Gretsch G5120

TheYoungJazzist · #1 04-30-2011, 09:52 AM

I went go Guitar Center the other day to look at a new guitar. I'm working on selling some of my old ones that I don't play anymore (Mexi-strat, PRS SE Singlecut, Epiphone LP Goldtop) and step it up to a semi-hollow since I've been playing more jazz lately. With a tight budget (700-900) I tried out quite a few epiphones and ibanez's as well as others and I didn't like any of them. I finally grabbed this Gretsch G5120 with a bigsby and I LOVED it. It was sweet. I don't think a guitar under 2 grand had ever spoken to me like that before. The clerk even came up to me and told me he "enjoyed the way I made that guitar sound." So I'm pretty set on getting that. Its weird though because I've never heard of a jazz player going for a Gretsh, they seem aimed more towards bluegrass, rockabilly, and blues players right?. But man when I put this guy on the neck pickup, it SAAANG! Anyways that's my story. I'll tell you how I enjoy it once I pick it up. Thinking of grabbing some flatwounds which I've never used before as well. They sound beautiful for what I'm going for.

NiAg · #2 04-30-2011, 10:28 AM

>>> Gretsh, they seem aimed more towards bluegrass, rockabilly, and blues players right?

Sure; that is arguably the marketing focus. But if we just look at the actual guitar in question, it sure sounds like a winner for jazz too.

In my opinion, the PU's on the 5120 are better for jazz than the Filtertrons of the more pricey models. In my opinion, the geometry of Filtertrons (no so much the electronic characteristics) makes for a tendency to sound very thin on the high E even if the position relative to the odd pole pieces is perfect. (I find that you can make a F'tron work just fine after some fiddling, but it is a fundamentally quirky design.)

So you have a great guitar with a great stock configuration.

Some players who are new to Bigsbydom are a little troubled by tuning stability at first. But really, a Bigs-b-fied guitar can be easily set up to be extremely stable - so post if you have any questions at all about it.

Great guitar, and for the $$$ it is especially fine.

TheYoungJazzist · #3 04-30-2011, 10:41 AM

Thanks for the advice NiAg. Yeah i actually just watched a video on how to quickly fine-tune an out of the box G5120. It seems pretty simple and even when I played it at the store, it stayed in tune pretty well when I was messing with the Bigsby.

NiAg · #4 04-30-2011, 10:45 AM

>>> for the advice NiAg

Just my opinion. Looking forward to your view once you wring it out in action.

reventlov · #5 04-30-2011, 04:09 PM

there was a thread a few months back about Gretsch guitars in jazz.... it's on
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...lcon-jazz.html

Greco · #6 04-30-2011, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheYoungJazzist

I went go Guitar Center the other day to look at a new guitar. I'm working on selling some of my old ones that I don't play anymore (Mexi-strat, PRS SE Singlecut, Epiphone LP Goldtop) and step it up to a semi-hollow since I've been playing more jazz lately. With a tight budget (700-900) I tried out quite a few epiphones and ibanez's as well as others and I didn't like any of them. I finally grabbed this Gretsch G5120 with a bigsby and I LOVED it. It was sweet. I don't think a guitar under 2 grand had ever spoken to me like that before. The clerk even came up to me and told me he "enjoyed the way I made that guitar sound." So I'm pretty set on getting that. Its weird though because I've never heard of a jazz player going for a Gretsh, they seem aimed more towards bluegrass, rockabilly, and blues players right?. But man when I put this guy on the neck pickup, it SAAANG! Anyways that's my story. I'll tell you how I enjoy it once I pick it up. Thinking of grabbing some flatwounds which I've never used before as well. They sound beautiful for what I'm going for.

Reading this, I could feel your excitement (you conveyed it well!!)
...such a cool feeling when this type of "find" happens.

Let us know if you get the Gretsch (or whatever you finally decide on).

ENJOY !

Cheers

Dave

hot ford coupe · #7 04-30-2011, 05:34 PM

Gretsch's have been used for jazz by a large number of folks. Freddie Green played an Eldorado, Sal Salvador played one, George Van Epps played a 7 string and Mary Osbourne played a White Falcon. All you need to do is put the right strings on, set your amp controls to the dark side and have a ball. Gretsches are really cool guitars whe you get down to it. I almost bought one of the green 6196s but the price was too high.

mongrel · #8 04-30-2011, 06:27 PM

Brad Shepik. Great player out of NYC. His Gretsch is an old one, not sure which model. It sounds like it could have the Dynasonics. Look him up on YouTube. His CD "Drip" is in my regular rota.

TheYoungJazzist · #9 05-01-2011, 04:05 PM

Sweet. Thanks for all of your inputs on this. I'm even more excited now!

barrymclark · #10 05-01-2011, 04:39 PM

I have an older Gretsch that has been given the southern fried jazz business. I agree with the above and get to the dark side of the Gretsch and you've got a jazz machine.