Gretsch 6128T '62 Duo Jet Reissue

Made in 2008 in Japan. 1962 reissue, double cutaway.
Chambered body, maple top, mahogany body. Master volume, as well as separate volumes for each pickup. Pickup toggle switch, and awesome tone control switch - no tone knob as a result. Filtertron pickups. Bigsby vibrato. Comes with Gretsch hard shell case. Basically everything you need in a guitar!

I consider myself a telecaster-type player, not that I'm a super-country kind of guy. I just like that twangy snappy style of playing. This guitar is actually great for that style of playing. The pickups (especially the bridge) have a great bite to them, but are also very full sounding. The neck pickup is nice and warm for blues playing, but there's still plenty of high end sparkle and note definition. Lots of rockabilly players love Gretsch hollow bodies, and this guitar delivers a great rockabilly sound with both pickups selected. It's just an all around great sound. It'll do it all, except for stupid-heavy metal.

Guitar was set up amazingly well from the factory. I lowered the action a very slight amount, and it's now without a doubt the best playing guitar I've ever tried. I may have been lucky on this one, but there's absolutely nothing wrong or even not-so-perfect about the fit, finish and action. AMAZING work on this one.

I've used this guitar for a couple of gigs so far without incident. It's very well made and fairly solid feeling. It's very light due to the chambered body, but doesn't feel fragile. Granted, if you tend to abuse your guitars, this might not be a good one for you...the chambered body and thin maple top wouldn't stand up to that sort of thing. The finish seems very durable, but only time will tell with that. Personally, I welcome a bit of finish wear and tear. The hardware is great, and I don't expect any issues from it. The strap-buttons are pretty cool. I had a problem with them loosening a little bit on their own, but if you put your strap on, and tighten the hell out of them, then leave them alone, they'll hold.

I always use a backup, but mainly just because if I break a string, I don't want to have to take a break between songs to fix it. My backup is my Tele.

I own a ton of gear. A couple drumsets, a Fender Rhodes, a Clavinet...etc. I usually use a Hot Rod Deluxe or my Traynor Voicemaster amp for gigs. I've also got an early '70s twin reverb that currently lives in a studio. If I lost it, I'd get another one in a heart-beat.

Mine was made in 2003 or 2004. Semi-hollow body (as someone mentioned already) Laminated maple top. Black- but back is the soft dark brown mahogony. Ebony fretboard. FilterTron pickups. It's the 1957 reissue. 3 Pickup modes, Volumes for both the neck and bridge pickups, Master Volume, Tone knob. Bigsby Trem. Bar.

"That Great Gretch Sound" indeed. I love it. It's so unique, so full of classy tone. I have played no other guitar to match the tone of this guitar and personally I rather like it that way. If you're looking to find a unique sound the come out of a guitar to amp setup, you've found it. Personally I play a lot of everything: Jazz Funk Rock Blues Folk, whatever, the tone is moldable to all of these styles and maintains the individuality of the sound.

So far I like it a lot. There are sharp frets on the side, but it is nothing that concerns me very much. I think it is rather a guitar that would suit the rhythm sector of guitar playing better, but that could be just because I'm unfamiliar with the setup yet. Single notes sound as beautiful as full chords. Soloing in paterns above "G" on the E string are sort of difficult. Pickups are adjusted great. The action is really nice and doesn't buzz. There might be a little oxodizing on the sides of the frets, but I'll be polishing it off with some hella-fine steel wool.

Great for live playing. Hardware looks gorgeous. Finish will last me for life. Strap buttons are better screwed off and then put the strap on the prong. I like it that way better. Defininely my most dependable guitar ever.

NA

Everything I've ever wanted finds its place in this guitar.

This guitar was mad in Japan, has 22 frets, with a chambered mohogany body. This particular model has a pair of Gretsch FilterTron humbucking pickups. Also has a bigsby.

I am reviewing the 2005 model.

As features go, the thing I liked best about this guitar is the tone switch. Unlike tone knobs on most guitars, this swith gives either a bass boost or a treble boost. I never use tone knobs on any of my guitars, but actually found this very useful.

Also nice is the fact that the guitar is very light.

On the downside, the guitar has a floating bridge, which when coupled with the bigsby makes it very difficult to change the strings and set up the guitar.

I usually play rock, mostly more modern stuff like Pearl Jam, but also some classic rock and blues. I've played this guitar through several amps, including a traynor YCV 20, various fender amps and a Johnson JT 50. As far as effects go, I use an Ibanez tube screamer, a boss metal zone, and an MXR Phase 90.

The guitar can sound anything from jangly to rich depending on the settings you use (tone switch blending the two pickups together, etc). It suit my styles of music very well, though I wouldn't suggest someone try it for metal. I guess blues wouldn't be the best match either, but like I said it works for me.

The only bad thing about the sound of this guitar is that it tends to feedback. The problem is not as bad as a hollow body gibson, but it does happen.

This is the problem area. I had to return two of these and finally wound up with a Les Paul because the craftmanship is simply horrible. Both of the Duo Jets I had had neck problems -- the frets were not level, and the fretboard was raised in places.

also, the holes drilled for the strap buttons were too big, and things kept getting unscrewed.

Finally, I opened up the second of the guitars, and there was a bunch of sawdust inside. Nice.

I can't, with certainty, say how durable the guitar is because I didn't have either one for very long. However, I can say that all the defects make me think that it is not very reliable. The strap buttons, for one, have a tendency to come undone, and since the guitar is hollow I would be very worried what would happen should it fall.

One thing I can tell you for a fact is that the mounting rings tend to crack -- everyone I knwo who's had one of these complains about them.

I wrote them a letter saying that I love the sound of the guitar and would even be willing to hang on to the a defective one if they agreed to fix it pursuant to their warranty. A few weeks later they responded by saying "we have the highest standard of quality control" and "problems with frets and fretboards are not a result of poor craftsmanship" or some thing like that and thus the warranty is not applicable. But, hey, they get a 1 for at least responding.

I love the way this thing sounds. It also has a very comfortable neck and sits well when playing standing up. The tone switch is a very nice bonus. But, there is no excuse for a guitar that costs so much money to be so poorly made. The customer service doesn't help.

I hear some of the higher Gretsch models are better put together.

Black double cutaway, 2 Filtertrons, Bigsby tremolo, "half moon" markers on fretboard, small head, 3-position treble switch, master volume, separate pickup volume knobs

The filtertrons has a very open sound, clear treble but very wide sound and nice twang. Well balanced, medium output and very quiet. The treble pickup is great for ringing power chords, mid position (both pickups) nice rockabilly-a-la-Setzer-sound.
I actually like the treble switch, in the down position (some treble edge cut off) you get a ES-335-like sound, nice for blues.
Unplugged it's quite volumious (is that a word?) due to the sound chambers.
Great for pop, rockabilly, rock - works for blues and jazz - not so good for heavy metal.
Thought about putting TV-Jones picks on it but I don't really feel the need for it yet - maybe later The orginal pickups holds up well.

Nice finish. Couldn't get it to stay in tune when i got it, but with new strings (10 - 46) it stays in tune perfectly, even if you use the Bigsby (no Vai-dives!).

The neck is i bit more than medium wide with a slight V-shape close to the head which flattens out towards the body, very nice.

I like close action, but when I lower the strings to where I prefer them there's a slight buzz on the high E-string (think it can be fixed where I bought it)

Feels solid

I've been playing for more than 20 years. My other guitars are Gibson LP, Strat, Variax, Guild Starfire and Guild Brian May. Play mostly on a Line6 Flextone II

There are lots of things I like about this guitar:
The Gretsch-sound, the looks, the solid feel, the light weight

And a couple of things I don't like:
It's not great balanced, the head tends to point to the floor (like some Teles), which makes it a bit uncomfortable even if it's very light.
Would like to lower the action some more (gives some string-buzz)

And note that you don't buy a Gretsch because of it's great sustain (because it hasn't - it's not the character of this guitar) but for it's clear, wide, warm and ringing sound and for it's twang.

I just purchased a G6128T-57, Which is the Duo Jet 57 Re-Issue. This particlar instrument was made in late 2002. It has 22 Frets, solid top, Mahogany body. Three way tone control, Front and Back volume control, master and tone control. There are 2 Filtertronic Pickup's with the DynaSound system.

It's jet black face is nicly contrasted by the Chrome fixtures, and the silver speckeled painted pick guard, and matching pickup supports. It looks very sweet.

Yikes! It's got more tone than I can handle! It has great tonal quality plugged right into an amp. No effects are required to hit that sweet spot that makes your ears ring. Add some easy effects and you have an axe that rocks and rolls with the best of them, but sings the blues with the best of them. It has a deep rich sound, that causes excessive vibration in my Fender Twin amp!

The action was pretty close, but will be lowered. I have no dead spots, and the factory strings will be changed very soon. The pickup's are just right. The body and neck are excellent. The only problem I have is with the Fret's. They were not finished all that well on the bottom side of the neck, they stand out, so when a hand is run up or down the neck, you can feel it. It's not bad, but for what I paid,it's also not perfect.

The 57 Re-Issue Duo Jet is built like a rock. I have not had it that long, but it has already recieved a lot of use and it's holding up great.

Fortunatly have not had to deal with them. I also have a 1956 Country Gentlmen that has not had any troubles either. Just guess that I'm lucky so far, I have heard of situations that leave customer's very disapointed.

I have 30 years under my belt, I have a substanial collection including, 1956 Country Gentlemen, 57 Strat (Pre-CBS) 73 Tele, 83 RD Artists, Holman 400, Billy Grammar Custom acoustic, 86 Paul, and a 1999 Fender Banjo. My new Gretch matches the sound of my 83 RD Artist, which has so much electronics on it, that it's hard to control. So this has provided me so far with an excellent alternative that meets the sounds produced in the rest of my collection.

Black Duo Jet reissue.....made in Japan with all the standard features, Bigsby, filtertrons, junky frets, etc. A very nice playing guitar with one factory fault (see below) that has literally kept me from playing it!

Great sound, no complaints there, however read on....

I am VERY unhappy with the Gretsch company in this department. But first the good news: The guitar is built really well, the joints look well-glued, the black finish is lovely and most of the hardware seems solid. The electronics all work as intended and the thing sounds great. Now for the bad news: I noticed very soon after purchase that the guitar had several defective frets. There were literally bumps on them and then over the course of the next 2 weeks other frets became rough and literally unplayable. I attribute this to a very lousy polishing job before it left the factory. It is deplorable that a guitar that is otherwise so nice should be completed in such a slapdash way, especially when the frets, as they had been done, began to literally get rougher over the couple of weeks I played the thing, because they were never finished properly!!!! Please note that I did play this guitar before buying it, I did notice the "speedbumps" on several frets that evening, but it wasn't until a week or two later that the frets really started to get rough and sand-papery. But wait, there's more, with no customer satisfaction as of my writing this....

only time will tell....it's new and frankly I can't make a judgement call on a guitar that is currently sitting in an authorized repair shop, waiting for a company to ok a minor repair job that is literally GRETSCH'S FAULT AND RESPONSIBILITY!

With less than 3 playing weeks on this guitar after purchase, the faulty frets became so intolerable that I brought it to a Gretsch authorized repairshop to have them re-polished. First the Gretsch company made the luthier jump through a number of hoops, faxing them information about the guitar, requesting several explanations regarding what is wrong with it, etc....and then, NOTHING. After numerous phone calls (mostly voicemail messages as it's rare somebody actually answers the phone for the "customer service" department) that were not returned, with luck and continual re-dialing we get through to the customer service department, and are told that they are in the midst of a "restructuring" or something of that sort and that they will take care of the problem immediately. And then not another word from them. After more phone calls they are still asking for more information.....this is due to a minor, but important, problem that they should have apologized for and taken care of IMMEDIATELY! By this point as much as I love the guitar (that is still sitting in a shop) I am thoroughly disgusted with this company and now it is too late to return the guitar to the retailer.....Fred Gretsch, are you reading this???? This is not what I call customer service, this is rude and inexcusable behavior from a company that charges so much for guitars that don't even include a case! I bought a new Gretsch reissue because I didn't want to have to deal with the typical fix-up problems associated with a vintage or used guitar.......surprise! Now there is a possibility they may want to have the guitar shipped back to the company (I assume they don't mean back to Japan....?) instead of merely paying for a minor fret polish/touchup milling. Unbelievable. Plus, I may add, Guitar Center didn't exactly pick up the ball on this either....now that the guitar is in the hands of a repairshop they really don't want to have any more to do with it either. It's a shame because the guitar sounds great otherwise and is inspiring to play. But not in it's present state, thank you! I'm afraid my dis-satisfaction forces me to warn all prospective buyers of this guitar to make sure they know where the authorized repairperson is in their area, in case they have to goodbye to their new baby for a while.....if I sound angry about this it's because I am! Yes, I could just pay for the milling and be done with it, I guess it's the principle of the thing.....but I also not thrilled about having to add what is basically wear to frets that I didn't have the pleasure of wearing down myself through playing.

I've been playing guitar since 1977....would I buy this guitar again? I'd like to think I would.
I give this guitar an overall rating of 3, because although it is a nice guitar I currently cannot play it. I purchased the guitar in January, it is now the middle of March and it sits in a shop.
Yuck. Well, at least I can tell myself that the binding won't fall off like on many of the old Gretsches.....

My Duo-Jet is a 1999 model that I bought as N.O.S. from Guitar Center in Canton, Mi. last Saturday. It is a single cutaway solid body guitar, mahogony back and neck, pressed maple top(painted black), two filtron pick-ups, volume control for each pick-up, master tone control, master volume control, 3 position pick-up switch, fake Grover machines, and a Bigsby B-6 vibrato arm. The neck is rosewood with hump type inlays(like a 1957 Gretsch), and vintage style small frets. I don't suppose anybody could call this a feature packed instrument, unless all one has ever played is a Les Paul Junior. Not a lot of stuff, but enough to satisfy my needs right now

My Duo-Jet, or just about any Gretsch is an acquired taste to be sure, my style of music covers everyhting from light jazz to blues, with a health dose of 60's style rock-n-roll, even the occasional country song. I am quite impressed by the range of styles this guitar can be applied on. I have rarely heard anybody play straight blues using a Gretsch, but I can get a B.B. King, T-Bone Walker type sound, of course everybody knows about the Beatles and thier connection to Gretsch(George Harrison at least), it even makes a very passible jazz sound on the front pick-up with the tone turned down just a little. I use this guitar with a Peavey Classic50-212, and a Dan-Electro BLT delay pedal. All the pick-up settings provide usable tones, I am very pleased with the number of sounds that I can get out of this fairly simple set-up

This is where this guitar falls somewhat short. I don't know who is more to blame Gretsch or Guitar Center. I don't want to get into a flame war, but would it be to much to ask that superstores as large an employee rich as Guitar Center that display model guitars be in tune? I played at least 10 different guitars last Saturday and only the Duo-Jet was in tune. That was not the reason I bought it, but come on. As I said the Duo-Jet was in tune but badly needed new strings and a set-up. It appears to be a little shop worn, light scratches, tarnish, and dust. This is not a big deal for me as I am particular about set-up and always redo any guitar I get almost as soon as it gets home. This was no exception, but with fresh strings and a slight adjustment in the intonation, I had it up and running inside of an hour. I'm going to give Gretsch the benefit of the doubt here and assume when they delivered the guitar it was flawless, and assume Guitar Center's rumored lack of attension is no rumor

I'm sure this guitar could withstand many nights on a bandstand very well with normal care. It's too new for me to tell for sure of course, but I've played all manner of electric guitars on stage in the last 30 odd years, and have seldom if ever had problems(a charmed life I suppose). I rarely carry a back-up, but might bring my strat along for awhile until I master changing strings on a Bigsby equipped guitar again. Everything else seems as solid as anything else out there

I have never dealt with them. They seem to have a nice website though

I've been playing guitar for over thirty years, and have owned more than my fair share of really good stuff. Presently I also own a '95 Fender Eric Clapton model Stratocaster, a '98 Larrivee D-02, and a Peavey Classic 50-212. If it got lost or stolen I would replace it in an instant, but I would probably get the Duo-Jet 6128-57, as I've always liked the look of the Dearrmond pick-ups and the smaller headstock. The only thing I would change is the Bigsby. Don't get me wrong the Bigsby was a big selling point for me and I love the action on it, I would prefer that they used a B-7 with the extra bar for down pressure on the bridge, but the B-6 works just fine.

Typical Gretsch layout, master volume, selector switch, etc., and Bigsby.This is the 1957 Reissue Duo Jet with DynaSonic Pickups. Made in 1995 in Japan. Black finish.

The only thing I don't like is that with distortion, the higher notes tend to ring, even blend together. You need to learn how to play around this deficiency. Otherwise has clean, crisp sound. Even my wife (a non-guitar player) says this guitar sounds better than Lester did with the same amp (Fender 185 pro)

Very nice finish with only one tiny flaw (I'm very critical). The only flaw was the frets were very sharp at the edges, and I am still carefully filing them. I do not like the bridge. It is free floating and has a tendency to move slightly, causing the harmonics to change. It's easy to correct, but an annoyance.

I had the selector switch replaced because it was noisy.

Never dealt with Gretsch, but the dealer fixed a couple minor problems without a hassle.

I have played off and on for over 30 years, and I have owned this guitar for 2 years. I have owned a Gibson 330 and 335, Fender Jazzmaster, Richenbacher and Gibson 12 string, and most recently a Les Paul and I wanted to try something different. I don't regret the change. I have received many compliments on the look and sound of this Duo Jet. Great guitar players sound great on anything, good guitar players need a little help. I found it.

This guitar has a carved maple top with mahogany sides, 2 Filtertron pickups, 3 way pickup selector, individual pickup volume pots, master volume, and a 3 way tone switch. All the hardware is chrome. Neck is of medium thickness and there is a Bigsby tremolo on this guitar too!

The tone on this baby is incredible. It's rich, warm, and yet has an almost telecaster like twang (especially on the bridge pickup). It's phenomenal for rhythm guitar stuff - not sure how it would work for lead. The guy who complained about feedback with this model obviously doesn't understand guitar design. '62 ri duo jet is essentially a semi hollow body. Yeah, there are no F-holes, but this model posses large sound chambers which under high gain situations could lead to feedback. And the bit about swapping the filtertrons for some other pickup is just sacrelige!

Two small problems when I bought this guitar. Number one - the tone switch pops when flipped. Tried to clean myself, brought it back to be fixed - still not 100%. Since this occurs only when you're changing setting not a big deal. Second - one of the inlays on the neck is slightly too small; there's a gap. Both the flaws are small, but shouldn't be present in a guitar this expensive

So far ok

Gretsch is notorious for poor customer support. Their website provides little info on how to contact the company (no e-mail, one phone number). Furthermore, my guitar came with no papers. As far as the waranty goes, I'm unsure what is covered since there was no documentation save a stamp on my receipt reading "full waranty".

Have been playing about 1.5 years - pretty much self taught. Very little soloing, just open and bar chord rhythm guitar. Play through a Peavy Classic 30 - mostly clean. Have lots of friends who play, so I have a good idea about what superb guitars sound like. Played gibsons, rics, epi casino, fender strats (used to own a mex, tried a deluxe), and even a dano before falling for the gretsch tone. It was a no brainer once I heard one of these. And then I lucked out that this model was on sale. Typically retails for 1500-1600.