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Good example of how the Mud switch sounds. And how a nice hairdo should look.
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05-26-2015 02:27 PM
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I leave mine in the "up" darker position with the pickup selector on "Neck." MV rolled off just a bit.
Originally Posted by Teddyfm
Common thing to do. Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop
I have yet to do it myself. I will someday.
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I'd love a Caddy green like this... BUT... no Bigsby. Pickups? Not too worried about those. Although... the only thing I don't care for with the traditional Filtertron mounts is just how limited the options are without getting creative. Originally Posted by Teddyfm
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Exactly. I think I did see Gretsch styled mounts that allowed for PAF pu's. Darren Riley perhaps... Originally Posted by barrymclark
edit: nope not there.Last edited by Teddyfm; 05-26-2015 at 02:43 PM.
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62 or 59? Well, I don't play blooze on mine, but to me there is no comparison IMO. The 62 has the 'normal' narrower neck 43mm, no supertron in the neck (as the Harrison version) although it was fitted later back in the 60s. I'd say no contest, but your mileage may vary. I tend to play blues on strats and teles - never bonded with Gibson humbuckers.
I had an old 63 way back when, after my Tennessean, and it was %$£& awful. Tennessean was the lightest guitar and 16" body, only 2" thick. There's one or two 59s on ebay, (or there were,) and they are well under £2K.
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The more economy minded models once had the PAF style mounts. I think they have recently (could be wrong) moved to what looks like a hybrid of the PAF/Filter mount. OH... and I'd likely drop the metal bridge... just as I did with the 6120 I have. Originally Posted by Teddyfm
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I have a 5420 Electromatic one aswell. I think its similar to the high ends. Will have to take a peek.
edit: Looks the same. Cant guarantee it though. Several factors plays into this. Having a cocktail party with Gil Evans and let me tell you, he is really digging the Gretsch. Or maybe its just the gin tonics talking.....Last edited by Teddyfm; 05-26-2015 at 02:57 PM.
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This is my 59 Anniversary. Gretsch had PAF pickups too!
Last edited by bananafist; 05-26-2015 at 03:10 PM.
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Yes they did... but absolutely no one is referring to the Gretsch ones when they say "PAF". haha. This coming from someone that owns a couple of Gretsch guitars and could see at least one more. Originally Posted by bananafist
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I did know that. Many moons ago I had a 1958/59 335 (no neck binding) with Patent Applied For stickers on the back of the humbuckers.
Last edited by bananafist; 05-26-2015 at 03:19 PM.
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...and I wasn't meaning to imply you didn't. It's something I have seen a few times on the Gretsch forums. It usually tongue in cheek in mention but there are a few overly enthusiastic fan boys that really try to make that a valid argument. ...and the knee-jerk reaction is always "no one means Gretsch PAF when they only say PAF." It's always kinda funny. Every brand has that thing. Originally Posted by bananafist
Gretsch PAF and the 'mud' switch.
Heritage headstocks.
Guild... they are perfect.
Epiphone Frequensator
Fun forum times to be sure!
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I like it. Just got a PRRI. Been playing with the "old" settings on the guitars by default. Been playing the last hours with the switch up. Sounds pretty nice I have to say. Very nice sound. Have to explore more. Originally Posted by barrymclark
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On a personal note, I would really like to hear you play a Gretsch Rob. If someone could remove the Gretsch Rockabilly stereotype it would be you.
Edit: dont feel any pressure..But I really think that some of those high end Gretsches really are very good jazz guitars, in the same way that Telecasters are.
Last edited by Teddyfm; 05-26-2015 at 04:12 PM.
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Thanks. No pressure at all. I'd have to do a deal with my Gibson 345, and I'm too scared to let go of that. It might take me a while to get a high-end Gretsch. Very, very tempting, though, I must say.
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The GretschPages is a great resource for everything about Gretsch guitars. They even have a section with Comments from Dan Duffy who was head of QA years ago. He once told me that his friend, Sal Salvador, was the one who got him the job. You can research histories of each model and history of pickups and other features. Great resource.
Gretsch Guitars: The Gretsch Guitar Encyclopedia And Registry at The Gretsch Pages
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To me Chet always had tone and taste. He never over-played, and his picking never sounded too fast or un-necessary. Even when picking with Jerry Reed and M Knopfler, his lightning runs never sounded out of place. I know he's not popular with many jazzers, but like Johnny Smith he used a clear clean, even bright, tone and to my ears was a perfect accompanist, let alone soloist. YMMV.
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I won't argue with any of that. Clearly he was a great player. I guess I'm not really into much if the repertoire he played, but that won't lower my estimation of him as a player and musician. And I do like his sound.
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my 0.02$ ---- I love these Gretsch guitars too and have two of them - a black 6120 and a cadillac green country club. At some point I had a trapeze tailpiece and powertrons installed in the latter to make it more "jazzy". However, I finally decided that a Gretsch is a Gretsch for being a Gretsch and that is what it does best and went back to the original configuration with the Bigsby and Filtertrons. Love the tone of both Gretsches. So clear, bright, fat, strong - they do really well for rock too unless one uses too much gain.
I once tried a Country Gentlemen and was blown away by the tone. I just could not get past the painted f-holes, the tacky mutes and the padded back. Real deal breakers - at least at the time. But there also is the 6122ii, which is much more in line with more what non-Gretscher's are used to. Unfortunately never played one.
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Hi. Im the process of getting the Bigsby TP changed to a G one. In what way did the tone change in your opinion, without the Bigsby? Originally Posted by FrankLearns
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Went with the Caddy TP... but mine mellowed. Which is what I was after. I totally get the notion of letting a Gretsch be a Gretsch... but I also totally don't care about that.
I want the guitar to be what I want it to be.
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I think the back "cover" on the CG was to protect against belt-buckle damage, given the love of giant, flashy buckles the C & W players liked to display. I did play several Gretsch 7-strings over the years, none of which was worth purchasing; in fact, I bought a Hagstrom oval-hole archtop that had a wide fingerboard and a "gumby" headstock with room for a 7th tuner, had the fingerboard widened, new nut, bridge and tailpiece, and ended up with a very serviceable 7-string that I played for years, until it just wore out. The total cost was under $500, and the Gretsch was somewhere between $1200-2000. Van Eps must have had major work done on his to make it playable.
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And it served as a functional/decorative way to allow for easy access to the guts of the body since they were sealed bodies (no f-holes). I can tell you that I have much preferred to tweak the innards of the Gretsch over my other guitars for that very reason. Haha. The Eagle wouldn't be that bad but the jack would still be a fuss.
Once I get my old New Yorker dressed out with electronics, that will be as easy as removing the pickguard.
Then that one will truly be the easiest to work on with regards to electronics.
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I bought this Brooklyn-made '63 Country Gent in 1982 for $425 (Gretsch guitars were rather out of fashion at that point). I have a few thoughts about this one, accrued over the years. First of all, playability was excellent, and the tone was pretty good, but the use of the tone switch made it very limited. The mutes were useless, but I really liked the Bigsby once I figured it out (use heavier strings, settle on one set of gauges and change one string at a time to reduce retuning time), and in fact last year I bought a Carvin SH550 because it had a Bigsby (thanks, Peter). The lack of access to the interior/wiring was ridiculous: after many years the pots froze up and it took me a lot a cussing to fish the old ones out and install new ones. The plastic deteriorates: many older Gs have significant binding rot and the oval plastic cover that blocks the access hole curls up (I've not seen one where that had not happened). The neck joint was complex, making a neck reset a seriously expensive job, and the position of the heel made access up high difficult.
Chet Atkins complained that a lot of the weirdness was due to the sales people wanting "features" the music stores could exploit to the customers. My sense is that a lot of the design was the work of drum salesmen, drums having come before guitars by many years to Gretsch. I got to see Mr Atkins live around 2000, and he was an amazing musician. A lot of his material is out of fashion, but he had a touch like very few others.
I bought the LP Deluxe in my avatar in '97, and suddenly found myself with much greater access to the upper frets, electronics that were actually useful! I held onto Chester until '07, when I sold it for $3100. Now I play the Carvin and a nice blonde ES-335.
But Chester sure was purty.
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Thanks for the quick response to my query about weight, Rob - I have a longterm back condition that makes such things important to me.
Since you are not to familiar with Chet, and hopefully before you spend your cash on some CDs - check out youtube, he is very well represented on there. Here are a few videos you might like to check out
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Will do. I watched a 50-minute appraisal of him by Gretsch today, and got to know quite a bit about his life. I have a lot of respect for the guy.
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