Gretsch Brian Setzer Hot Rod

16" laminated maple archtop electric guitar, 2 hot rod filtertron pickups, master volume and pickup selector, '59 trestle bracing
made in japan
no features - but thats what this guitar is all about, just plug in and go

brilliant - i play horror punk, rockabilly and country and this can handle it all, sounds nice and full but not muddy when overdriven and sweet and clear when clean. After playing numerous les paul juniors, customs and standards, strats, teles, mosrites and assorted hollowbodies i have finally found the guitar for me.
A slight buzz, i think its an earthing problem.

i have no experience with the factory setup as it was set up and restrung by the shop i bought it from.
finish is almost perfectly applied, a blemish about the size of a pinhead but other than that, brilliant.
inside glue job is very tidy but there is a bit of overspray inside the bass side cutaway.
cheap looking plastic nut.
binding - perfect.

very light, but feels solid. I cant see it falling apart if treated with proper care, it IS a hollowbody so it wont take a steelcapped boot too well....
all hardware is great, very solid, nicely finished and the locking tuners are a godsend.

i have dealt with fender (who manufacture gretsch) before with an issue on a bass.
they were great, problem was fixed in no time and was done extremely well.
one year warranty is a bit of a worry though.

all in all, its a great guitar. it has instantly became my main guitar and replaced my les paul custom.
the lack of controls is great, no screwing around, i just plug her in and give her some gas, awesome idea.
if it were stolen or destroyed i would go and get a new one ASAP

PU selector and volume is all I need.
I bought it new a couple of weeks ago but it was built in 1999.

I use 3 different Fender amps and the sound is great. Even through my little 50$-Danelectro amp the guitar sounds decent.

Good:
Color finish, action, PUs, tuning pegs, saddle, volume knob
Bad:
Sloppy glue job inside, poorly filed fretwire ends, strap buttons awkward

I replaced the strap buttons. Otherwise, I can't see a reason not to take this guitar on the road. I guess it all depends on how you treat your instrument.

There's a nice forum about Gretsch guitars with a lot of info: www.gretschpages.com

I've been playing for nearly 40 years. I have/had many hollow/archtop guitars and did not intend to buy a new Gretsch. When I saw it hanging at the wall I gave it a try ... and couldn't put it down. This guitar has a sound I've been looking for for quite some time.
The poor fret job is the only thing that really bothers me. But that can be fixed.

Beautiful gator ade lemon lime. This is from the first season they introduced the traditional truss bracing and the TV Jones Filtertrons, back in 2004. It has a single volume knob and a bigsby, short scale neck that I love. I give it a ten for the meticulous recreation of the classic '59 6120.

It's good. It sounds like a '59 6120. No shit. If you like that sound, then, it's the bees knees. I never cared for the modern versions of Gretsch vs the original classic instruments. But this is the real deal. So it's great for rock n roll, rockabilly, Duane Eddy type stuff.

I take my hat off to Brian Setzer and the Gretsche product manager for paying attention to detail. The guitar looks like it came out of a time machine, with the exception of the color, which is clearly an innovation. This is a very high quality instrument. I had no problem with the fret dressings, the nut, or the intonation. I bought it from the Music Zoo(those are good guys to deal with) and maybe they set it up before shipping. I set up my own guitars, personally, and this one required very little attention.

Well, it's a hollow body, so don't beat someone over the head with it. Any its a work of art, so take it easy. Other than that, it seems pretty dependable. I trust it.

No experience

I've been trying to play since 1964. Right after I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, I HAD to get a guitar, like millions of my cohort. It is exactly what I expected. I got interested in the guitar after I saw an ad that Samash was blowing them out and I ordered one. Then, while I was waiting, I did a little research, like the Caveman says, and discovered the whole history of the evolution of the thing, and realized that I HAD to have the version that came out of Brian Setzer taking his favorite '59 6120 to the magnetic resonance imaging machine to recreate the orignal specs. So its kind of Jurassic Park, in its origins. Man, its been resurected from the grave! Hard to compare it to others outside of the Gretsch domain. I had a Jag, Jazzmaster, Ric, and a Gibson SG, but no hollow body Gretsch. Once I found out about Setzer's efforts to revive the original specifications, I had to get one!

Gets a pile of sounds for having a selector switch and a volume knob. Mine is a 99', got it locally from a shop near my hometown.

Rips for everything. Does country, rock, blues, anything. Rocks. Just saw Brian in K.C. doing his 'Christmas Extravaganza' tour and saw the Gretch display in the hall lobby. Decided I had to have one. Saw this one hanging in a shop for quite a while before and kind of hedged on buying it. He took my $1100 offer and I never looked back. Sounds good through Fenders, Marshalls, Mesas, even an old Tube Works solid state thing I have in a stereo rack thing.

My only bitch is the fret ends aren't very well finished. Probably will have them tended to by my tech. That and will most likely get the bridge pinned. I have really bad arthritis from working crappy manual labor jobs all my life and need to use super light strings. Most gibson scale guitars just won't stay in tune with .09-.42 string guages, and when I bought this it was strung with a set of heavy flatwounds. I switched it over to a .10 set and the fatigue started so I took a shot at .09's. Couldn't believe it, stays in tune pretty good and still sounds great. Tone suffers a bit but I have a few tricks that help remedy that, and if Billy Gibbons and Shawn Lane can sound like they do with .08's I'm not going to ruin what's left of my hands with a .12 set. Sorry SRV fans, some of us have our limitations and learn to deal with them. I think I might get a roller bridge for it as well, the bigsby works o.k. but the light strings need all the help they can get.

Don't really know yet, this one is a 99' and it still looks good.

Never dealt with them, don't even know who owns them this week. Don't you love corporate takeovers.

I have played for years and played them all. If you can get one of these for what I payed for it($1100) I would say you did well. They are pretty pricey new and the older ones show on ebay for around 1300-1500 and I am not sure I would pay that. Then again I just put the thing away after playing it for 3 hours and it's been a long time since I was inspired by an instrument like that. It just feels good, sounds good and looks really really cool. I've seen Brian many times and admired his tone every single show I saw him play. I saw him with the orchestra in a small club in KC right when 'Dirty Boogie' started hitting, and he was playing one of these same guitars. Stood right in front of him, playing two of his bassman amps cranked and within 4 feet of them and the guitar didn't feed back. It did cut out at the end of the show though, looked like his jack went bad and he just finished the show without his guitar!! Great sounding guitar for all styles, shop around and see about adding one to your arsenal. I'm glad I did.

I bought this off eBay. I think it is a 1999 model, in metallic orange. A beautiful guitar! The two pickups are the FilterTrons, I think, although I'm not abolutely sure. One volume control and one pickup selector. Plus the wild Bigsby, of course. It came with no case. It was bought used, but it is MINT - perhaps the 'mintiest' thing I own!

I like it. I like it a lot! Crank this baby up or even play it at a moderate volume, and you will like it, too! The sound is inspiring and makes you want to play it more. Really, this more like three guitars wrapped up in one. The neck P.U. gives you fat, full tone that can catch the Jazz vibe. Nice! Also good for Memphis or James Brown style funk. Using both pickups together gives a nice, full, well-rounded sound with more of a ring to it. A very versatile combination. Using just the bridge pickup gives a nice growl, however the volume seems less than the other two pickup settings. I have the pole pieces in the pickups raised as high as possible (without touching the strings as they are played), but I can't seem to even out the volume differences between the pickups. It's a small matter compared to the problem of which pickup/combination to use on this guitar. They all sound great, and it's hard to choose! The only effect I use with this guitar is a wah-wah pedal; otherwise it is plugged straight into one of my old Fender tube amps: a Vibro Champ, a Vibrolux, or a Bassman bass amp. This guitar sound FABULOUS no matter which amp I choose. It'll probably sound great through any amp you might have, too! I have only had this guitar for maybe 3-4 months, and I'm still experimenting with different string brands/types/gauges. I've tried heavy flatwound 13s, which sounded great but were a bit too heavy for me. I'm currently trying D'addario ribbonwound 12's; they sound good, too, but I may even go a bit lighter - still undecided on those strings since I just put them on today.

I bought it used, but it was set up perfectly, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not much into the 'techie' side of things, but everything seems to be set up and working super fine on this guitar. And I'm not changin' a thing! This is very well-made and solid guitar. Pick it up and go - no worries. Of course, it's a hollowbody, so you need to take care not to bang it around. I do agree that the pickup selector switch and the strap buttons are of dubious design and need to be checked often. Other than that complaint, I love it.
Now let's discuss the color - bright, metallic orange (tangerine).
I originally wanted the purple one (another wild color), but this one just happened to turn up on eBay at the right time and price. I'm glad it did, because this color has really grown on me. I really, really, really, really, really like it! HA! A stunnigly beautiful and outrageous guitar! It looks wild and makes me want to play wild!

It gets a 9, due only to the switch and strap button issues mentioned above. I don't gig with it (I play drums), but I certainly would if the need arose. I would not hesitate to gig with this even without a backup. It stays in tune well, even with use of the Bigsby. It feels solid, and it IS solid. It will WHOMP on most other guitars!

n/a

I've been playing guitar for 25+ years. Mostly as a Tele guy, then as a Gibson ES-175 man also. The ES-175 has some issues I'm working to resolve. In the meantime, I wanted something versatile to cover lots of ground and sounds, and the Hot Rod works great. It has it's own character and 'specialness,' too, which makes it ever-interesting to own and play. It's my first Gretsch and first Bigsby guitar, but if the house caught on fire, I'd probably grab this one if I could, and let the others burn! Go try one out if you can, and shove it through a tube amp - I think you'll like it!

I dont know what the finish on the gretsch is made of, it looks nice and tidy and can be cleaned and maintained easily, It is a hollowbody arch top with a tune-o-matic bridge that i like. I bought the guitar second hand and had to find a case that fits it which took me awhile, i was gonna buy a gretsch case but it was $300 i didnt have at the time and the one i got fits fine. I believe that my bad boy is a USA model, i also believe that they changed the specs the year after it was released, so that it gives a slightly more rare guitar to behold. To be honest i dont know much else about the thing . I couldnt even tell you how many frets it has. I know that it has model 59 reissue pick ups and thats about it. Besides when you are in love, you dont need worry about the small things.

I recently went a transformation.I needed to grow up, and so did my sound. I went on an internet auction site, typed gretsch and low and behold this thing pops up. I took one look at it and ran to the bank and organised a loan. I bought the thing on a whim and do not regret it. It was exactly what i needed. It took me a while to get the sound right with my amp, i always just plugged in my les paul into a mesa nomad 55 and just go! It took me a couple of go's to get the sound right but now i cant get enough of it. I have a 1998 hotrod, it doesn't have the t.v jones pickups, i dont know what they sound like, then again, i dont care. I play in a rock band and it has just the perfect amount of bite on dirty and a smooth clean sound in the neck position and a crisp bite in the bridge. The only down side i suppose is that the pickups are pretty low gain, You have to turn your amp up just a little more than you would with my other guitars.

I bought this second hand, so this probably doesnt fully apply to me,everything was set up perfect for me. The only thing i had to do is file in the low "E" saddle in the bridge as it kept popping out.

I have only taken this thing out on a gig 2 or 3 time since i owned it. After i first restrung it, it would go out of tune every couple of songs but found out i hadnt strung it properly on the bigsby (stringing a bigsby is the worst thing about this guitar)after i got that sorted, it was fine. I always take a spare guitar to a gig but have yet to use one, i imagine this tradition would continue. The finish on my gretsch is far better than the finish on my gibson which is in a similar price bracket, and with the exception of the "E" saddle as mentioned above , i have never had a problem with it.

Never needed to yet, i am freindly with local suppliers so i wouldnt think i would have any problems

I have been playing for about 15 years, and this guitar is my all time fave electric. It "fits" me. I would be in a wreck should it go missing. I dont think i would replace it as i dont have the finance too. It is insured but the thought is just to much. I can feel the tears welling as i speak. I have owned about 30 electric guitars, and currently own about ten guitars at the moment, I have a 1998 Les Paul DC, a mid 90's jap strat, a bc rich mockingbird, a 1956 Maton premier 45a (which is my favourite guitar outright) a wawrick proline corvette 5 string bass, a yamaha cg-150cca, a 80's takamine 12 string and a couple of other "kids" laying around the house and this completes me and my collection. My poor work horse les paul is relegated to case under the baed. I love the colour, it is rather, ummm, it is kinda... it looks quite ahhh. Purple. The kinda purple that if you owned a shirt that colour, you wouldnt wear it. Unless your wife makes you. Luckily i dont have a wife. But it looks really cool, and shimmers under lights, and i also have a couch in the same colour. The only thing this guitar is missing in my opinion is someone to really play the thing. I mean i play it daily but i know i am no virtuoso. I love playing guitar and collecting guitars but i need brian setzer or chris cheney to come play it like it deserves to be. The worst thing about owning a gretsch (apart from the bigsby thing) is now all i ever look at are gretsch's. I would love a white falcon one day.

If you are reading this you know what the features are so I will not go into them. Except the T V Jones Pup's are great. Love that sound!

Gretsch has its own sound. Personally I love it. It does not resemble any other guitar, it is a great sound!

Set up was lousy. Pickups, since you can't adjust anything except the pole pieces, were screwed in tight.

The frets were NOT dressed, even thou it has binding on the neck the binding does not cover the frets like a gibson does. The frets were not level, they had several dead spots on the neck. Tuners are great, body and finish were great also.

The problem with Gretsch is that they have not come up to speed with what musicians want in a guitar. They are still stuck in the 50's with their impossible to reach upper neck and that stupid floating bridge. This guitar does have a pinned bridge but most of the other Gretsch guitar do not.

The guitar seems strong enough if taken care of. Hardware seems ok too. The finish was very nice but you must consider that it is not nitro and nitro will let the wood breath the sealer on this guitar looks good but it is not good for a guitar sound. Strap screw on button were tight and ok. I think if the neck was in good shape I could have depended on it. I always use several guitars so the backup think is a non issue.

Dont know, sent the guitar back to the company that I bought it from.

Gretsch has a beautiful sound and I love it. The main problem with any gretsch is that as I said they need to come up to speed with what musicians since the 60's have needed, which is, access to the upper frets, a bridge that will stay in fret, a neck that has binding on the frets not just up to them.

Bottom line>>>>... Beautiful sound if you can redo the neck and live without playing above the 12th fret! And remember, this guitar was made in Japan, it should, as all gretsch guitars made in mass quanity in Japan have a much lower price tag. Do a search on Ebay and you will see that Gretsch does not hold its value with todays models!

Its all been said before; however, this is the first axe I have owned that had no tone knobs. I love the simplicity. Mine is purple and the colour is sick and the punters love it as well. They always comment on how sweet she looks

I play blues, jazz, rockabilly and country rock through a Randall 40w. I now have a guitar that can give me the desired sound I require. The neck pickup is warm, great for blues and jazz. The bridge pickup bites meaner than a junk yard dog and is excellent for playin' rockabilly and 50s rock 'n' roll.

The action is higher than my previous guitars and I dont mind that. The bigsby is cool and I use it a lot when I am into my lead breaks. I would be nitpickin if I said there were any flaws. It is a very well made guitar. No problems with intonation, even with a workout on the temelo bar it still stays in tune.

I am very hard on my solid bodies and I bang them round a lot. Very careful with this baby, so I'm not too sure how durable she is. I have done plenty of gigs and this axe has never let me down.

N/A

I have been playin for over 30 years and have had a heap of guitars. I love this axe. I always wanted a Gretsch and am now thinking of purchasing another one. The look and the sound is fantastic. It is the only guitar I use live now. I love the simplicity of it. Just a bit of reverb thru the amp and thats it. No effects pedals needed. The guitar does the rest.

"Keep it simple stupid" Everyone knows the specifications of this guitar, just go to the website, I really wanna just point out some of the issues I overcame in playing this guitar.At first I was alittle put off by the simplicity of the tone and volume controls for this, baby,but it had a very short leaning curve for getting the sounds I wanted.{This is my first gretsch & hollowbody}The finish looks gourgeous it's quite a dramatic looking axe. It's a 1999 model with the Gretsch tuners, no problems there. Floating bridge & Bigsby required a little adjustment in playing to get used to, I actually almost cried when i tried to change the strings for the first time.
The playablity is fantastic....oh did I mention it just one of the sweetest coolest looking guitars out there,{all gretsches are}. but that is just the cherries on top.

Ok here's where this baby makes her statement. I play everything, r/b,blues, soul, heavy rock, Americanna,country, noise, ect.I play thru a Fender '65 re-issue Deluxe (these amps are the Cat's A$$, truly}, I use a mid 80's Rat for overdrive, and Boss DD6 for delay. I was very concerned, being a Tele & Strat player, about the guitar getting sufficient tone with just a volume knob and 3-way pick up selector. But man there's some magic in this axe that after a few gigs I can't figure out.I do a cover gig that does Zeppelin to Aretha, U2 to Neil Young, Jackson 5 to SRV..and this thing covers it all. My singer, with no guitar insight, just stared at it when she heard me play my first guitar lead with the band. I was suprised too. The sound is nothing like a paul or tele or strat, it brings a unique richness that I've never experienced. The hollowbody allows a resonance & sustain that I had never experienced playing guitar. (I'm 42 been playing 30+ years) Now I understand why truly incredible guitarists such as Steve Howe, Larry Carlton, ect, play hollowbodies. The lack of tone control I over come with the pickup selector,volume knob{dialing up or down really makes a difference in how it cuts thru the mix},and playing with or without a pick{which I do anyways with me other guitars anyways }. This guitar responds to my attack like nothing I ever played. It very unique in its responses and just lays out these ribbons of fudge overdriven and has warm sparkling tones clean, without being harsh. There's a perception that this is a rockabilly guitar but it just covers any base ya want. Hey, the dudes from the Cult & AC/DC play White Falcons.

I always have my guitars set-up by a pro once a year, then maintain 'em myself in between. I'm not sure how this came from the factory, got it used. I wouldn't trust factory set-ups anyway, what with shipping and all.
Thera are a lot of little things you've got to keep in mind with these guitars. There're not like a solidbody. Things loosen up on every guitar and one must be mindfull of tightening all of the screws, especially on the pick guard,to avoid buzzing. The bigsby can be a bitch to re-string and I heven't used it much, it's no a floyd rose. The action and finish is superb...I'm telling ya,chicks dig it.

I always use back ups, I play hard and break strings constantly. The hardware seems fine but after 7 years there is some slight oxidation on the volume knobs. The finish is like a Chevy truck, so I can't imagine problems, a couple of slight temperature cracks, but ya really gotta look for 'em, and that's gonna happen with any guitar. The fact that its a hollowbody makes me nervous, I dropped my strats and teles with no ill effect, so I try to be very careful this, hey beer happens. Although it seems a lot of rockabilly, punk players use these {6120's really} and I bet they're beating the F*#* out of 'em so, they can't be that delicate. I just baby everything I've got. hey every guitar I own {Gibson,Fender,Martin,ect} something loosens up and needs attention

What's cutsomer support? Just find a good shop/tech and stick with 'em. I don't have time for shipping things to Kalamazo.

Like I said, there's a little learning curve with this guitar if you've never owned a hollowbody with a floating bridge, bigsby tremelo. But it's easily overcome. The sounds are just, sublime. I really can't attribute them to just one thing, the fact that its hollowbody, the fillertrons the workmanship, the wood it's really been a great & suprised addition to my arsenal. The Style and Look of the guitar are just heads and heels above anything I ever seen. I'm not so naive to think a good looking guitar is where it's at but this guitar plays and sounds so well, that it's look really makes a statement in it's self. The sound & looks will really set ya apart from all the larger lout, frat boy, bad hair band players out there. It'll make you approach your playing in a differenr way.(what guitar doesn't}. Hey I wanna get another gretsch, I'm that impressed!

Pickup selector switch, volume control and that's it, simple.

I have a bunch of high end guitars, Morgaine's, Gibson's, Fender masterbuilts, Suhr, Grosh and I won't get into my acoustics.

I play Americana, blues and classic rock. I use a Bassman 59' reissue. guitar> volume pedal> Blues Driver> chorus> reverb> delay.

No noise very quiet.

When I first got this guitar off of ebay I thought "ehhh", but when I plugged it in I fell in love, this guitar gets the sound, vibe and mojo. It is a blast to play and doesn't sound like anything I have. It made me think I've been closed minded to a world of great guitars. I ran this through the drills and I must say I was very impressed. The sound is warm, articulate, sweet, big, full and just plain beautiful. The sound of this guitar also tickled my insides at times when I would do the rock-a-billy thing, but don't pigeon hole this as just a r-a-b guitar, it excells at jazz and blues.

Just a beautifully voiced instrument

The guitar was set up with higher action which is good by me. It gives you somewhere to go with it I have my GTech set it up. There was some dead spots up around the 15th fret on the E string when bending up a couple of steps. other than that it is fine for this kind of money.

To early to tell

I've dealt with Fender custom shop, and I think Fender who owns Gretsch will do a wonderful job, they are doing a great job with Fender these days.

I have been playing over 35 years!!!! I own to many guitars to list, but I bought this because my first guitar was a Gretsch Country Club that had many issues but there was a sentimental attachment.

I love the simplicity of this guitar, no tone knobs, no single pickup volumes, just one volume and a pickup selector. Plug in and Kick some butt.

If it were stolen I would buy another, I'm going to buy another Gretsch, probably a 6120 Nashville custom shop.

I Love It.