The Chetboard

I stopped at a friends house yesterday and he had a new guitar that he bought,it was a gretsch 5122 walnut brown hollowbody. And he was playing it through an old vox piggyback amp from 1968,and he was excited about it and wanted me to play it. So i played some chet tunes and i couldnt believe how great the guitar played and sounded,even without the tv jones pickups and in the vox amp it was as close to a great chet tone as i have ever heard.I have a gretsch cgp and 2 gibson countrygents and i know for a fact that his guitar played every bit as good,the action was perfect and all i did was adjust the pickups. And for 700.00 and change! So i know that i would be just as happy having my money back and had a gretsch electromatic,and for the price i could add the tv jones but i really dont think its neccessary! So the next time i go over there i am bringing my cgp to compare. And i know that the cgp holds its value way better,but i buy guitars to play not for resale. But i still am blown away by how great it was,a great guitar for a great price.

I've never seen any of those but I hear they are pretty good. Al

A friend of mine bought a NEW Korean DuoJet for $350.00. It's s PERFECT guitar in every aspect ! ! !

I played the Gretsch 5120 with standard "Gretschbuckers", the 7593 White Falcon with TV Jones filtertrons, and the 6120 DSW with TV Jones Dynasonics through a Peavey Classic 30 tube amp a few weeks ago to test the amp. This took place in a test room in a shop. The room was really too small to get at very good impression of the guitars and the amp. The sound was different from one guitar to the other, not better or worse but just different. The main difference was in the finish and playablitiy. The two professional series guitars, the 6120 DSW and the White Falcon, had a better finish and a more luxurious feel to them. Their playablility also felt better in an indescribable way, a little "firmer" and solid both to hold and to play. They undoubtedly were of a better quaility, but when considering the price difference it´s hard to tell if the difference in quality justifies the higher price. I guess what I have written is based upon the fact that I had the three guitars there and then, and was able to make a direct comparison on the spot. Honestly, I doubt I would have been able to spot the difference without having an opportunity like that, exept the sound resulting from the different pickups with different characheristics. With only the 5120 in my hands I probably would have been perfectly happy with that one. No doubt it is a very good instrument.

What I wrote about on the 5120 supposedly goes for the 5122 and the rest of the 51xx series. Well made and good sounding, without the luxurious touch of the pro series. Alot of good sound and quality for the bucks.

Now that You've praised the cheaper model's I'm thinking the prices will go up on them also. Mum's the word.

I´m so sorry. Please disregard what I wrote above!

I bought a new left over 2008 Gretsch 5120 three years ago with a tag glued on the back of the head that reads, Gretsch 125 year anniversary 1883-2008. It's orange like the Chet guitars and has the Bigsby. I really love this guitar. It plays and sounds like some of the Chet guitars that I've owned through the years.
I didn't buy the case for it right away and I heard a guy on the forum say that he had bought a tweed hardshell case at Musician's Friend for only $60 back then, for his G-5120 and it nice into this case. His name was Joe and he lives in Chicago and he was nice enough to email me with the info on the case and I bought one.
I'd like to buy some TV Jones pickups for it some day but in the mean time, she sounds pretty good with the ones on it right now.
Today, I would never buy a guitar without trying it out. You really don't know how it's going to play or feel unless you have it in your hands and try it. I go into the Guitar Center occasionally and I'll pick up four or five different guitars and try them. The last time I was there, I picked up a Yamaha APX 500 and tried it out. It was an acoustic round hole cut away model selling for only $349.99. What a fabulous playing guitar that it! I would have bought that guitar on the spot if I could. I would have taken that guitar over any Taylor or Martin guitar they had in that store. You really need to try them first or you'll never know if you bought the right guitar for your hands because they're not all the same.