NGD Gretsch G6120TG

[Heiko Jakob]

Only a few days since I bought the Jazzmaster, I was shopping for flat wound strings for the Jazzmaster. At the checkout I suddenly had not only flat wounds, but somehow a Boss chorus and a Epiphone Casino sneaked their way into the basket .

The flat wounds, the Boss chorus and the Epiphone Casino arrived, but I wasn't pleased with the Chinese Casino and it found it's way to the DHL drop off within an hour. 2 days later it finally made it's way home and I got a voucher. So what to do with a 650 bucks voucher? For some time I had a cadillac green Gretsch Broadkaster JR and a Electromatic on my wishlist, but i just couldn't pull the trigger, because besides the filtertrons, they were quite redundant to my Duesenberg Starplayer TV and would probably end up only as a backup. Single cut, semi hollow with centerblock, ~1" depth, bigsby.

After my 'made in china' experience with the Epiphone, the Electromatic was out, but just when i wanted to add the Broadkaster JR to the shopping list, it was gone. Somebody just bought it minutes before i could add it to the shopping cart. Backlog for ordering wasn't 'several months' as usually today if something isn't in stock, it was worse, it was 'undefined'.

So i thought what do i really miss in my collection ?

So i filtered for:
Gretsch (Don't have a Gretsch yet)
Trem (A real Gretsch needs a bigsby IMHO)
Filtertrons ( Offcourse a real Gretsch needs Filtertrons!)
full size hollow body ( depth >2" ) w/o center block
incl. case (to filter out the cheap crap)
single cut
availability (only what's in stock and directly available)
budget <3k

There she was. The only match. And i'm glad that i bought the G6120TG over the Broadkaster. It can't get more gretchy then this. Orange, full size hollow body, Filtertrons and a bigsby. ( At the checkout somehow a Electro-Harmonics Big Muff 𝜋 USA sneaked into the cart as well )

 

[JeffMcLeod]

Not necessarily my style but very nice looking machine. Gretsch quality is second to none.

 

[Heiko Jakob]

Gretsch quality is second to none.

Hmmm ... the 6120 are made in Japan. Maybe the cheaper Chinese ones like the Electromatic have issues. But quality of this Japanese guitar is compareable to my Duesenberg and on par if not slightly better then my Gibson custom shop Les Paul.

 

[JeffMcLeod]

That's what I meant, lol. That sentence means that Gretsch quality is excellent.

 

[Mitchell Pearrow]

Congrats
HNGD

 

[GregM]

Hngd ! A rose by any other name doesn't sound as sweet !
Very very nice !

 

[GregM]

Please let us know how you go with the string thru bigsby when it comes time . ! Enquiring minds need to know !!!

 

[KidBlast]

That is a beauty!

About string changes..

I have three of four guitars with bigsby's (one in fact is a gretsch.)

They can be a pain to restring.

Take a cork from a wine bottle, from that cut a wedge about 1/4 wide, and tall enough to reach the pins.

Wedge that up against the post once you seat the string.

Makes life much easier.

 

[Heiko Jakob]

Please let us know how you go with the string thru bigsby when it comes time . ! Enquiring minds need to know !!!

The first thing i did was change the strings and clean the fretboard. No big issue with the bigsby, but i'm already used to it from my Les Trem on the Duesenberg Starplayer TV.

 

[PelliX]

Nice score, I was looking at similar ones a while back!

Not necessarily my style but very nice looking machine. Gretsch quality is second to none.

Or so it used to be perhaps. I picked up a few Gretch's at the store recently. All MIC, poorly balanced, so-so craftsmanship. They do still make good ones, too - sure hope that's one of them!

 

[Heiko Jakob]

Or so it used to be perhaps. I picked up a few Gretch's at the store recently. All MIC, poorly balanced, so-so craftsmanship. They do still make good ones, too - sure hope that's one of them!

The difference between MIC and MIJ is about 1500 miles, 2 grand in $, and light years quality wise.

 

[PelliX]

The difference between MIC and MIJ is about 1500 miles, 2 grand in $, and light years quality wise.

Absolutely - I was horrified when I handled a few of the MIC Gretsch's. It was more of a general remark/warning for others. I must admit, initially I missed the country of origin on yours, but saw it later in your second post of the thread or so.

 

[Heiko Jakob]

Absolutely - I was horrified when I handled a few of the MIC Gretsch's. It was more of a general remark/warning for others. I must admit, initially I missed the country of origin on yours, but saw it later in your second post of the thread or so.

Well, getting my hands on the MIJ Gretsch all started with a lousy MIC Epiphone Casino i returned ...
On the other hand, I bought several very cheap vietnamese guitars that we're fantastic. My sub $100 TE-30 and my daughters $270 BZ-4000NT bass f.e.