Gretsch 6118

I think this double green Anniversary was made in the late nineties. I can't get into details on its construction. Go elsewhere for those. I bought it used on Ebay from the nicest seller I ever encountered there. A great guy. The guitar itself was a victim of a failed marriage. The couple was splitting up and the husband didn't want it anymore because his wife bought it for him. His loss is my gain.

Let's just say it needed work when I got it. The electronics were a bit squirrely. One pickup failed a few weeks after I got it, but it was a simple loose wire. It needed a setup BADLY, and several weeks later, with the change in weather, the neck warped again, resulting in dead notes on the high E string. Of course, it did this on a gig. Natch. It came with the stock G tailpiece, so I got a good deal on a Bigsby and had it installed. All in all, I spent over $300 in repairs and upgrades. Otherwise, the workmanship was very good, as I expected.

Now, it appears that the toggle switch is operating backwards for some reason, so it'll go back in the shop soon for a tweak and string change.

I love the sound of Gretsch Filter Tron pickups. It's classic Neil Young, especially when you grunge it up with distortion or overdrive.

No complaints. Just dandy.

Same as above.

Fender/Gretsch customer service seems to be good. Hard to get on the phone though.

I have gotten a lot of nice compliments on this guitar. The two-tone green took a little getting used to, but once I did, I loved it. Face it; Gretsch guitars are just flat-out cool. I even put a waterslide pinup girl decal on it, a real 40's hottie. I haven't used it one a gig for a while, but I'm taking it tomorrow night.

Excellent finish in unique greens...lets face it folks GREEN is a cool colour and represents lots of good stuff these days. Just don't go out wearing orange! Matching tuxedo looks great.
The space adjusting bridge is a great invention, allowing string spacing, although individual styring height is not adjustable.

Gretsch like this sound great with flatwound strings for jazz styles. Sounds great through fender deluxe, roland BC30, fender accoustasonic. Sound is rich and full, or bright and twangyas you'd expect. Lots of vitage type tones are availkable, also has the usual gretsch tone damper switches giving a muffled tone for comping.

This was purchased used so no comments

Reliable for sure.

I been playing near 40 years... have an older Gretsch 7566 as well, that has Supertrons on which sound different again.
A very versatile instrument could do a lot of different styles/jobs both live and on tape.

1993 smoke green Japanese made beauty with Filterton pickups. This is a "110th Anniversary" edition. This ain't vintage, and don't sue me, thank God! Unlike true vintage Anniversaries, this model has no signs of binding rot, the neck is firmly seated in the body, the truss rod works, and the Filtertrons just kick butt over the lower output Hilotrons. The action is definitely Medium, but with the shorter scale neck, who cares?unless you have really huge hands you couldn't reach those frets anyway. The roller bridge works just fine and it stays in tune quite well. But, oh, the switches, they can get a little dodgey. In my case the pickup selector can get a little tempermental, but a little wiggle takes care of it.

I'm a huge fan of The Cramps, need I say more? So I take my truly vintage Peavey Classic 212 (1978) all tube amp, crank up the reverb till it drips, turn up the dial on the tremolo so you can hear it but it's not overbearing (unless I'm playing "Human Fly"), plug my guitar into the Series jack and overdrive using the second volume channel, and voila! I'm Poison Ivy. You get the phenomenal hollowbody twangy and sustain?that "Great Gretsch Sound." I didn't buy it for its versatilty, who wants one guitar that can sound like everything? I, like everyone who reads these reviews, want lots of guitars, each perfectly suited to a different style of playing. If you love the sound of a Gretsch, there is NO substitute! And, by the way, it is a whole lot more versatile than you would expect.

The action is Medium, and it's really not capable of going much lower?the floating roller bridge definitely has its limitations. On the other hand, in combination with the trapeze tail piece, it's very comfortable to play and stays in tune much better than I expected. Intonating it was no problem, just get a tuner and get ready to nudge the bridge with your thumbs until it's dead on?and it will stay there as long as you don't screw with it! The paint job is very good, the neck is very comfortable too (on the meaty side, Gibson-like). The nickel plating to the pickups and the volume controls has oxidized quite a bit, every one I've seen from 1993 looks like this though to one degree or another.

Before I'd play live with it, I'd have it checked out by a pro and maybe swap out some of noisy tempermental stuff?it's the price you have to pay. But then no problem, it's a great sounding, great looking, well made instrument. Hell, I'm the first guy on my block with a green guitar. The strap button are big, really big, beautiful, and very impractical. I was scared to death of stripping out the holes so I put set of Schaller strap locks on it, keep the originals in the case, and have no worries.

I've never dealt with Gretsch, but I found that replacement parts are fairly easy to come by on eBay. I bought a replacement pickguard that way without a problem.

Love it...for what it does it has no match, other than another model of Gretsch. I've been playing on and off for 25 and have a 1968 Gibson SG, which bought in 1980 when it was just considered old! A Danelectro Mod 6 with great lipstick pickups for that Link Wray vibe. A Gretsch Hawaiian electric acoustic and Fender super jumbo acoustic. I was dreaming of classic Nashville (steer heads and cactus on the fretboard, etc, etc) but the money reality was much crueler. This was much cheaper by at least $500 than a Nashville and I am not in the least bit disappointed by my choice, this guitar rocks, it's cool looking, it's a great player, it sounds awesome.

1967 USA model with Hilo-tron pickups. Cool but cheesy 58 Caddy green which I almost made the mistake of refinishing. Got it from my brother who gave up playing in 1977. I play mostly classic rock & blues with it. I never understood why Gretsch has different control configurations on all their models. It takes time to get used to. I do like the master volumn location while playing.

Twangy typical Gretsch sound. Most of what people call the Beatle sound comes from these type pickups. George Harrison's Tenneseean had Hilo-trons. Love the hollow body resonance in combination with these pickups. If you want to play anything heavy you'd better bring a case full of pedals but then you have the feedback! Like Rickenbacker they are designed only for a particular sound. Don't bring it to Oz Fest!

I had some issues with the neck joint back in the late 70's which my brother repaired & its holding to this day. Otherwise its definitely built with precision. Before the reissues I never believed anyone else would play a guitar this color!

I used this as my main axe from 1988 to 1993 when I switched to a Ric 620 & Fender Tele Custom. I replaced the magnet in the neck pickup & the tuners in 1992 with stock parts. I really only use it now either recording or at pratices. Has held up great for its use.

Got the replacement parts no problem in 1992.

Even in the 80's & early 90's before the reissues came out I was approached at almost every gig & asked about it. Most offered to buy it but I wasn't selling. Now I understand why its a reissue. Of my 13 guitar collection its probably the most valuable but its not goin anywhere. I find it curious that mostly rockers play it (Tom Petty,a bunch of alternative guys)even though this was obviously intended as a country instrument. Well I suppose I'm just another Gretsch rocker.

It was made in 2002 in USA. This looks awesome! I have not seen a guitar that looks this good before. The laminated smoke green color is just amazing.

I play blues, country, rockabilly, modern rock'n'roll and even pop and the sound of this guitar fits all these styles. The sound is superb even without any effects. I just love it and it has given me more motivation to practise 'cause I just can't get enough of the sound of this guitar.

The action is good and I have no complains about the finish of this guitar. Perhaps the roller bridge is unusual, but it's been working properly.

I have played a few gigs with this guitar and everytime several people in the audience wants to hold this baby and play with it. Of course I have said politely that this baby is too expensive to be handed to strangers. I paid my hard earned cash to get it and I am the only one who gets to play with it. I ain't even gonna loan it to my friends who might want to do some studio recordings with it. This guitar has been rock solid in both studio and on stage.

I have not needed to do any business with customer support so I just don't know.

I've been playing almost 20 years and this is by far the best guitar I have ever played with. I have had Fenders and Gibsons but this one beats them all the way. I couldn't think of any better guitar than this. I am 100% satisfied!

This is a Japanese Gretch anniversary. Made in 1999. Smoke green. It features a vol control for each pickup and a master vol to set the overall level. There are no tone pots but there is a switch with adds your choice of two different caps values. I think these values could be replaced with ones that suit me more. I find them two muddy. This is the prime reason I give it an eight, as I really like the rest of the instrument.

I play rootsy blues, rock and roll, and country. This guitar suits my styles to a tee. Aptly discribed below as being bright but mellow at the same time. I have read that the stock ceramic pickups arn't very good. Well ignorance is bliss because I really like them. It's probably the most evenly balanced tone I've experienced in a hollowbody guitar. I'd give it a ten but for the lack of control in the tone circuit.

This guitar is very well put together as near as I can tell. I haven't found anything that resembles poor workmanship. I even had a twist on the truss rod to check it was active in either direction. It's worked well and resembled what you'd expect in a typical Gibson guitar. The action is very low even with the 12-52 strings I use. Even with the small vintage style fret i can bend the strings with little trouble. The shorter scale length helps here. I find the design of the bridge a little in-acurate for adjusting the intonation, but it is very close none the less. And to it's credit I haven't broken many strings on it's roller style saddles.

Well the strap buttons are a bit funky. I kind of like them. I did a bit of work on these, anchoring them better in the body and they seem to work very well. I sometimes play very hard and with little sympathy for guitars. I make music first. This guitar looks great and stays in tune well on stage and in the case. I think that in itself is a sign of a good solid instrument.

The switches are becoming intermitant now. I will be replacing them soon as they've caused a few tense moments on stage for me lately. I'm actually a little disappointed in general with the cable/pots/caps considering this was a rather expensive guitar. Nothing serious though....

Purchased used. The previous owner included the big loud certificate/waranty that generously guaranties the guitar for one year! I supose it's a nice picture. Note my sarcasm here.

On the other hand L&M is fairly easy to do business with. I think the price I paid was ok considering the guitar was like new when I bought it.

I've been playing thirty years. I usually play a 60 Guild Capri which again is a bright sounding hollowbody electric. I bought the Gretsch to replace the Guild for road work and or noisy stages. (humbucking) I also own a vintage strat and a few other utility guitars. The amp I'm using this guitar with mostly is a garden variety silver super reverb that's been tuned a bit. I also use it with a JMI AC-30/rangemaster combo. It's really something in this setting.

There's nothing like the sound this guitar with a big throbbing tremolo effect on. It's pure vintage tone. I get many favorable comments from people in the audience regarding this sound. I'm now securely hooked on the Gretsch sound. Shame they're so expensive or I buy another. I'm glad I bought it. It's really the best new instrument I've found in years. I'm going to give it a ten in this catagory because I think it's just a great sounding versitile guitar.

2001 Japanese Smoke Green.
I've had an old '67 Double Annie for about 20 years now. Lately I wanted to get a new guitar. One that played a little better. I tried Les Pauls, SG's, Fenders, Kramers, etc. When I would go home to my Annie, I knew it was the guitar for me. So when I saw this new Green Annie, I tried it and I love this guitar. As far as having great feature... I don't know. It's a guitar not a video game.

I play middle of the road type stuff. I don't really lean one way or the other. I don't play with distortion at all really. I could see that this guitar would not be good for that. For me the sound is unique, but still flexible. I can get a nice warm Jazz tone -- especially when fitted with flat wound strings. I know that most people think of country and rockabilly or maybe surf music as the Gretsch sound, but I think it has more to it than that.

Action and feel is fantastic. I recently played the Japanese made remakes of the D'Angelico guitars The NY-2. I would out the feel of my little Annie right up there with the feel of the NY-2 and have more range sound wise.

I play this guitar practically every day for atlest 30 minutes most of the time more. I tune it rarely, it stays in tune even when pulling it in and out of the case.

I've been playing for 33 years. I always play rythm. Never had much need for lead. I will say that this guitar is making me cross into that field more and more every day. If I had it stolen I would probably buy another one or convince my wife to let me spend a little more and get either a Country Club or a 6120.
I love how it feels. I hate knowing that it is the entry level Gretsch Semi-Hollow body. I've heard a lot of good things about Alnico pickups. I still have the factory ceramic pickups. I might buy some TV Jones Alnicos one day to see what all the hype is about.

6118 Anniversary (MIJ "RI") single cutaway; two-tone "smoke green" painted finish; 2&1/2" thick archtop (laminated maple throughout) hollowbody w soundpost under bridge.
Non-trem "G" tailpiece.
Passive master vol., individual pu vols., pu selector sw., tone (mud) switch.
Sort of roller bridge w adjustable string spacing on threaded crosspiece (just like I remember).

Two NON-STOCK retro-fitted old US Filtertron AlNiCo humbucker pickups (I believe the new MIJ versions come with hotter ceramic versions). ONLY the polepieces adjust, NOT the body of the pickup. The surrounding bezel is only for looks (true for most Gretsches).

22 small so-called "Vintage" frets.
Ebonized rosewood fretboard w thumbnail inlays, bound.
(Assumed): Gotoh sealed tuners w "G" on back of housing, metal keys.

I thought for sure this was an old US version when I first saw it. I used to have one of these "Diamond Anniversary" models 25 years ago! The only tip off (because there were no stickers, and the pickups and knobs were tarnished) was the bound fretboard, and the hardly played condition (only one paint "chip"). My original had an unbound ebony fingerboard, with just the sides of the "halfmoon" inlays (AKA thumbnail) as position markers. So THIS one replicates say, an early sixties model.
Excellent job (right down to the primitive/"authentic" lack of tone control). It's a Gretsch alright!
Hardshell "Gretsch" case.

Very versatile for an archtop. Replicates the Gretsch sounds well. Can be mellow and twangy at the same time (tough trick).

On the negative side, it can sound downright nasty through a transistor amp!
Too midrangey (the pickups are quite aways from the strings, and are the weaker/older models on this particular guitar). I may try shimming the pickups closer to the strings.

Not particularly lush so-called "Jazz" sound, though the "mud" switch takes off a couple variaties of higher frequencies (hey, it's a GRETSCH).

Somewhat noisy for a humbucking equipped guitar (again, weak non-stock pu's, slightly far from the strings, hamper signal to noise ratio).
There's a lot of wires running back and forth inside the body to place the controls at various positions on the guitar's face. I believe it could be cleaned up some. Not really the manufacturer's fault: It's been modified. I may shield it further.

On the good side, it has pretty good sustain given the body design, and has lotsa airey midrange "squonk." It's a bright rock&roller with the unique Gretsch sound as heard on records over decades of hits in many genres.

I find it versatile enough for Rock; Blues; Country; and Jazz, with a Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp.
Takes more twiddling than usual to keep bad sounds at bay, but worth it. The wider the range, the more BAD sounds are in there lurking too, IMHO.
It's so versatile, I have to keep on top of the amp when switching styles to avoid "telephone sound" solid state jazz tones, or "no wallop" rock & Blues tones.

It has enough acoustic midrangey-archtop-style volume for teaching, practicing, and around the house plinking without straining to hear it. It's not loud but with flatwound strings sounds pleasant enough.

MUCH better fit and finish than the old US-made Anniversary I once had.
Everything lines up and it plays beautifully, feels great, action fine and can go lower than I need it to.

All edges crisp. Binding joints very well done. Interior free of slopped glue, saw marks, etc.

Again, the pickups are slightly far from the strings and non-adjustable (for pickup body height), but hey, it's an anachronism!

Except for the front screw-in strap button (I don't trust it, so use a D'Addario "Snap System" head leash arrangement instead), I think it's stout enough for world tours, given that it's NOT a "bolt-neck plank" design.
The neck block is huge, and should never require a reset.
Hardware is good. Tuners are great.
Time will tell on the electrical components (sometimes Japanese guitar electrical parts are not as durable as Switchcraft[TM], but so far so good).
I can't see any kerfing around the edges on the inside, but I guess that's becoming standard practice on imports.
It's my only guitar right now. No worries.

I always do my own work.

No warranty on this used guitar.

40+ years experience, all styles.
Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp, plus a home-brew "double Deluxe" sort of affair.
I've had 'em all, and quit trying to find a "do-it-ALL" guitar long ago, but this is the most versatile ELECTRIC guitar I've ever owned.

I like everything about it. The color grows on ya.
Would replace it with any similiar Gretsch model or another 6118 if available.
Played Teles and ES-175's for years. This covers BOTH (well, almost).

The controls are a bit different than I'm used to, but I'll work with them until I get used to them, or change a couple things if I can't. This guitar's a keeper.

THIS one needs better sheilding, but all the new Gretsches I've played in stores seem fine, so maybe the previous owner missed something.

These "ri" style Gretsches are quirky, like the older style Rickenbackers and other Americana, but ya gotta love 'em for what they are.