcon and the others. I'd consider the Penguin to aesthetically be on par with the Falcon. There are so many variations of Falcons, Penguins, and most other Pro Series-level models. It's a great time now with all the finish and spec options. The same can be said for the Electromatic Series and Streamliner Series as well.

I've never had the desire for the higher-priced US-Gretsch Custom Shop guitars but I do appreciate the high quality builds made out of there.

It's highly unlikely that I'd get a 2nd Falcon but I do really like the white Richard Fortus Signature Falcon (dbl cutaway) with the tortoiseshell binding. Maybe one day...

[cestlamort]

Congratulations. That's a lovely Falcon. They often lean a bit too much to the Tutankhamun bling (to paraphrase Shadowplay), but the gold looks great with the dark blue (and much better than the gold + black). Also great that it has the sparkly headstock with the big logo.

I've always wanted a falcon. I briefly had a white/gold one and a green country club at different times and both sounded great, the Falcon especially. But they were both a stretch financially and didn't match what I was trying to do at the time, so were returned within their evaluation windows.

Remember to play some Bow Wow Wow, too.

[Steadyriot.]

Yup that’s dream guitar material right there! Really cool finish too.

It's highly unlikely that I'd get a 2nd Falcon but I do really like the white Richard Fortus Signature Falcon (dbl cutaway) with the tortoiseshell binding. Maybe one day...

That Black Fortus Falcon has been on my mind since the day it was released. One of the coolest guitars released in the last few years.

[Surfysonic]

Congratulations. That's a lovely Falcon. They often lean a bit too much to the Tutankhamun bling (to paraphrase Shadowplay), but the gold looks great with the dark blue (and much better than the gold + black). Also great that it has the sparkly headstock with the big logo.

I've always wanted a falcon. I briefly had a white/gold one and a green country club at different times and both sounded great, the Falcon especially. But they were both a stretch financially and didn't match what I was trying to do at the time, so were returned within their evaluation windows.

Remember to play some Bow Wow Wow, too.

Thanks! Yeah, the classic White Falcon with the drum wrap bling was a bit to Elvis in Las Vegas but I'm a fan of the Lacquered White Falcon with Dynasonics.



Was your Country Club with (I assume) the original Cadillac Green finish equipped with single-coil Dynasonics or with the humbucking Filter'Trons?



My Country Club is from the Vintage Select series with the new Cadillac Green finish with TV Jones Classic Filter'Tron pickups. I totally prefer the original Caddy Green over this modern finish but it's still lovely.



I'm tempted to go through the trouble of putting a set of Lindy Fralin's Hum-Cancelling P90s in Dynasonic form in my Country Club. Now that I have the Falcon and love the stock Filter'Trons in it, I could swap out the TV Jones Classic Filter'Trons in the Country Club and make use of them elsewhere. Anyone know of other makers of hum-cancelling Dynasonic pickups? I don't think TV Jones does (I have his T-Armonds in my Blueburst and as well in my Astro-Jet build - D'oh! I forgot to include it in the family photo!

Yup that’s dream guitar material right there! Really cool finish too.

It's highly unlikely that I'd get a 2nd Falcon but I do really like the white Richard Fortus Signature Falcon (dbl cutaway) with the tortoiseshell binding. Maybe one day...

That Black Fortus Falcon has been on my mind since the day it was released. One of the coolest guitars released in the last few years.

Thanks! Yeah, I like the Black Fortus Falcon, too.

[Embenny]

Firstly, congrats again on this incredible guitar. It's perfect. I love the super dark metallic blue - falcons don't look right in bright colours. This is basically "black, but with extra snazz" which is perfect on it.

As for the matter of noiseless dynasonics, have you considered TVJ's Magnatrons? They're side by side humbuckers rather than stacked (or sidewinders like Fralin) but since they have magnetic poles, they're closer to Dynas than to any other Gretsch pickup.

Here's a demo of them in a Penguin. I know Falcons sound different because of the body, but you can hear how well they stay within the "Gretschy" realm. I think they also look the part in Dyna housing - instead of a row of big poles and a row of small adjustment screws, you just have two rows of poles.

[Surfysonic]

Firstly, congrats again on this incredible guitar. It's perfect. I love the super dark metallic blue - falcons don't look right in bright colours. This is basically "black, but with extra snazz" which is perfect on it.

As for the matter of noiseless dynasonics, have you considered TVJ's Magnatrons? They're side by side humbuckers rather than stacked (or sidewinders like Fralin) but since they have magnetic poles, they're closer to Dynas than to any other Gretsch pickup.

Here's a demo of them in a Penguin. I know Falcons sound different because of the body, but you can hear how well they stay within the "Gretschy" realm. I think they also look the part in Dyna housing - instead of a row of big poles and a row of small adjustment screws, you just have two rows of poles.

Thanks, Mike!

Oh, that's a great idea, Mike, thanks! I love Jason Lee's playing, too! Also, I'm far more comfortable buying TV Jones pickups for my Gretsch guitars than anyone else. They fix ya up right with the correct pickup mounting, etc.

[cestlamort]

Was your Country Club with (I assume) the original Cadillac Green finish equipped with single-coil Dynasonics or with the humbucking Filter'Trons?

My Country Club is from the Vintage Select series with the new Cadillac Green finish with TV Jones Classic Filter'Tron pickups. I totally prefer the original Caddy Green over this modern finish but it's still lovely.

I admittedly impulse bought the Country Club because of a Johnny Marr photo (although it turns out it wasn't even his guitar). Early 2000s model (pre-fender, IIRC) with Dynasonics. It was cheap on Guitar Center used ($1399? but probably 10 years ago, and $1400 went a lot farther) and I probably should have kept it. Funnily, the bridge screws would visibly turn and loosen with the inevitable feedback (like at 16 rpm or so). I had meant to get a video of it before taking it back. Lovely green, but almost too much with the gold hardware. The Falcon (which was Fender era) was much nicer, as has been every MIJ Gretsch I've played since. The recent ones have been great quality, as I'm guessing your Falcon is.

[Surfysonic]

Very cool! Love the Johnny Marr photo. Oh, yeah, the MIJ Gretsches are fantastic quality for sure.

[Maggieo]

I'll be in my rack...