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Don't care who the guy is but my, my, this is a dishy-looker archtop guitar! Why isn't there any love for Gretsch archtop guitars here?
I just might have to buy this. Made in Japan!
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03-21-2025 04:45 PM
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I’ve owned 6 Japanese Pro Series Gretsches over the years (still have two). People rave about them, but I’m SLIGHTLY less enthusiastic. What they have in common, from my viewport, is that they’re great stage guitars. They look great and they play great. But the sound is just okay. They all seem slightly overbuilt and many have thicker poly finishes.
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The grestch acoustic archtops like the G400 are awesome instruments in every way. Loud, tons of sustain, and lots of treble cut and midrange bark. Mine absolutely buries my wife's Martin dread. The martin has more bass, but the grestch is louder.
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Japanese Gretsch guitars are really well built compared to the originals. But they always sound like a Hillbilly Guitar imo.
Could be the pickups as well,but they never seem to have the finesse of a Gibson to my ears.
Again this is just my experience with them over the years. I’ve always liked the older Ugly Green Anniversary Model for its garish looks,especially with a Bigsby!
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The Gretsch geometry felt more like a tele than an archtop.
They look cool though.
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I had a few Gretsches, MIJ and a couple Electromatics, I thought the Japanese ones were pretty good. I love that great Gretsch sound! The only thing that kept me from fully bonding with them is the thin neck profile. It just never felt like home, unlike tele. The vintage ones were different, or at least with more variations that you can find some you more comfortable with.
So I found the compromise, filtertrons on a tele, the best of both worlds for me. Oh and a Bigsby of course!
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I have many, both vintage and modern. And I think they can make an excellent choice for Jazz (but what do I know!). I like to hear my notes / chords and tend to shy away from the somewhat typical blanket over the amp sound some folks prefer. Prolines will be well-built and use good hardware, Electromatic and Synchromatic models (much) less so.
Earlier modern Gretsches had a reputation for gloppy poly paint and thicker / heavier builds, but through the years, this has been improved upon subtly with design tweaks here and there, and not likely the case these days. Play a few, you may find a sound you like. And don't shy away from a subset of years because of something you read online. I have a black 6120, purchased new in 2003, that has never needed any work, no pots or switches have ever failed, I've never even needed to have the neck adjusted (its still as straight as it was when it left the factory). I've just completed Part II of an Intro to Jazz course, and it was my go-to for class recordings, despite having more (supposedly) suitable alternatives at hand.
That particular model is the Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) Magpie model - a Gretsch Falcon variant. It does have a BT-65 in the neck, which will be more "rock" oriented, supposedly falling somewhere between a standard Filter'Tron and a PAF. That may in fact be better for Jazz than a standard FT, who knows. It has a solid (pressed) top and also a tone knob rather than a mud switch, so you do have some tonal flexibility with this model. Try it out, you might like it. If you see one, you might try a 6122-59 (same body size, but with a sealed top and Super'Tron pickups) or even a Country Club.
Good luck!
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It's those damn Filtertron and Dynasonic pickups. Gretsch has always focused on bright, bright, BRIGHT! That's no doubt why they developed the "tone switch" (called the "mud switch" by many Gretsch players LOL)
Originally Posted by jads57
Think Chet Atkins instead of Johnny Smith.
They are a bit more overbuilt than a jazzbox, but they can do jazz... there are a few threads here on that very topic.
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It's not an archtop, but my Electromatic Jet Club is a proper guitar. I paid €100 and put on Filtertrons and a Bigsby. The body sounds hollow to me, or at least chambered. The sound is more hollow than solid.
It was made in China, I wonder if the Jet Club is a loss leader to rope people into the Gretsch world. I like mine a lot.
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The one thing that really does the Gretsch archtops in is the "trestle bracing" that many of them use. It's a big arch that connects the top and back. In essence, it's like two giant soundposts. It seems like it makes the guitar behave more like a semi-hollow than a laminate archtop.
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For use as a woody-sounding "jazzbox", yes. It was designed for LIVE use, to reduce feedback, and it does that job very well. But the braces are so stout they put those guitars, which ARE hollow, almost into a semi-hollow category. The trestles work great at what they were designed to do, but they do change the plugged-in sound a bit. Gretsch has many models without the trestle braces, they have many with just small tone posts under the bridge, and they also have center block (335 style) guitars in recent years. Originally Posted by andrew
The one thing that really does the Gretsch archtops in is the "trestle bracing" that many of them use. It's a big arch that connects the top and back. In essence, it's like two giant soundposts. It seems like it makes the guitar behave more like a semi-hollow than a laminate archtop.
But what really makes the Gretsches sound like Gretsches (instead of Gibsons) are the pickups. Weak, clean, mid-scooped. that's "The Great Gretsch Sound!" They were always going for pristine clean (a la Chet Atkins) or jangle. Gibson has the warmer-sounding guitars with the P90s and PAFs.
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I've always liked the Dynasonic single coils. Back in the day I replaced the "New York" pickups of my 58 epi Broadway with them. Very focused sound.
Billy Bean used a Gretsch with Dynasonics and got a great sound.
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If I’m not mistaken, aren’t most Gretsch guitars short scale as well?
I believe it’s 24.5” scale length?
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That bracing isn't consistent across the line. If you go to the Gretsch website and go to the hollowbody section of the website, you can filter by the type of bracing. Many of the VS models use parallel bracing on the tops, but are fully hollow (no trestle, no tone posts). The PE models will have trestle or ML bracing. Originally Posted by andrew
The one thing that really does the Gretsch archtops in is the "trestle bracing" that many of them use. It's a big arch that connects the top and back. In essence, it's like two giant soundposts. It seems like it makes the guitar behave more like a semi-hollow than a laminate archtop.
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Most, but not all. IIRC, the Country Gents, Country Clubs, and Falcons are (usually) 25.5" Originally Posted by jads57
Other models appear with that scale from time to time.
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I bet it helps prevent the top from caving in after 50 years, though. Originally Posted by andrew
The one thing that really does the Gretsch archtops in is the "trestle bracing" that many of them use. It's a big arch that connects the top and back. In essence, it's like two giant soundposts. It seems like it makes the guitar behave more like a semi-hollow than a laminate archtop.
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I saw a Youtube review of a vintage green double anni recently, and it sounded pretty awesome. Originally Posted by jads57
I have the normal burst colored twin of the green one, the 6117 reissue. I love it, and have gotten more accustomed to playing it than any other guitar.
It’s Japanese-made, and impeccable quality. It has the HiLoTron pickups, which are P90s. If you’re not familiar with them, you may think that these guitars only do bright or twangy, but turning down the pickup volume and choosing the “dark” tone on the “mud switch” will get you into vintage 175/165 P90 territory.
Another point—the Bigsby is great, and in my experience does not dramatically affect tuning. It does look pretty awesome though!
If you can find a double anni original or reissue at a good price, go for it!
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Their designers a knocking it out of the park on the visual front, but I have no experience actually playing them. People seem to be positive?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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This. I briefly had a really nice Japanese Gretsch that looked like a million bucks and played like butter but the sound just wasn’t inspiring. Originally Posted by andrew
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I struggle with Filtertrons. I feel when they sound great they sound great but they're very touchy and require a lot of tweaking. I don't think they're ideal for jazz at all though, except maybe with the modern version of the "mud switch." Originally Posted by Oscar67
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Gertsch? A lovely Country Club is a superb jazz guitar, '50s USA or MIJ-made.
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The MIJ Gretsches are about as good as a factory built guitar gets as far as playability and workmanship is concerned. The only thing that would make them even better would be nitro finishes - with that said, their poly finishes are better than most.
Filtertrons aren't for everyone - they're quite bright if you're used to Gibson humbuckers and the controls (no tone control, just a three way switch) take getting used to. I much prefer Dynasonics -which are a contender for my favourite pickup, period.
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The secret to mellowing out the tone on a Gretsch with master volume control is A) cut the treble with the “mud switch”, B) use the neck pickup, and C) turn down the volume on the pickup, which takes off the treble, then turn up the master as desired.
The lack of a treble bleed circuit on the pickup volumes allows for quite a bit of tone adjustment, along with volume.
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Well one thing I know for sure. I always love the sound of Gretsch Drums!
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+1 I had one of these from the early ‘00s for several years until I was foolish enough to sell it. Those Dynasonics/2000s in a big hollow body sound terrific! Mine was in Ivory/Copper finish, very pretty. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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