Gretsch Synchromatic G-100 Archtop

Orange stained satin poly finish over 3&1/4" thick laminated maple single bound hollow body. Two parallel longitudinal braces.
16" non-cutaway single bound laminated spruce top.
Faux-Waverly open gear tuning machines.
25.5" scale maple neck with scarf joint. Single bound rosewood finger board with big square yellow colored fake pearl position bands.
20 nicely polished medium/jumbo frets.

Gretsch styling cues like the threaded strap buttons, peghead shape (inlayed) etc.

Well it sounds diminutive but well balanced for Jazz chording and fingerstyle melody playing with flat wound strings (0.013" - 0.052").
Resonant midrange.

Sounds better than many small parlour style guitars to me, or one of those small travel guitars.
And it's better sounding than a semi-hollow or thinline like an Epi Casino, which are mostly electric.
Also sounds better than an Epi Joe Pass, though sorta close in volume.

Sounds atrocious with round wounds and a pick. Really thin and trashy. Truly dreadful.

It's just a beater for practicing I can leave out around the house without worry.
I have grown fond of it's tone though. There's a quiet sweetness to it if you watch your technique and draw it out a bit. Kinda like playing a Classical guitar in that way. You just can't wham away on it or it just sounds cheap.

This is a Korean made Samick with Gretsch styling cues.
As such it has nice frets and feel, good sturdy and well done luthiery and attention to detail, and is a simple proven design (Gibson derived).
The Art Deco staircase style Gretsch bridge (rosewood) is a nice touch, but could fit the top better. There's some places where if you held it up to the light you could see it didn't sit perfectly on the top.
I think it sounds better with better bridge contact. It's not that hard to conform it to the top's contour better with some sandpaper taped face up on the top where the bridge rests.

I've seen better from Samick, but overall it's clean and tidy in the workmanship.
The tuners are fine.

Simple proven design.
I prefer archtops to flat-tops on cheap guitars, because flat-tops seem to always need a neck reset down the road. With the user adjustable bridge, you can pretty much take care of action problems yourself. The frets are level and precise, nicely crowned and polished (like many Samicks I've seen and/or played).

Gretsch is distributed by FMIC.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Deal with a decent store.
The warranty is the usual industry standard.

I do all my own work. I doubt I'd ever have need to pester Gretsch or Fender about it.

The money and effort they put into Gretsch styling cues and trying to make the tuners look like faux Waverly butterbean tuners with stamped engraving on the plates would have been better spent getting the bridge to fit so it would at least sound decent off the rack.
As it is, it has potential (if you know someone who can tighten up the tolerance on the bridge footing some).

That said, I actually enjoy this guitar for couch noodling a lot. With decent flatwound strings it has a bit of resonance and a sweet, if not exactly loud, singing voice. It's a laminated wood 16" archtop, but at least does not have a sound like a dulcimer like so many inexpensive guitars.
The neck and playability are its best feature.

I've been playing guitars almost 50 years.
For the money, I'm well pleased. It's a fun guitar for serious practice and pleasure, if not a flashy head turner for Jazz snobs.

I would replace it (and fix the bridge fit again) in kind.

Matte blond finish. Realistic copy of an early '40s acoustic archtop guitar made by Gretsch. Full body with no cutaway. "f" Sound-Holes. Open tuners look like Grover copies. Neck scale is 25.5". Laminated Maple body, laminated Spruce top. Maple neck, bound Rosewood fingerboard with large faux mother-of-pearl markers, nice wide frets, thin neck. Adjustable Truss Rod. Synchromatic Rosewood bridge. Tortoise Shell Pickguard. Chromatic Tail-piece with hidden string anchors. No electronics. Made in Korea.

Pickguard is lacking a support at its string edge across from the body anchor bracket, so if you rest your pinky on it while picking, it will easily depress down towards the top. I fixed this by placing a stack of two 1/2" FELTAC felt floor savers under it.

Guitar came with bronze, round wound strings that sounded very tinny. Replaced with Thomastik .011-.050 Plectrum Acoustic Series. With this string, the guitar has a mellow, harmonically rich sound. Very balanced up and down the neck. Projection is great, but it is not a loud guitar; this is not a dreadnought folks. Great guitar for Jazz or Country. I could see some folks adding a floating Jazz pickup. I won't bother since I have an electric Jazz guitar. This guitar is very stable and stays in perfect tune over a few days.

Guitar was setup with a very high action. Bridge intonation was dead-on. Neck did not need adjustment. I reduced the action and re-calibrated the bridge intonation -- this was necessary since I lowered the action. I am very impressed with the fit and finish of this instrument. I used to build Harpsichords so I an used to looking at details within instruments.
The finish is excellent, but I feel the sheen is too matte. A semi-gloss would surely enhance the grain of the wood.

The only flaw I could find on this instrument is the screw that attaches the pickguard bracket to the body was over tightened at the factory, so the wood threads were basically striped out.

Since the guitar is laminated, it should easily withstand the rigors of live playing. The hardware appears to be decent quality. The Polyurethane finish appears to be very durable. This is a stable guitar that tolerates different climatic enviorments. The strap buttons are very solid. No problem using this guitar on a gig without a backup.

Been playing 35 years. Also own a '52 Epiphone Zephyr Regent and a Larrivee LS-30 Classical.

Overall, I love the sound and feel of this guitar. It's a cool guitar for Django-style music or acoustic Country guitar. I compared this guitar to a bunch of older Harmony's. The Harmony Patrician is a guitar that is very high on my list, but I couldn't find a decent one, so I opted for the G-100. Wish the guitar came with a decent hard case. Gretsch only makes a gig bag for it.

Kudos to Gretsch for going out on a limb and producing a lovely archtop for less that $600!