Gretsch 6120BS

2005 Nashville Gretsch.
Made in Japan.
Poly blue with a darker edge. White single ply plastic binding contrasts nicely. Horseshoe inlay on matching blue headstock.
Gold Grover tuning machines.
Two gold plated High Sensitivity Filtertron humbucking pickups.
Gold Bigsby trem.
22 vintage style but nice and tall frets on ebony fretboard with binding. Maple neck. 24.6" scale length. Medium size C shape.
Hardcase with keylock clasps.
It has all the Gretsch features like Bigsby, nice tuners, humbuckers, gold hardware.

Good range of tones despite not having a tone knob (it has a switch instead: in the middle it's off: down takes some highs off: up it takes all the highs and some midrange too).
It can be mellow to fairly bright.
I use it for rock and blues with a Vox 50watt Valvetronix.
It can get Classic early rock and roots music sounds right up through pretty hard rock. The tone switch is handy when you use a lot of distortion and hand muting. It will still scream, but without being too brittle. Harmonics and feedback are controllable and surprizes a lot of people at jams.
Gretsches have a certain twangy sound (think: Brian Setzer) that you can't get on anything else. It's airey but fat at the same time.

The luthiers in Japan are meticulous. ALL the Gretsches lately that I've seen are just about perfect (except maybe the real cheap student grade ones that don't even really say Gretsch on them except for the trussrod cover).
The strap buttons screw on, so you have to check them. They can back out from vibration.
Everything else is tight and secured.
I know they don't like everything to be "10" but this one really IS fabulous.
Old US made Gretsches were never like this or I would have bought one a lot sooner.
They used to be kind of clunky and second rate. Now they are world class.

I just play for myself and with friends now, so have never played a gig with this particular guitar, but I was semi-pro for several years and I think it's safe to say this is a pro quality guitar up to the demands of working musicians.
All the parts are good quality and it's built right.
I'll give it less than 10 here because it's more fragile than a solidbody guitar, but equal to anybody else's hollowbody.

No experience here.
I think the warranty was one year.

35 years experience playing rock and blues. Mostly Gibson hollowbody and/or Fender.
This is a great guitar. I've had it about a year so the warranty is up now, but I have no concerns at all. The gold hardware readily shows fingerprints but still polishes up and has not even started to haze or flake.
This is my favorite guitar ever. I also have a nice acoustic guitar too but hardly play it anymore since getting this.
I've had lots of guitars cheaper than this one but they all have little nagging issues. Not this one!
It was pricey at $1995 (list was much more) but it's worth it because it doesn't need better replacement pickups and tuners, etc etc etc.
I've had expensive Gibsons too, like ES-347 and ES-175, but they didn't sound as good as this Gretsch 6120.
It doesn't have any bad sounds in it. Only good ones.
The neck is wonderful and plays like a dream. No buzzing anywhere.
The bigsby stays in tune. The pots all work like they're supposed to.
I used to think only Gibsons were any good but sometimes sound muddy, so tried Fenders and liked the sound but they were dead feeling.
I thought made-in-Japan should be cheaper than they are, but actually I think they are worth it overall just because they don't need any work done to them or new pickups right from the beginning like a lot of the U.S.A. made stuff from the two big companies that are left.
I used to like Guild too but I don't think they make hollowbody electrics anymore.
This Gretsch is beautiful to hear and play and look at. I don't know what else there can be about a guitar other than that. Oh yeah: image. But at my age nobody looks at me, so I want to be happy with everything about my guitar. I am!

Made in 02/98 by serial #, in Japan. 22 semi-jumbo frets with only 17 of the frets really useful without stretching your fingers. Top is laminated with large bound f-holes. This guitar is called the 6120BS because it is a special made 6120 only in blue sunburst with translucent paint. Rosewood fingerboard. Pickups are exclusive to Gretsch which is what made the guitar popular in the 60's, the Filtertron pickups. There is a volume knob for each pickup, with one tone knob, a master volume knob, and three way selector switch for pickups. Rather confusing configuration at first but puts out many different sounds by adjusting knobs to taste. This guitar has a rather fat neck not near as kind as a telecaster, and not made for the same type playing. The case did not come with guitar but had a temporary humidifier in guitar for storage and shipment.Equipped with all gold hardware including Grotoh tuners and Bigsby tailpiece.

I play country, blues, jazz, and gospel, especially country gospel. It is run into a blues driver at times then into a 71 Twin Reverb, also use an Ultimate Chorus. Pickups have a rather microphonic sound but do not take away from the guitar. This guitar is made for the person who can play a guitar well without using many pedals in between. It will put out any sound that you can make with your fingers and your heart. This is a hollow body guitar with highly sensitive pickups so you can expect feed back if you try to overdrive the amp. This is not a guitar made for the person who uses the loudest Marshall amp that he/she can find with a line of pedals from chorus to trash. You will notice a lot of bass in this guitar but also very bright high notes. I like the guitar's appearance on stage. You look as if you know what you are doing even if you don't. This guitar is almost exactly like the guitar that Brian Setzer uses but without the tune-0-matic, comes equipped with roller bridge which I am not too fond of and am considering putting on a tune-o-matic. The strings seem harder to bend with the roller bridge. This is also a floating bridge and will get out of tune if you bend the strings considerably and wham on the Bigsby. You can secure the bridge but not with screws or tape you will defeat the purpose. If you are hard on a guitar you will find yourself tuning quite a bit. It is very unforgiving if that bridge moves, and it will especially if you tune like I do, which is down to d on 6th string.

The 6120BS was set up very well at the factory. I pulled the guitar out of the case myself. It had not even had the plastic cover off. I did have to wait about four weeks for delivery because I had the music store owner send for one from the factory. I don't know if this is permitted or not but I would caution young people to make sure that you don't buy a guitar that everyone has been playing. If anything is loose on a guitar it should be looked over very carefully before you pay money and walk out the door. I have been playing for about 37 years and have had more than one person ask me my opinion on a guitar. I can say that I have owned from 30-40 guitars of different brands from Kay to many Fender and Gibson. This 6120BS had no flaws in it that I could see, and I did turn one down that was in the store. It had only a minor flaw. This is the type of guitar that you can keep and give to your son or daughter. Retailing for $2475.00 without case, makes this sound like a very expensive guitar for a working man, but those who have purchased good guitars know that you get what you pay for in most cases. This guitar is more than worth what I paid for it. The man at the music store is fairly wealthy and does this for a hobby as much as anything, this is the reason he chose to be a Gretsch Dealer which is not easy to do. He said that all the guitars that he had received including the Silverjets and Firebirds were set up very well at the factory. I know that the 6120BS had nothing wrong with it when I walked out the door of the store.

This guitar is good enough to play on live television. I am careful with it but it is built very well. I just don't like scratches in the paint. It is equipped with gold screw type locks for the strap so there is never any reason to drop this guitar while you are playing. I do like the recessed hole for the bolt and knob to screw the strap down tight. I have had a guitar almost on the floor after an hour or so of playing it just came off the cheaper strap hanger. All good guitars should have this type of strap holder. I would use this guitar in a minute for any place that I might play, just make sure I had several extra strings.

I have never dealt with customer service from the Fred Gretsch Company. I did wait for the guitar for four weeks but it was my own doing and a mix-up between the store owner and the company. It was worked out and the guitar does come with a warranty to be free of defects or can be sent back by a dealer.

I will give this guitar a (9) I have not found one yet that I would call fabulous. Everyone knows that all companies are doing all they can to get the price down and in some cases guitars make a trip around the world almost before completion. The Fender body is used on many guitars. The price changes when the neck is put on. This guitar is also made partially by the same company that makes Ibanez. It is still a very good guitar for the price. The neck is not as good as a good telecaster but the body can put out sounds that a telecaster could never produce.