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Published on 12/25/11 at 17:42Made in Korea
Gloss black finish
Laminated maple fully hollow body
Laminated maple neck
Rosewood 22 fret fingerboard with "Thumbnail" (Chet Atkins) inlays
24.56" scale length
1.6875" nut width
Chrome covered dual coil humbucking pickups
Rosewood based Adjusto-Matic bridge
Chrome Bigsby licensed B60 vibrato tailpiece
Binding on the top and back, bound neck
Clear pickguard
Chrome hardware
Vintage key tuners
UTILIZATION
This is a great Gretsch for the picker on a budget. Anyone into Chet Atkins, Brian Setzer, Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, or any of the other rockabilly or country cats would definitely dig this guitar. The instrument is very easy to set up, get great playing action out of, and get a good working tone out of. The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece works like one would expect - it is very smooth, with a small range of motion. For anyone that hasn't played a Bigsby before, the vibrato system is very subtle, yet very pleasant to use.
SOUNDS
Here's where the 5122DC really shines. The pickups sound fantastic. They remind me a lot of the pickups that were in my Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman - very open, clear, warm pickups. This guitar plugged into a great clean amp will create some absolutely memorable tones - I didn't want to put this thing down! I sat and played every rockabilly and finger-style lick I could think of, and then ventured into swing jazz and bebop territory, and I was very well rewarded by the resulting sounds. This axe definitely cuts the mustard.
OVERALL OPINION
This gets a 9 overall from me! The fit and finish were pretty good for the price range, and the hardware and tones were really something. I was expecting the guitar to feel a bit cheap due to the price, yet it hung with my much more expensive USA jazzboxes and fully-hollow guitars. A+.
Gloss black finish
Laminated maple fully hollow body
Laminated maple neck
Rosewood 22 fret fingerboard with "Thumbnail" (Chet Atkins) inlays
24.56" scale length
1.6875" nut width
Chrome covered dual coil humbucking pickups
Rosewood based Adjusto-Matic bridge
Chrome Bigsby licensed B60 vibrato tailpiece
Binding on the top and back, bound neck
Clear pickguard
Chrome hardware
Vintage key tuners
UTILIZATION
This is a great Gretsch for the picker on a budget. Anyone into Chet Atkins, Brian Setzer, Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, or any of the other rockabilly or country cats would definitely dig this guitar. The instrument is very easy to set up, get great playing action out of, and get a good working tone out of. The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece works like one would expect - it is very smooth, with a small range of motion. For anyone that hasn't played a Bigsby before, the vibrato system is very subtle, yet very pleasant to use.
SOUNDS
Here's where the 5122DC really shines. The pickups sound fantastic. They remind me a lot of the pickups that were in my Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman - very open, clear, warm pickups. This guitar plugged into a great clean amp will create some absolutely memorable tones - I didn't want to put this thing down! I sat and played every rockabilly and finger-style lick I could think of, and then ventured into swing jazz and bebop territory, and I was very well rewarded by the resulting sounds. This axe definitely cuts the mustard.
OVERALL OPINION
This gets a 9 overall from me! The fit and finish were pretty good for the price range, and the hardware and tones were really something. I was expecting the guitar to feel a bit cheap due to the price, yet it hung with my much more expensive USA jazzboxes and fully-hollow guitars. A+.