If you missed your chance in 1966...

[Steve DeRosa]

- the Cadillac Green Viking has been revived as an Electromatic:

http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/b...green-metallic

Played a few original Brooklyn/Baldwin Vikings back in the day, and based on my experience with the current MIK E-Matics this one's going to be a whole lot better than the vintage stuff: none of the spotty QC, better tone/intonation/playability (those tuning-fork bridges were a real bear to set up correctly - most players ended up removing them - and I'll reserve comment on the "T-Zone" upper-octave frets ), binding/finish that won't slowly decompose over the next 50 years - and that Caddy Green (only Gretsch could make that work on a full-size hollowbody) speaks for itself...

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

- the Cadillac Green Viking has been revived as an Electromatic:

http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/b...green-metallic

Played a few original Brooklyn/Baldwin Vikings back in the day, and based on my experience with the current MIK E-Matics this one's going to be a whole lot better than the vintage stuff: none of the spotty QC, better tone/intonation/playability (those tuning-fork bridges were a real bear to set up correctly - most players ended up removing them - and I'll reserve comment on the "T-Zone" upper-octave frets ), binding/finish that won't slowly decompose over the next 50 years - and that Caddy Green (only Gretsch could make that work on a full-size hollowbody) speaks for itself...

Steve, please stop! I'm trying to put my Electric GAS behind me (so to speak)!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by DukeX

Steve, please stop! I'm trying to put my Electric GAS behind me (so to speak)!

At the risk of stoking the fires here, if you're serious about the electric guitar thing you need at least one Gretsch in your arsenal, period. FYI my first "good" guitar of any kind was a '64 Double Annie I bought brand-new in sixth grade (and still own) - as did just about every other guitar-playing kid from Brooklyn I knew (BTW my grandparents lived three blocks from the old 60 Broadway plant, and just down the street from the warehouse); although I've owned examples of nearly every other major make over the last 55 years, nothing else sounds like a Gretsch but a Gretsch - and if you've never played one of the new MIK E-matics (the entry-level Chinese/Indonesian models aren't even worth mentioning in the same breath) you're going to be pleasantly surprised at just how much guitar you can get for under $1K...

Side note: In May '16 I picked up a (since-discontinued) E-matic 5622T-CB - a 3-PU cats'-eye double-cut semi-hollow which probably would have been adopted/endorsed by George Harrison had Gretsch produced it in 1964. Coincidentally enough, about thirty-five years earlier I had approached a then-upstart luthier (whom I'd prefer not to name here) for an estimate on a nearly identical design; I paid approximately one-third of the figure I was quoted (in early-1980's dollars) for my 5622, and although the handbuilt instrument would undoubtedly have exhibited a far-higher level of craftsmanship and refinement, its intrinsic merits as a musical tool would not be sufficient to justify the substantial additional cost then or now - high praise by any reckoning, and inasmuch as I had the pleasure/privilege of playing some of his instruments fresh-off-the-workbench at the time, not something I say lightly...

[muscmp]

quite a hefty price tag steve. what do you think street would be?
maybe it is my browser, but it sure looks bluish to me. i really like the green on the one you got.
i already bought myself my xmas present for this year but, this is tempting.



play music!

[DukeX]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

At the risk of stoking the fires here, if you're serious about the electric guitar thing you need at least one Gretsch in your arsenal, period. FYI my first "good" guitar of any kind was a '64 Double Annie I bought brand-new in sixth grade (and still own) - as did just about every other guitar-playing kid from Brooklyn I knew (BTW my grandparents lived three blocks from the old 60 Broadway plant, and just down the street from the warehouse); although I've owned examples of nearly every other major make over the last 55 years, nothing else sounds like a Gretsch but a Gretsch - and if you've never played one of the new MIK E-matics (the entry-level Chinese/Indonesian models aren't even worth mentioning in the same breath) you're going to be pleasantly surprised at just how much guitar you can get for under $1K...

Side note: In May '16 I picked up a (since-discontinued) E-matic 5622T-CB - a 3-PU cats'-eye double-cut semi-hollow which probably would have been adopted/endorsed by George Harrison had Gretsch produced it in 1964. Coincidentally enough, about thirty-five years earlier I had approached a then-upstart luthier (whom I'd prefer not to name here) for an estimate on a nearly identical design; I paid approximately one-third of the figure I was quoted (in early-1980's dollars) for my 5622, and although the handbuilt instrument would undoubtedly have exhibited a far-higher level of craftsmanship and refinement, its intrinsic merits as a musical tool would not be sufficient to justify the substantial additional cost then or now - high praise by any reckoning, and inasmuch as I had the pleasure/privilege of playing some of his instruments fresh-off-the-workbench at the time, not something I say lightly...

Thanks for the info, Steve. I have a nice 62' AVRI Tele and ES335 (Epi Dot Deluxe modded with BCS Vintage wiring kit and SD Antiquities). I can only have one more electric. So I have been considering a Gretsch or a P-90 guitar to round out the trio. Right now I'm leaning toward a Gretsch.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by muscmp

quite a hefty price tag steve. what do you think street would be?
maybe it is my browser, but it sure looks bluish to me. i really like the green on the one you got.
i already bought myself my xmas present for this year but, this is tempting.

In order:

• Street price (MAP?) is $949 - definitely under $1K as I said, and probably negotiable well below stated figure...
• Sweetwater had a couple in stock, with their own photos posted on their website - it's Cadillac Green fer sure...
• MF has them in stock as we speak:
  http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...ar-with-bigsby

Merry Christmas...

[KevWind]

must resist must resist, be strong do no give in to the dark side

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by KevWind

must resist must resist, be strong do no give in to the dark side

FYI Gretsch amps were built by Supro/Valco back in the '50s/60s (possibly the reason for the "Brooklyn/Chicago" references in contemporary catalogs); should sound like old-school heaven, just guitar-cable-amp through your Titan mini-stack - and of course you'll need a 1966 period-correct case:

http://blackriderguitars.com/gretsch...-speckle-case/

[Dadzmad]

Oh my gosh Steve, I just put a pair of green leaf Sylvania 6v6s in my Excelsior. That "thing" is just what I need to revisit the land of the lounge lizards. Green how cool.

[FrankHudson]

Steve, you've been pretty persistent on the Gretsch front here, but I have you to thank for my adding a G5422 to my bunch of electrics.

I love green guitars as much as anyone, but if you drop back from the non-special edition green one to the "regular" colors like the amber/orange one like I got, you can save some on the cost.

Gretch of a different color

There is something about Filtertrons, even the blacktop models in the MIK line. Combine them with the big archtop and the hardware and it is a different feel and sound. These guitars are funny things. They aren't versatile like I find a good Tele can be (particularly a neck humbucker or three pickup Tele)--making many different timbres with one guitar, but the sound they do make fits into many more things than one might think.

Last week I was playing in an electric band context. I had a song of mine that I had thought of as an acoustic guitar number, but not wanting to go to the trouble of setting up for recording an acoustic, I took out the Gretsch hollow body, plugged into a clean Fender amp, and it fit right in for the part. No, it didn't sound just like a acoustic guitar, but the note envelope worked in the rhythm part of the piece like an acoustic would. The other songwriter had a kind of a ironic-techno thing he wanted to try next, complete with a electro-trap drum machine beat and his distorted clav keyboard sound. I didn't put the Gretsch away, and it fit into that too. And the Gretsch is already the guitar I think of when I want to ape that early Velvet Underground subway train rhythm.

Not the guitar for sustaining legato lead lines or loud, high-gain-guitar bands from what I can tell, but there's a lot of electric guitar music that isn't that.

Yes, the are underappreciated guitars, and the hollow bodies may be a particularly good fit for the acoustic guitar players here.

[Scootch]

I like the Orange (amber) one better anyway.
Also in black or white.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

...I love green guitars as much as anyone, but if you drop back from the non-special edition green one to the "regular" colors like the amber/orange one like I got, you can save some on the cost.

Gretsch of a different color

...These guitars are funny things. They aren't versatile like I find a good Tele can be (particularly a neck humbucker or three pickup Tele)--making many different timbres with one guitar, but the sound they do make fits into many more things than one might think...Not the guitar for sustaining legato lead lines or loud, high-gain-guitar bands from what I can tell, but there's a lot of electric guitar music that isn't that...

I'm with you on the cost front, Frank - and with the $100 additional discount I personally see no reason to even consider competing models from the other Pac-Rim makers - but by the same token it appears to me that the powers-that-be at Gretsch are attempting to organize the MIK E-matics into some sort of hierarchy, to correspond to the historic Gretsch lineup of their early/mid-60's glory days; taken from that standpoint the orange 5622 is essentially comparable to the then-midline double-cut 6120 (one of my personal favorites from the Brooklyn period, BTW), and IMO it's far from coincidence that the premier models in the lineup boast gold trim along with white, Caddy Green, and walnut finishes corresponding to the White Falcon, Viking, and Country Gent respectively - the three most expensive models in the mid-60's catalogs. Never made a heckuva lot of difference in tone then or now, but as a lifelong Gretsch aficionado and ex-Brooklyn boy I understand their appeal on the deepest level - and while I've long been considering picking up a 5622TG and retrofitting it with Falcon hardware, I'd gladly take the E-matic Viking as is...

Your comments about versatility compared to, say, a 3-PU Tele are right on point - one of the reasons I started looking beyond my trusty old '64 Double Annie when I got back into electric in the early-80's; oddly enough, Gretsch had the solution right in front of them - the 3-PU cats'-eye 5622T-CB (see my reply to Duke's comments above) - which they inexplicably chose to drop from the line earlier this year (NOS is still available if you look around). I've always had at least one 3-PU guitar in my stable for the last 35 years, starting with an '82 Yamaha SSC-500 (best $200 I ever spent and still in my regular rotation, along with an '86 Fender/Squier Strat and Peerless-made Carlo Robelli '53 ES-5 knockoff), so I'll attest first-hand to the broad variety of available tone color; add to that the inimitable "Great Gretsch sound," and things just ascend to a whole different level. I'm mostly a guitar-cable-amp "big-clean tone" player - venture into some bluesy crunch for a solo or a bit of grit to spice up a rhythm line, but rarely further than that - so I find the Gretsch sound ideally suited for about 95% of what I'm called upon to play; if you've got the time and patience I'd recommend seeking one out and taking it for a test drive - and if you kick in the middle pickup, ride the Bigsby a little bit, and rock out on "Sultans of Swing," you'll probably wonder why Mark Knopfler doesn't own one...

[billder99]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

- the Cadillac Green Viking has been revived as an Electromatic:...

Sure looks blue to me. Love those Gretsch hollow bodies.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Scootch

I like the Orange (amber) one better anyway.
Also in black or white.

Yes, I'll testify: it's a cool color!

And a heck of a value at the current price--and if you call during business hours they'll almost certainly honor the current percent-off coupon too.

[aknow]

Thanks to Steve I've added 3 Gretsches to the family this year. They are outstanding guitars, and I've had the best electric guitar year ever. And, two of them are green. I'm seeing Brian Setzer this weekend in AZ, prepare to be rocked and humbled.