Gretsch Electromatic G5420T vs G6118T Players Edition

AngryGoldfish

So I've been craving a hollow body for quite a number of years now. I only have a couple of guitars nowadays that I use—an S-style Tom Anderson and a Furch acoustic—and with those two I have most of my what I play covered. But a hollow body electric is sorely needed. Sometimes an electric is not lively enough and sometimes an acoustic is not punchy enough. 

I've finally settled on a Gretsch of some sought, but I can't decide whether to splurge once and for all or cheap out slightly and upgrade and fine tune down the line as needed. There is a Gretsch G6118T LTV which is one of the anniversary player's edition models with a pinned bridge, locking tuners, smaller body, TV Jones Classics, etc. about 2.5 hours drive from me in Ireland. It's a rare guitar as it is and it's even rarer that it's for sale in Ireland. Seeing as I don't drive, it's going to be very hard to get to him. With that in mind I thought I'd ask for some opinions. 

I could go for something like the G5420T in Fairlane Blue that's for sale in the ads right now—or wait for a colour I prefer like Aspen Green or Orange locally—and upgrade the parts as needed to better match the playability of the higher end models—locking tuners, new pots/switches, different bridge, etc—or I could splurge on the Players Edition that'll be a hard trek to get to and may not even be what I'm looking for. I've compared directly a MIJ G6118T Tennessee Rose to a Electromatic and it wasn't worth over twice the price in my opinion, but that could have been a dodgy example as it was second-hand. 

tl;dr

It's the age old question, really: take a risk with the 'dream guitar' (on paper) or compromise and save a bunch of money? 

John_A

Get the bus and check it out, it's a lot to spend unseen (not that I haven't done it). It's a look out and the ride back will be great if it all works out

musicman100

Imo It's a very subjective topic.

But for me personally I'm not in to buying cheap then spending on upgrades. To me it's false economy.
i buy a guitar for what it is.

and remember you'll not got your money back from mods when you come to sell. 

the new 2016 electromatics are very good and imo are a step up from the old electromatics. 
Are they as good as a proline?? The answer is no but not far off imo. 
i wouldn't pay their new prices but their good value second hand if you buy right. 

Whitecat

2016 Electromatics are probably the best MIK guitars I've ever played. Really super nice. 

But there's something about the Pro Line/MIJ ones that is just special... they just feel and sound that little bit different that almost justifies the price. 

If I were to only own one, I think I'd want a Pro Line

But if later I were to add more, would happily add a recent Electromatic or two if the spec varied enough to keep it interesting. 

musicman100

Whitecat said:

2016 Electromatics are probably the best MIK guitars I've ever played. Really super nice. 

But there's something about the Pro Line/MIJ ones that is just special... they just feel and sound that little bit different that almost justifies the price. 

If I were to only own one, I think I'd want a Pro Line

But if later I were to add more, would happily add a recent Electromatic or two if the spec varied enough to keep it interesting. 

I compare them to watches. 
An expensive watch won't necessarily tell the tine any better but it will be more refined n a bit more special.

Whitecat

musicman100 said:

Whitecat said:

2016 Electromatics are probably the best MIK guitars I've ever played. Really super nice. 

But there's something about the Pro Line/MIJ ones that is just special... they just feel and sound that little bit different that almost justifies the price. 

If I were to only own one, I think I'd want a Pro Line

But if later I were to add more, would happily add a recent Electromatic or two if the spec varied enough to keep it interesting. 

I compare them to watches. 
An expensive watch won't necessarily tell the tine any better but it will be more refined n a bit more special.

That's more than fair!

FWIW I don't even think the current Electromatics *need* upgrades anymore. The Blacktop filtertrons are excellent, they have their own thing going on that is very useable. 

Any changes would be purely taste...

musicman100

Whitecat said:

musicman100 said:

Whitecat said:

2016 Electromatics are probably the best MIK guitars I've ever played. Really super nice. 

But there's something about the Pro Line/MIJ ones that is just special... they just feel and sound that little bit different that almost justifies the price. 

If I were to only own one, I think I'd want a Pro Line

But if later I were to add more, would happily add a recent Electromatic or two if the spec varied enough to keep it interesting. 

I compare them to watches. 
An expensive watch won't necessarily tell the tine any better but it will be more refined n a bit more special.

That's more than fair!

FWIW I don't even think the current Electromatics *need* upgrades anymore. The Blacktop filtertrons are excellent, they have their own thing going on that is very useable. 

Any changes would be purely taste...

I agree mate.
 But there seems to be this culture/ attitude that you neef to do mods for them to be decent guitars.
People are reading up on forums/magazine and listeningto other people instead of finding out for themselves 

At the end of the day if your buying one new the electromatics realistically aren't a cheap guitar. There's something wrong if paying almost a grand for a guitar n then you need to start doing mods.

I'll tell you now that in my opinion the newer ones are good guitars and their not far off the prolines. I have a couple of Electromatics and one or two higher end gretsch so I'm speaking from actual personal experience. 

I guess also that a lot of comments regarding mods actually go back to the older electromatic models. 

AlexO

I've got 6118 players edition and its superb! I can't really comment on the Electromatics as I've not played enough but I've yet to play a bad Pro Line Gretsch and the players editions are really well thought out guitars but still have that vintage feel and sound.

TheMarlin

The current run of Electromatics are great guitar, once you sort out some of the minor niggles. 

A Gretsch Pro Line is still a significantly better guitar though.  I'm a massive fan of Anniversaries in particular, by far my favourite model of Gretsch.   Muted, understated, sound astonishing, feel amazing in the hands.  I'm not into blingy Gretsches. 

Ive had all sorts of Gretsches, from the cheapest to the most expensive, and IMHO, a used pro line is a way better bet than a new 5420. You'll pay a bit more, but boy is it worth it. 

M

Corvus

If the Annie isn't a stretch money-wise I'd certainly go for that. Otherwise a used 5420.

5420s can be fine but the QA just isn't as good as the Prolines. Electro hardware isn't as good, dicky switches aren't uncommon, flakey tuners, one of mine almost fell apart after a couple of years. The Blacktop pickups are OK, better with dirt imho where the bass-lightness can come in handy and they cut through well. The mods I did to mine were cheap & basic; treble pass on all vols, bridge, bone nut, jack plate. Reinforced the top strap button screw-in point (wood block on inside).

Re modding people swap pickups & wiring on far more expensive guitars than a 5420 so I don't see that as an issue.

Some put TVJs on 5420s but when you have Mojo to hand, or Fletcher for less, I don't really see the value for money myself.

There's no denying the fit & finish and the of the Annie was better, it oozed quality, but purely as a player's machine it was no better, I gigged both quite happily.

AngryGoldfish

Some conflicting opinions on the Electromatic stuff, but the general consensus is they're worth the money. I'll have to wait for one local to me though as they don't come with a gig bag or a hard case and I can't take the chance of anything breaking in transit.

If I stick to Ireland I may as well buy brand-new. There's a dealer in Dublin. They rarely ever have a large selection—just a couple usually—but some private sellers are asking €850 for the 2012 double cut version when you can buy a brand-new updated version for an extra €100 from Thomann. The 2016 G5420T that's in the classifieds is only £460. That's €550. The UK market is so much better. 

Question: the Gretsch G6118T LTV that's for sale in Ireland is €1700 with a setup from a pro in Dublin. I just saw a left-handed version on eBay for £1750. That's almost €2000 so €1700 is pretty damn good. I really think I should badger my dad to give me a lift down. I don't think I could use public transport. The seller lives in an awkward place and Ireland isn't built up like the UK. 

TwoToneGreen

I happen to be from Dublin and own a Gretsch 6118, hence my username. I would wholeheartedly recommend Pro Line Gretsch guitars over Electromatics. My Anniversary is a flawless guitar, perhaps the finest I own in terms of build quality. Mine doesn't have a Bigsby, though at some point I may acquire a Gretsch-branded one, as I think it would add to the fun of the guitar. The advantage of the one on Adverts is that it has locking tuners, which makes restringing a Bigsby a lot easier.  €1,700 doesn't seem extortionate for what it is and you should be able to negotiate a little bit off the price. I haven't tried TV Jones Filtertrons but the stock Gretsch variety are also very nice.

AngryGoldfish

Thanks for that. I definitely will talk to my father about getting a lift down. I don't really know of any other way of getting down.