SeriesGretsch Professional Collection

The Gretsch White Falcon is essentially the Gretsch equivalent of a Les paul Custom in the Gibson catalogue. Known for it's beautiful glowing white finish, lavish appointments, and big sound, the White falcon is an instrument of infamy. This particular guitar, the 6136TLDS, is a throwback to the 1955 era of White Falcon. The body is a laminated maple with a set maple neck. The fingerboard is ebony and is adorned with stunning winged inlays. The electronics are made up of two Dynasonic single coil pickups wired into a three way toggle, a shared tone pot, independent volumes for each pickup as well as a master volume control. There is a Bigsby tremolo fitted to the guitar along with Gretsch's synchro-sonic bridge. The guitar is visually breathtaking and really has a sense of flash about it. UTILIZATION The white falcon's tuning stability is top notch thanks to both the fitted bridge and grover imperial tuners. The tremolo rarely went of out tune unless I really abused it. The neck on this guitar surprised me with its smooth, quick feel. I felt just as comfortable soloing on this guitar as on my smaller Les Paul bodied guitars. SOUNDS I played the Gretsch White Falcon through a Mesa boogie Stiletto Deuce. Mesa 4x12 cab. No pedals. There really isn't anything this guitar cannot do. The clean sounds are some of the best I've heard and the Gretsch makes just about any genre fun to play. There is something about holding this guitar that just inspires you. I found myself playing parts of songs in new ways simple to see what little things the white falcon could add. Running the gain higher, I found that the White Falcon handles gain better than almost any hollow body guitar I've played, save for the Hagstrom viking. The neck pickup can be as blues as it gets, while the bridge can scream and rock with the best. Extremely enjoyable guitar to play and hear in the room. OVERALL OPINION The Gretsch White Falcon is a guitar that needs little introduction. I feel that some people may have placed limits on the idea of the guitar's versatility. I could easily use this guitar as my primary axe and get through a harder rock set with no problems. The price can seem daunting but you get what you pay for. I have noticed a trend of guitarists motioning between this guitar and the Duesenberg Starplayer series. Both guitars will get you similar results. The Duesenberg will be the more nimble of the two as far as handling, but the sheer size of the White falcon allows for unmatched resonance.

Primarily a singer, I've been playing guitar for about 10 years, been in a band (drummer!), and have continued to record and play with other musicians on a non-professional basis. My styles range from folk to hard rock, with heavy power-pop leanings -- Big Star, not Green Day. This guitar was purchased from Sam Ash in Hollywood for $1700. I've played many Gretsch Electromatics and have never been impressed. Once I picked up this regular Gretsch (nicknamed "Annie", because it was first issued for Gretsch's 75th Anniversary), made in Japan, it was a revelation. The fretboard is amazingly smooth and inviting -- even Gibsons of comparable price and stature don't feel quite so comfortable on the left hand. The nitro-cellulose finish looks and feels stunning, the typical adornments on the Gretsch hardware are classy, the colour ("2-Tone Green") is beautiful, and the large body actually feels very comfortable to play because it offers up so much arm support. And this is coming from an SG player. The clean sounds of this guitar are amazing, clear as a bell with a very woody character (more organic than the typical "hi-fi" Fender clean sounds), and overdriven sounds are complex, with great cut, growl and texture. These FilterTron pickups sound majestic. Other reviews of this guitar have mentioned that aside from the lack of neck and headstock binding, this guitar is sonically very similar to the classic, much more expensive G6120 models, making it an excellent alternative, especially for rockabilly and Duane Eddy-style twang. String bending is not that great on this guitar, because of the high string tension caused by the tailpiece. And I'm not a big fan of Gretsch's tone switch; rather than giving you a tone pot, this guitar has presets accessed by a three-way toggle. The "wide open" middle (bypassing the tone circuit), but I have yet to be able to get a truly jazzy or Gary Moore-ish tone out of this guitar. For cutting, wide-open twang this guitar has no peer, but I wouldn't say it's as versatile as my Eastwood Red Special or Gibson SG. Absolutely fabulous. Looks beautiful, feels gorgeous, flawless presentation that reeks of class. May just be the most well built guitar in my collection. Quite simply put, I love this guitar. It may not do all the tones I need -- and I tend to use at least a dozen different guitars per record -- but it does the signature Gretsch sounds so well that you could just have fun with those. It sounds organic, complex, and feels fantastic. I wrote about eight song ideas on this guitar the first day. If you love the sounds of Malcolm Young, Duane Eddy, Brian Setzer, early Neil Young (such as "Ohio") or Stephen Stills, you'll like this guitar. It's even loud enough to be played acoustically as a songwriting or transcribing tool. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I love to play Beatles stuff and this is my first hollowbody guitar. I had narrowed it down to the Gretsch or the Casino. Went with the Gretsch. More versitle than the Casino and it has the Bigsby. Went with this model because of the TV Jones pick ups and the Bamboo Yellow/Copper Mist color. Paid $1775.00 from Sweetwater Sound. The tone and acoustic resonance are awesome. The TV Jones pick ups just ooze vintage vibe. I love the sound. The neck feels really nice and fits my hand well. Kind of like my Les Paul. It's a big body but very compfortable to play and I always play sitting down so that's saying something. I love the Bamboo Yellow/Copper Mist color combo. The bridge is not anchored the the top of the guitar so it can move. Moving the bridge back and forth is actually how you adjust the intonation. The bridge would have to be anchored to the top to play live because otherwise it needs frequent tuning. I have not found one flaw in the finish or the fit of any components. The binding looks perfect and the entire instrument looks and feels solid. This is one beautiful guitar. Like their ad says: " Coolness Incarnate". The quirks of the bridge and the Bigsby causing tuning problems is fine. I knew that going in. The trade off is "That Great Gretsch Sound". Someone once said that's what's cool about a Gretsch, not everyone gets it.This was absoutley the right guitar for me. It fits me and the sound is what I was looking for. I would buy it again and again. Two thumbs up! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought it in sound control in glasgow for £1399 I like everything about this Guitar. The sound is great, it has such a classic look and is a replica of Malcolm Young's. The sound is brilliant. There is no crackles or interference and it has the essence of malcolm young's. If you play this on a marshall tube amp, it will sound exactly like Malcolm's trademark axe Another good thing is the weight distribution is perfect. There is nothing to dislike. The guitar is made with a nice plain wood top (I don't know what kind of wood). On the sides and the back is a beautiful chocolate brown colour. You see your face in it. You can feel and see the quality in this guitar and pictures do it no justice. Also, it has Malcolm's signature on the trussrod cover. Another good feature is that it has unscrewable strap holders, these straps will not come off. This is not for the new generation of people who seem to think that the best guitar's are the one's that could slay a dragon, this is a true classic. Best used with a marshall tube amp. I could not ask for a better Guitar in my price range. Gretsch aren't exactly the most popular guitars with people my age (17) but My next guitar will certainly be gretsch. That or maybe the angus young sg This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought my 2002 used (barely, it is in showroom condition) at Willies in St. Paul, MN for $1250. I never really considered buying a Gretsch before seeing mine on the wall. But after I picked it up and plugged in, I couldn't walk away. This thing really has musical range! The reissue Filtertron pickups are clear as bells. The neck pickup offers deep rich non-muddy jazz tones. The bridge pickup has vintage Beatle/60's sounds. With both pickups on you get this great Chet Atkins type of solid warm yet glassy sound that is very hard to come by out of the Gretsch family. Distorted it has a sweet & singing sustain. For a large guitar (2-1/2" thick) it feels good and the neck plays very fast The finish is beatiful (a real looker) and the setup is top notch. Quality parts for the most part. Nice Bigsby unit and Grover tuners. The pickup switch could be of better quality, although it works fine. The strap pins are the type that you must unscrew to attach the strap, it's kind of a hassel to put on and take off, but once on the strap is NOT going to slip off, which is cool. Mine fits really tight in the Gretsch hardshell case and the case is not relieved for the Bigsby or the goofy strap pin making it a little struggle to put in. But once in all is good. This is a beauty, a very detailed piece of work, which would have many opportunities to come up short in the finishing. In this case, NO PROBLEM, the closer you look, the more you're impressed. Binding, frets, neo classic position markers, knobs all very nice. This guitar was mfg. in Japan and I don't think it could be made better any where else. My other guitars (5) are all american made, the "Rose" does not have to take a back set to any of them. You could probably find a nicer guitar if you looked hard enough, but it would be almost impossible to find one this nice in this price range ($1870 new at Guitar Center) So, unless you can shell out big bucks for a vintage Gretsch (although I don't know if they would sound any better) this is an great choice for a rich sounding guitar with great musical range. Rock, Jazz, Rockabilly, Country. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Gretsch is one of the most recognized guitar makers in country music. Gretsch had been around since the 1800s making various instruments but in the 50s they really found their calling. They began making guitars and some of the hottest guitar players at the time started taking notice of their quality and sound. Guitar players like Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy helped popularize the world to the Gretsch look and sound. The Black Penguin is a cool rare Gretsch. It combines all the cool added hardware that a Falcon has with the solid body of a Duo Jet. It has a single cutaway chambered mahogany body with an arched maple top. The binding is a gold sparkle binding. It has a one piece mahogany neck with a gold sparkle bound 22 fret ebony fretboard. The gold doesnt stop there. The headstock is gold bound with a gold Gretsch logo above a gold truss rod cover. The gold sparkle foil on the control cavity covers is pretty crazy. All the hardware is gold plated. The bridge along with the Gretsch G Cadillac tailpiece are gold along with the tuners and knobs. It will be interesting to see how the gold holds up over time. On a lot of guitars the gold finish on the hardware will fall off or tarnish very badly. It has dual Gretsch Dynasonic single coils and a 3 position switch. The guitar has volume knobs for each pickup along with a master volume and a master tone. UTILIZATION The neck is nice as beefy as you would expect with a 50s country guitar. Some guitars have the gold arm rest thing that looks silly at first but really makes playing comfortable. The neck is a soft V shape so it is like a lot of other 50s style guitars. The radius on the fretboard is not super flat but its not like a 50s Fender either. It is about the same radius as most Gibson fretboards. The inlays stop at the 17th fret so some people may not like this. Unlike many Gretsch models this guitar does not have a Bigsby tremolo system so this guitar will stay in tune even if you breath or look at it or anything. SOUNDS Normally I would hate chambering in a guitar but with the Penguin it helps get that Gretsch tone. The Gretsch tone you hear in your head is usually from hollowbodies and semi hollow guitars so this solid body guitar being chambered gets that classic Gretsch tone. The pickups are voiced perfectly for 50s rock n roll and country music. There is just the right amount of twang and stringyness. You can even get a good surf tone from the guitar but you will get thrown off the beach for not playing a Fender. The neck pickup can get a kinda bright jazzy tone if you take some tone knob out of it. It isnt very dark but it is like a country guitars jazz tone. You can still hear all the strings and the twang but with a jazz tone. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is pretty cool. There are people like me who like country music and like Gretsch guitars but our style is too hot for a big hollowbody. The worst part about this guitar is that is is not much different than a normal Duo Jet. It is very expensive just for a special finish. You can get a Gretsch Pro Jet for around 500 dollars and people will not really be able to hear the difference.

This is a hollow-bodied arch-top guitar made by Gretsch, who have continually proved their excellence in making guitars of this type. It has a Bigsby-style tremolo bridge with tremolo bar. It has a surprisingly thin body made of maple, which is also what the neck is made of. There are 21 frets, two soapbar pickups and a partial block under them. There are two knobs, volume and tone, and a pickup selector switch. It also has a raised pickguard. UTILIZATION The neck is surprisingly slim, and easy to play. This gives this guitar a great advantage in playing Jazz and country tunes, as the manuevers needed to play those styles well can be easily done on this guitar. The sounds that can come out of this thing are phenomenal. It feels a bit heavy, but it's not quite as much a burden as some of the larger arch-top guitars of its era. Everything about this guitar is pretty solid, it is easy to play, easy to hold, and not too difficult to carry around. The drivers on my version are definitely stable. SOUNDS This is a great sounding guitar. The clean tones on it are outstanding, and certainly would put most solid-bodied guitars to shame. Its certainly a great guitar for country, as Chet Atkins was apparently the one who gave his input into it (it's also named after one of his songs). It's also a good guitar for specific kinds of jazz, namely big band and old-time jazz that still had a lot of country elements. The tone is thick and warm without being too mid-rangey, and it doesn't distort very much at all. It wouldn't be a bad guitar for other genres, like rock and blues, but it would have to be relatively mellow versions of those genres, as distortion will make this thing feedback like you wouldn't believe. It also wouldn't be the kind of feedback that would intrigue the likes of Sonic Youth, but rather, just annoying feedback that ruins tone. So definitely stick with the mellower stuff on this guy, which should be more than enough for anyone, as those sounds are heavenly. OVERALL OPINION This guitar is a real piece of work. Between the comfort of playing it, the amazingly great look of it, and the great clean tones on it, this is a pretty solid guitar. It's definitely going to run you a lot of money these days, but chances are, if you're even looking at a guitar like this, you've been playing a long time, and might be able to afford it either by saving up or trading some other guitars. Plus, buying a used version might even be cheaper than a new reissue (and probably would sound better, too). In short, if you're intrigued, check it out. Once you do, you'll want it at least a little.

The Gretsch G6120Jr Nashville Jr. is a hollow body electric guitar that has 22 frets and two humbucker pick ups. I believe that the guitar was made in the Japan. The Nashville Jr. has two F-holes as well as a bigsby whammy bar. The guitar has a standard pick up switch along with volume and tone knobs for each of them. UTILIZATION Playing the Gretsch G6120Jr Nashville Jr. is a real pleasure, as the rosewood fretboard has a great feel. The guitar is extremely easy to play for both rhythm and lead guitar parts. The Nashville Jr. is a bit heavy for a hollow body, but doesn't make it hard to hold or anything like that. The shape and style of the guitar is one of the nicest that I have seen, as it really catches the eye. Getting a good sound isn't hard, and there are a good amount of different tones that you're able to get between the different pick ups... SOUNDS For a hollow body guitar, the Gretsch G6120Jr Nashville Jr. certainly has a lot of growl to it. When I first plugged it in, I wasn't expecting it to have as fat of a tone as it does, as I was really expecting a more traditional hollow body sound. I first used the guitar for a session, as I recorded the guitar through a Big Muff and '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, and the tone that I got was outstanding. It cut right through the mix and really took me by surprised. I did find that I was also able to get a more traditional hollow body tone for a clean sound, but I was amazed at the difference between the two that I was able to get... OVERALL OPINION As far as hollow body guitars go, the Gretsch G6120Jr Nashville Jr. is up their with my favorites. This guitar rips for a guitar of this type, and is a tone that I was not expecting at all from it. The price of the Nashville Jr. is pretty reasonable for a guitar of this high quality, and is definitely guitar that I would recommend for anyone looking for a hollow body guitar or any electric guitar in general. This is really an impressive electric guitar that not only has a beautiful look, but the sound to match.