NGD solid body Chinese Gretch G5220

[paulp1960]

Just thought I'd post my opinions of my new Chinese made Gretch.
Sorry I don't have photos but just google for red Gretch G5220 and you can easily find them.

I've been wanting to try a double humbucker mahogany Les Paul type guitar for some time having always been a Fender player.
I didn't really fancy an Epiphone LP but I have read many reviews of the Gretch G5220 and nearly all reviews are very positive. The only complaint seems to be that the fretboard is stained walnut and for some owners the black stain is coming off onto their fingers.

I was hoping to obtain a guitar with a similar price and quality as my Classic Vibe telecaster and I think this is it.

I bought the guitar new un-seen for £360. The action on the guitar was well setup with the nut slots cut nearly as low as can be, action at 12th fret low E around 1.6 to 1.7 mm. The nut is a synthetic bone type and doesn't suffer from the strings sticking and "pinging".
The tuners are cheap but they keep the guitar in tune very well. I very rarely change tuners on guitars so will keep these for now.
The finish on the guitar is pretty perfect, I couldn't really fault it.
I've weighed the guitar and it is 7.8 pounds which is fine.
The guitar sounds very lively unplugged and louder than my CV Telecaster.

Here's the thing though, I absolutely love the 12 inch fretboard radius, the neck profile and the short scale neck. I love the humbuckers too and can see this guitar filling any gaps that my CV tele can't cover.

I find this guitar significantly easier to play that my Tele guitars for some reason - I think the 12 inch radius neck and lower string tension helps here.

I might be a convert to this type of guitar over my lifelong Fender playing habits.

[airborne1]

It’s always nice to get a new guitar! Enjoy it in good health and have a happy new year!

[paulp1960]

Thanks and happy new year to you too.

Here is a picture (hopefully):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9rRiPK1vyMnrHUhN6

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

Thanks and happy new year to you too.

Here is a picture (hopefully):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9rRiPK1vyMnrHUhN6

Your pic didn't show ... let's see if this works ... and Congrats!

[paulp1960]

Thanks for fixing my photo!

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

Thanks for fixing my photo!

No Prob, Paulp. I had to google the model (Gretsch G5220) just to be certain but my initial thoughts were correct - it's an Electromatic Jet. I've read lots of positive feedback on that guitar.

BTW, it's going to sound a lot different than a Les Paul type guitar.

[paulp1960]

Well I've read that with the new Black Top Broad'Tron pickups it is one of the most Gibson sounding Gretch guitars available. Maybe a touch brighter than an average Les Paul. I'm not kidding myself that this guitar is near the quality of a good Les Paul since the price difference is massive.
But I'm loving it after playing single coil guitars for so long.

[PTony]

Congrats! I moved to an all Gretsch guitar lineup after being a LONG time Fender player. I love the Gretsch neck profile. It seems very “familiar”. I’ve not tried any of the new Broad’Tron pickups so I can’t speak to the tonality of those.

I love the color of yours. I recently sold a G5230-T with Blacktops that I’d modified pretty heavily. It was Airline Silver but I’d always wished they’d of done them in the color you’ve selected. I miss that guitar but in an effort to downsize it happened to make the short list of guitars to move on.

Enjoy that “Great Gretsch Sound”!

PT

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

...I've read that with the new Black Top Broad'Tron pickups it is one of the most Gibson sounding Gretsch guitars available. Maybe a touch brighter than an average Les Paul...

As a lifetime Gretsch guy I'm just curious exactly what sound you were after when you bought this guitar; although there are variations over the years as a result of changes in production methods/specs (there were at least four different iterations of the iconic Filter'tron pickup alone back in the day), the one thing that has always characterized Gretsch instruments is the classic upper-midrange/treble response known in factory literature as "That Great Gretsch Sound." Don't know if you had the opportunity to check out one of the Filter'tron-equipped models, but as a Tele player (had one of the very first late-CBS '52 reissues myself back in the '80s-90s) I think you'd find a lot to like in terms of the way it responds to your existing technique; FWIW I played one of the Broad'tron-equipped Electromatic 5622's about a month ago at my semi-local Sam Ash, and while everyone has their own tonal preferences I personally found it very generic-sounding - as you state, more akin to what you might find in a typical Pac-Rim LP - and nothing in the least like even the Korean-made Electromatics (just a bit more expensive than your Jet BTW, with quality control that is through. the. roof. ), much less the MIJ Professional Series. If you were in fact after that sound I'd say you did right vis-a-vis its competition - they tend to be better-made overall than the Chinese/Indonesian Epiphones I've played over the last decade or so - and there's the distinctive visual vibe as well...

By the same token, if you're looking for some honest-to-Brooklyn Gretsch mojo on the cheap you might want to consider one of these limited-edition, Filter'tron-equipped (same pickups as on the $2500+ Professional Series) beauties:



https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...lectric-guitar

Some Gretsch lore and trivia: After her divorce from Les Paul in 1963 (I was fortunate enough to see their last TV appearance as a kid, in 1962) Mary Ford was attempting to jumpstart both a solo career and an endorsement deal of her own with Gretsch. It has been rumored that the short-lived (and now uber-rare) "Princess" pastel-colored solidbodies based on the '63 Corvette platform (vaguely resembling the contemporary - and strong-selling - single-pickup SG/Les Paul Junior, and sold with matching white case and amplifier) were in fact intended to be the first "Mary Ford" instruments, to be joined by similarly-colored Duo-Jet-based "Standards" and a double-cutaway White Penguin-based "Custom" model. Production of the Princess ceased by '64 when the deal fell through - no instruments of this type were ever produced under the Mary Ford designation - and while similarly-colored double-cut Duo-Jet "Standard" prototypes are said to exist (possibly as a single example, almost certainly no more than four or five) as well as her personal double-cut Penguin that was to be the platform for the "Custom," only the Corvette-based Princess "Junior" model saw the light of day. FWIW the above FSR Electromatic, in Surf Green with white back/pickguard/trussrod cover and gold Filter'trons/hardware, is probably a 90% accurate representation of what the Mary Ford Standard might have looked like - FYI under Les' tutelage Mary became a formidable guitarist in her own right, and it undoubtedly would have been equipped with some proprietary cutting-edge electronic gadgetry garnered from their time together (which Les himself was extremely reluctant to license for mass production until circa 1970, with the Les Paul Professional/Personal/Triumph Bass models) - and while the recent FSR Limited Edition white Corvette below lacks the obligatory gold hardware/pickguard of the '63 Princess, the DNA is unmistakable to any hard-core Gretsch fan:



To add some fuel to the fire - and credibility to the story - Ken Achard's History and Development of the American Guitar shows a documented prototype of a double-cutaway Les Paul Standard produced circa 1962 by Epiphone, when they were under Gibson management and using the same methods/materials. Les Paul - who had complained long and loud about the SG version that would bear his name until mid-'63 (when he suspended his endorsement deal amid his divorce proceedings) - performed many of his first experiments with solidbody design on Epiphone guitars, and this may have been an attempt to appease him with a more "modern" appearing instrument while still keeping him in the corporate camp; suffice it to say that the body shape is nearly indistinguishable from the contemporary double-cutaway Duo-Jet - the same one that would have been used for the Mary Ford Standard/Custom - and if push came to shove it could have been a very interesting state of affairs...

[paulp1960]

Steve, thanks for that very informative as usual.

What sound was I looking for? An all-mahogany, maple top, set neck guitar with a 12 inch radius neck profile and a pair of humbuckers, and short scale compared to a Fender. Also something of reasonable quality since I can always mod the guitar later.

I like bright vintage pickups that can do clean jangly sounds and don't like muddy sounding guitars.

So far I'm very happy with what I've got though it is probably more PAF sounding than filtertron with the broadtron pickups.

Sometime down the road I might change the neck pickup for something more Gretchy sounding but for now I'm happy with my cheap guitar.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

...I like bright vintage pickups that can do clean jangly sounds and don't like muddy sounding guitars.

So far I'm very happy with what I've got though it is probably more PAF sounding than Filter'tron with the Broad'tron pickups...for now I'm happy with my cheap guitar.

Use it well, often, and LOUD - but just as an FYI that double-cut/Filter'tron FSR Duo-Jet is only $499 right now, so if you happen to have a few spare bucks lying around...

[robj144]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Use it well, often, and LOUD - but just as an FYI that double-cut/Filter'tron FSR Duo-Jet is only $499 right now, so if you happen to have a few spare bucks lying around...

Yes, thank you.... I stumbled in this thread and now I really want one. I don't have any more room for guitars though. I'm trying to sell a few though. Ugh...

[paulp1960]

Just an update on my Chinese Gretch G5220 since I have owned and played the guitar for several weeks now.

I really like the looks and build quality of this guitar. I would rate it as highly as my Classic Vibe Telecaster for quality. I really like the feel of this guitar as well.

The bridge pickup I could probably live with, nice and bright but crunchy too. The neck pickup I like less. After playing single coil pickups for so long I find it a bit pointless, especially for playing rhythm on the neck pickup. Just too muddy. I measured the pickups with my multimeter and the neck was 5.3K and the bridge pickup 5.15K which surprised me. I would have expected the neck pickup to have less windings. They could be the same pickups and the difference is just variation from one pickup to another.

So, I'm going to get new pickups fairly soon. I'm planning to fit a lowish output filtertron bridge pickup and seriously thinking of a vintage specced firebird pickup for the neck. You might think that is an odd choice but I feel it could really work for me. I'll probably get the pickups made by Jamie from the Manchester Creamery pickup manufacturer.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

Just an update on my Chinese Gretch G5220 since I have owned and played the guitar for several weeks now.

I really like the looks and build quality of this guitar. I would rate it as highly as my Classic Vibe Telecaster for quality. I really like the feel of this guitar as well.

The bridge pickup I could probably live with, nice and bright but crunchy too. The neck pickup I like less. After playing single coil pickups for so long I find it a bit pointless, especially for playing rhythm on the neck pickup. Just too muddy. I measured the pickups with my multimeter and the neck was 5.3K and the bridge pickup 5.15K which surprised me. I would have expected the neck pickup to have less windings. They could be the same pickups and the difference is just variation from one pickup to another.

So, I'm going to get new pickups fairly soon. I'm planning to fit a lowish output filtertron bridge pickup and seriously thinking of a vintage specced firebird pickup for the neck. You might think that is an odd choice but I feel it could really work for me. I'll probably get the pickups made by Jamie from the Manchester Creamery pickup manufacturer.

Did you try lowering the neck pickup a little?

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Did you try lowering the neck pickup a little?

Yes the neck pickup is about as low as it can go. It's ok for lead playing but not for rhythm playing. I don't mind buying some new quality pickups since if I ever sold the guitar I would just refit the originals and use the new ones on another guitar.