Topic: Since I will not get a vacation...

[Burke]

I cashed out my vacation pay (I have not been able to take a vacation uninterrupted in 6 years) +I'm only a few months from rolling over again, because I found a super deal on CL!

"Gretsch G5120 (orange) only 1 month old, w/ Hardshell case $500/OBO". It was 2 hours away, so 4 hours later, $475 lighter (That's right!), I have the guitar I have been lusting over for the last two years. Not a mark on it, plays like a dream! Still smells new!



This guitar sells everywhere for $699+Tax, then the TKL case is about $99-120+Tax I got it for $475. Wow. I truly now believe that good things come to those who wait.  

Must play...can't... put.. guitar.. down...

[UnCrash]

Very nice!  I'm a big fan of the Gretch tremolo bar.  Much better than my Floyd Rose set up. (for me anyway)

[Retro Rocket]

Very nice!  I'm a big fan of the Gretch tremolo bar.  Much better than my Floyd Rose set up. (for me anyway)

Surely you are kidding, a well set up floyd rose doesn't even compare. There are cheap arse Floyd's and the ones that are used on better guitars. I could swing my Jackson with a floyd on it by the tremolo arm in circles and it never went out of tune......you couldn't do that with a Gretch.    The trick with any tremolo is in the setting up, and it isn't easy..
Nice Guitar


Mick

[Stev-o]

Very nice!  What type of music are you into?

[bucky katt]

i just got an Epiphone WildKat in trade for my Danelectro yesterday and i have got to say that Bigsby IS pretty wonderful is it not? and i see you got it in brian setzer orange!

[seaweb11]

"I could swing my Jackson with a floyd "

Is that dirty talking?

[Retro Rocket]

"I could swing my Jackson with a floyd "

Is that dirty talking?

Only to another guitarist.....

Jackson is a USA made guitar and a Floyd Rose is a tremolo arm or whammy bar....

Mick

[Burke]

i Have not been able to put the Gretsch down (now lovingly named "Gretschen", not very original, but whatever). I have been playing it all weekend and scouring youtube for rockabilly licks and lessons.
I bought a Danelectro BLT (slap back echo) on e-bay, cant wait for that .

Like Bucky said, you find a guitar that feels like it was made for your hand, your a lucky man. This is by far the best guitar purchase i have ever made. If this play this well, I would love to play a 6120 or maybe not.

Paul Pigat vid, here i come!

[BobbyR]

As the 3rd or 4th worst guitarists in NY and perhaps among the top 100 in the US. Congratulations!!!  Beautiful axe.

[UnCrash]

There are cheap arse Floyd's and the ones that are used on better guitars. I could swing my Jackson with a floyd on it by the tremolo arm in circles and it never went out of tune......you couldn't do that with a Gretch.    The trick with any tremolo is in the setting up, and it isn't easy..

Agreed, maybe my trouble is that the sensitive beast wants to be out of tune if I just look at it.  Getting it all sorted seems always to be a major chore...  It is sweet when dialed in...

But my pop has a Gretch like this and it just felt perfect in my hands compared to my custom hand made strat style guitar with a true Floyd Rose.  Now I may just not have the touch, because I heard this guitar in the makers hands who I took lessons from back in the day.  He made the girl sing in ways that I can only make her cry. 

Now she wallows in her felt lined coffin in the studio while my pearly Martin has my favor.

[bucky katt]

does Gretchen have a roller bridge? i'm ordering one when i get up later this morning, thats my only complaint about the WildKat is with the regular tune-o-matic bridge it will go out of tune if you so much as breathe on the bigsby hard, it's not allowing the strings to move freely like on the Danelectro Hodad with it's roller bridge. looks like the one i've found wont even require me changing the mounting pins and at only 24.95 plus 7.95 for shipping it cant be beat.

[azuredesign]

Great looking guitar, congratulations! I also think the roller bridge is a good idea. After you place the roller bridge, if you find that one or more strings go sharp after bending up with the Bigsby or flat when depressing the bar, then make sure the nut notches are cut wide enough(not any deeper though) so that with a bit of graphite the string will pass smoothly through the nut notches. Exacto makes a saw blade that will work on the high E if you can't find small enough needle files. If you screw one up, use a bit of crazy glue to fill up the notch a bit then recut it correctly. While the Rose tremolo uses a locking nut and is more precise and precise feeling, the Bigsby is plenty good enough if set up right and is classy to boot, especially since Paul Bigsby helped with the building of one of the all time coolest motorcycles, the Crocker.

I don't know if this is helpful, but I've been a Danny Gatton fan for a long time. He made a couple of instruction videos with Arlen Roth. Here's a video of him playing with a guitar similar to your Gretsch, I believe it's a pre 1959 Gibson es-350.

[Burke]

It just has a normal tune-a-matic, not the Gretsch roller. However I have found through the Gretsch pages forum and bridge thats called "Tru-Arc". This is a bridge that is smooth and grooved for the strings and matches the arc for the fret board. They make them in different materias as well, aluminum, brass, stainless. From the reviews they seem to be the way to go. I guess it really brings out the tone on these guitars.