Gretsch G54XX with TV Jones pickups and Roller Bridge

notanon

The price of the pro range of Gretch G61XX series is a little too steep for me. Would a Gretsch G5420 with TV Jones Pickups and Roller bridge upgrades get close to the Pro series? What is missing in your opinion, I guess people have bought/upgraded an Electromatic and had the chance to compare with a Gretsch Pro.

There are a few upgraded Electromatics on Ebay. Replies appreciated.

TheMarlin

To be brutally honest, I think the G54xx's are a bit over priced given the quality of the hardware.  

I had a G5420, it needed a hell of a lot of work to get it to play well, and even the it didn't get close to my Annie. A lot of Gretsch-o-philes hate me saying this.  I'm huge Gretsch fan, but they Electromatics are not good enough quality for the money.  

Buy a G2420, and upgrade the pickups with some used Filtertrons. You're be golden. Thats a much smarter move. 

Ot better still, save up and buy a Pro Line used.  You can get them for £1300 if you take your time. Worth every penny, and more.  

Good luck

Marlin

notanon

Thanks @TheMarlin I need to find a Pro Line on sale when I am in the mood to spend that kind of money :-)

Corvus

It's true the hardware can be iffy, two of the tuners on mine went very sloppy after a couple of years. A dicky selector switch is/was common, but an easy fix with cleaner & fine wet & dry swiped through the contacts. It fishes out the top f-hole no probs. The bridges could rattle lots.

Compton bridges work very well with the Bigsby, and sound loads better too. Different metals available, I had s/s on mine.
A bone or tusq nut helps loads with Bigsby tuning stability too, I tried both out.

For pickups personally TVJs are a bit rich for me, but Mojo does excellent ones and I like my Fletcher ones just as well and they're 55 a pop. My two current builds are getting them. Demo linky

My guitar in itself was excellent, after a minor fret-level the action could go silly low, it played very cleanly indeed. Gigged it no worries.
There can be slightly Friday afternoon ones so best try before buying. But the same is true of Prolines, though less common as you'd expect.

notanon

I think I may try a gretsch country gentleman with a decent returns policy. If still prefer used. Just looked online and thing for a while (to see if I bond with the guitar) is silly prices.

Corvus

New prices are a bit steep .. second hand much better. I'd love me a Gent. There's two modern versions, different scale lengths, one with a shorter heel and real f-holes, the other's more a la Chet with fake f-holes and the shorter scale. The pre-FMIC ones are a slight different shape I think, not sure of scale and whatnot though.

TheMarlin

Also, consider fretboard radius.  I much prefer 12", So I gravitate to Annie's (by far my favourite Gretsch model).  
I've had a Brian Setzer Black Phoenix, 9.5" radius and longer scale length.   Was a damn fine guitar.  Miss that one a lot too!

notanon

Sorry I typed my previous post whilst cooking and on a mobile with auto complete. I looked at renting a Gretsch pro, silly prices. I'd happily pay £60/month but not £60/week

stickyfiddle

I'd go used every time. Lots of people can't get their heads around Gretsches so plenty pop up for sale at good prices. With the recent increase in Electromatic pricing you can get a used Pro for a smidge more than an Electro, or a used Electro for under 500, then add new pickups and a better bridge and nut and you're laughing.

steer

I have a different opinion regarding the Electromatics.  Mine played great out of the box - I can't see how anyone could really criticize the hardware. I think you need to try one for yourself and then decide. 

The prices have gone up, but as mentioned above, you can pick up a mint one secondhand a good price. 

The projet electromatics are even cheaper again. 

Cirrus

I've been looking at the Electromatics - over the last couple of weeks I've visited a few guitar shops and tried two 5420s, four 5422s and two 5622s. There's definitely a bit of variance in terms of how well put together they are. I've found one I'm really enamored with - sounds great, feels great and the finish is perfect as far as I can see. Just need to convince the wife now...

None of them have been terrible, but a couple have had some slightly rough points in the finish - dodgy binding round the difficult corners of the f-holes - and also where neck/fretboard comes over the body some have looked a little rough round the edges. A couple of them have also had intermittent pickup selectors. Playing wise, the one I really like kept tune well and was well intonated up the neck, others have been a bit more of a struggle and there was one in particular that just *wouldn't* stay in tune.

If you can, play the different body shapes through an amp - I've learned a couple of things I wouldn't have expected. Firstly, the 5422 sounds much better - punchier, tighter, more dynamic, through an AC30 which is what I use most. Secondly, the 5420 shape is much more comfortable to wear standing up than I assumed, but the low end is more wooly/soft/pillowy, (whatever adjective makes sense to you).

So I definitely think it's worth trying a few and seeing if any jump out at you. In my experience you try a few seemingly identical guitars, and when you pick up the one that's just right you know pretty quickly that the search is over.