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I had a 57 streamliner (comparable to a 175). Wish I still had it. *Great* playing and sounding guitar. The tone control on it was especially good. You could get lots of sounds out of the neck dearmond, all good.
Currently have a 57 Fleetwood (compare to L5C). Outstanding playability and sound.
The downside compared to Gibson is the heel; vintage gretsch guitars often need resets, Gibsons rarely.
Current RIs of vintage gretsch models are all over the place price wise, and get good reviews. No personal experience.
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05-19-2014 12:18 PM
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I was recently tempted by a nice used Country Club with the Dynasonics, a laminated spruce top and laminated maple body with the single coil pick ups the only drawback was the melita bridge. interesting mechanical contraption but I couldn't damp the strings at the bridge very easy. This was a MIJ Gertsch with a great build and playability but not the same vibe of the old 1959 6120. Plus the pick ups were a bit hotter.
Thanks John
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not a fan, but Billy Bean got a very good sound out of his.
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Chet got a good sound out of his, but then he could probably get a good sound out of a milk crate.
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Throw some flats on them, maybe lower the pickup heights, and away you go.
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I have a Hot Rod. Which is a stripped-down 6120 with trestle bracing. I have tried flats, I have tried a wooden bridge. I don't like it for straight jazz. Not saying it's "unfit" for jazz, just saying I don't like it for jazz. And when I say "jazz" I'm talking in the Johnny Smith realm.
Now, it's great for everything else- jump blues, western swing, blues, rock, rockabilly, etc.
More a more "traditional" jazz tone, I prefer my P90-equipped Epi Broadway. Which is also great for classic rockabilly, early rnr, jump blues, western swing.... it's not so much a blues or rock machine to my ears. I play rounds, and so far have kept the wooden bridge. BUT I am going to put a wooden bridge w/bone saddle on it, see what happens...
OH- I did install some Seymour Duncan Custom Shop (what a friggin' NIGHTMARE that was...) P90s-in-Filtertron-case.... definitely sound better than filters for aloy of the stuff listed above, including jazz... but I still don't like it for straight jazz. Frankly, I prefer my tele to the Grestch for straight jazz tones.Last edited by ruger9; 05-19-2014 at 03:07 PM.
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...also, get rid of the bigsby and Filtertrons.
Originally Posted by mongrel
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Definitely on my list soon is a Black Falcon. I am specifically looking for the twang & Bigsby, though, as I find myself gravitating more and more to roots & Americana music. I just put a set of Dean Markley Vintage Bronze strings on my Eastman AR605 and they woke it right up, even compared to the TI strings I had on before. Delta Blues & fingerpickin' sound terrific on it now.
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Billy Bean gets (IMHO) one of the best bebop sounds ever on the "Trio" album using his beloved Gretsch 6193 Electro.
If you have a lazy $5000 to $6000 hanging around you could get lucky. Must be the 1952 model though because from 1953 on they started using a laminate tops.
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So have a listen to this Gretsch….
Last edited by Philco; 05-19-2014 at 07:37 PM.
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That's lovely. I checked around the Net and it seems that many 6193's are equipped with the Filtertrons. However, there is one for sale on Craigslist somewhere in Arizona with the Dynasonics. A 2006 for $2,700 in a natural finish. Ah.
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I have a Gretsch CE100 and it's a fine guitar. The main issues I have with it is it feels "big" on the lap and it's heavy. Of course, I'm convinced those factors help give it that "Gretsch Sound" which I like a lot. Definitely not a Gibson sound. But, just like a Tele, perfectly useable for jazz if you want.
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I was looking at those CE100 and spoke to someone in France who gigs with one. He was very happy with it.
How do you find the Poly finish? Is it very thick?
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It's a light satin finish. The wood itself, though, is pretty thick, which again, I think helps give it that Gretsch sound, even with the floating neck pup Originally Posted by Philco
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I have some experience with a 6120 and a Country Club. They are great guitars. I personally love the sound of the Filtertrons. They clearly are different from your standard Gibson humbucker, but I find that this is a good thing. With the infamous tone circuit rolling off treble I find they sound good for jazz ... The country club sounds huge. The filters also sound great with overdrive once a bit of treble is rolled off. Nothing wrong with the Bigsby either. I only hate that orange (my 6120) is black, which is a rare colour on that model).
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Love the older Gretsches, had a real early '59 Double Anniversary for years. One of the best scores I ever made, on consignment for $300.00. Early '59 meant it still had Filtertrons, ebony board and was the two tone green finish. Back then guitar manufacturers used auto finishes and two tone paint jobs were still "it".
I've had many old Gretsch Tennesseans also - got one used (I think a '66) that had Gibson hum buckers in it. It really sounded good. BUT I wanted it back to stock. Contacted a fella in the midwest with old stock parts and got a set of Filtertrons. But after I got them in the guitar wasn't as jumping hot as when it had the Buckers.
Nowadays TV Jones makes all kinds of Filtertrons, other fellas too. The newer Gretsches I think are made in the Terada factory and there's some amazing stuff coming out of there). Hard to go wrong. Me, I still want a White Falcon, it's on my bucket list.
I've heard some guys do amazing jazz of Gretsches. Some of the Super Filtertrons (with the BAR instead of pole pieces) did some great stuff. Like on the Super Chets.
For a laugh, here's me 30 years ago with my Double...
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Be aware, too, that the early 50s Gretsches did not have truss rods.
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Ha, thats crazy. So, how would you set the relief?
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LOL, you don't, really.
Those necks were also rather club like. I have an old Kay with a neck that's literally like the barrel of a baseball bat--it's been under string tension for about 50 years now... I don't think that neck's going anywhere.
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So the thickness of the neck offsets the string tension?
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YEAH I had a real "thing" for an older Gretsch, like mid-late 40s, the one with the chili pepper on the headstock (they had some screaming flamed maple necks and backs). Ended up settling for an early 50s Syncromatic and believe me it had one FAT neck. Fell outta love with that one pretty quick.
Gretsch threw all kinds of junk on their guitars: kill switches, mute pads, big round pads on the back (that hid the cut out for access to the electrics), string dampers (up on the headstock, think George Van Epps), all kinds of garbage. But in the right hands an old Anniversary sounds really nice.
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Fwiw that is NOT a double anniversary but a single anniversary modded with an added bridge pickup
Telltale signs: the bridge pickup has been added in the wrong position 3/4 inches too close to the bridge, the added selector switch is in the wrong position, the added tonepot (underneath the f hole) is in the wrong position
No biggie. Many double anniversaries out there actually single pickup guitars modded with a second pu. Just like all esquire were modded to telecaster config in the 70s and 80s
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i think they do from 1953 on. Originally Posted by nopedals
Last edited by fws6; 05-20-2014 at 02:34 PM.
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The fifties neck profiles on gretsches (they called them "miracle neck") were pretty modern. You just need to make sure it has a working truss rod, and get one that someone else has done the neck reset on.
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Yup - On the vintage ones the neck sets are notoriously bad, so bad that you will find many guitars from the 50s and 60s with a factory reneck . They started also bolted the neck for that reason ( so it is a set neck, with an extra bolt into it) that makes it hard to reset for a luthier not knowing gretsches
Dan Duffy was Gretsch 's quality control manager at that time and wrote a nice book that details the neck issues very frankly (for Gretsch fanatics only)
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You and I have had this conversation here before, perhaps a year ago when I first posted this photo.
Funny thing is when I sold it I took it to a Guitar Center on Stevens Creek in San Jose. The store manager got on the phone with his vintage counterpart out of the L.A. store and I walked out with about $1100.00. So if they don't know a good vintage guitar who would. It's stock. If I remember in that earlier thread you were corrected by more than one person. So let's just agree to disagree. Tell me what you think of that Bigsby... You could do just about anything with that guitar, at the time it always influenced me to play Neil Young stuff...
Just to double check what you said about the bridge/bridge pickup placement I entered Gretsch Double Anniversary on Yahoo. Look at the images that Yahoo dug up. Look at how different many of those Gretsches look, there's a least 100 photos. You'll see the selector switches move a lot, you'll see scads of bridge pickups touching the bridge, and you'll see LOTS of weird Bigsby's on them too...
Best to ya... I'm sure we'll see each other around more.
Originally Posted by fws6
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 05-20-2014 at 03:20 PM.
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