Opinions on new-ish Gretsch Electromatic Double Jet (G5232t more specifically)

OilCityPickups

Deft said:

Any recommendations for a non-zingy bridge? I got a (very) cheap electromatic so don't want to throw money at it, will the £30 Gotoh be an improvement?

Beware these bridges 


I tried one ... 

and because the rollers are all the same, with a wide, flat string area .



.. the string shifts when you pluck and all sustain goes out of the window. 
Not good. 

TheMarlin

Deft said:

Any recommendations for a non-zingy bridge? I got a (very) cheap electromatic so don't want to throw money at it, will the £30 Gotoh be an improvement?

https://amzn.eu/d/edYtAsU

You set the intonation, the. Lock the saddles down. 

Its lot the prettiest, but works really well, and is a vast improvement over the stock bridge. 

I like these a lot. 

My favourite is a Compton, but not cheap (but worth it)

Fingers657

I got a good deal on a Brandywine center block Gretsch G2655T Streamliner a few weeks ago from guitar guitar and got a great deal on a Gretsch case for it from GAK.
Its my first Gretsch and I’m very impressed with it.

https://ibb.co/jHY34zs

https://ibb.co/0jMzCNW

Basher

Yorkie said:

Do any of the bigger bodied Gretsches have filtertrons? 

I have an Electromatic G5422 (double cut hollow body) and it has something called "FT-5E Filter'Tron" pickups. I don't know how authentic these are but they sound fantastic to me.

I *think* they're supposed to be similar to the blacktops and I find them to be full of chime and jangle with a pleasing, but not overpowering midrange grunt with more gain. 

(That said, I'm no expert as my only other Filtertron experience was owning a 1990s Japanese Jet and I liked those pickups too, although I believe they had ceramic magnets which I'm guessing were not everyone's taste.)

TheMarlin

OilCityPickups said:

Deft said:

Any recommendations for a non-zingy bridge? I got a (very) cheap electromatic so don't want to throw money at it, will the £30 Gotoh be an improvement?

Beware these bridges 


I tried one ... 

and because the rollers are all the same, with a wide, flat string area .



.. the string shifts when you pluck and all sustain goes out of the window. 
Not good. 

I’ve had the Wilkinson made ones, they were a damn site better than the stock bridge on a budget Gretsch. 

I always play with 11’s, so the strings don’t move in the saddles, but it’s been a decade since I last used one. 

OilCityPickups

TheMarlin said:

OilCityPickups said:

Deft said:

Any recommendations for a non-zingy bridge? I got a (very) cheap electromatic so don't want to throw money at it, will the £30 Gotoh be an improvement?

Beware these bridges 


I tried one ... 

and because the rollers are all the same, with a wide, flat string area .



.. the string shifts when you pluck and all sustain goes out of the window. 
Not good. 

I’ve had the Wilkinson made ones, they were a damn site better than the stock bridge on a budget Gretsch. 

I always play with 11’s, so the strings don’t move in the saddles, but it’s been a decade since I last used one. 

I play with 10s ... and they are deffo a no goer with that bridge

jellybelly

This was a great thread to catch up on! 

Have only just got a Gretsch myself, a centre block Electromatic (recent Chinese one) with 'Broadtrons'. Have to admit it's - as others have said - quite PAF humbuckery compared to what I always *thought* the Gretsch sound to be. 

But I have no idea what the options to change that would be, given the sizing of these pickups seems super specific and not necessarily interchangeable. A 'rebuild' as a regular Filter'tron? What's a drop in replacement and what isn't? No idea!

Doesn't sound bad by any stretch, maybe I should just play the thing....

dazzajl

jellybelly said:

This was a great thread to catch up on! 

Have only just got a Gretsch myself, a centre block Electromatic (recent Chinese one) with 'Broadtrons'. Have to admit it's - as others have said - quite PAF humbuckery compared to what I always *thought* the Gretsch sound to be. 

But I have no idea what the options to change that would be, given the sizing of these pickups seems super specific and not necessarily interchangeable. A 'rebuild' as a regular Filter'tron? What's a drop in replacement and what isn't? No idea!

Doesn't sound bad by any stretch, maybe I should just play the thing....

They are exactly that. Gibson copies with a Gretsch aesthetic. Which is no bad thing at all. 

Yorkie

Some great info from Ash — thanks! 

So, do the Double Jets do good Atkins CGP cleans or are they ‘just’ Malcolm Young soundalikes? 

Fingers657

If you like CCR and John Fogerty’s Solo music and want to see and hear an original big body Orange Gretsch sounding great?
Watch him and his very talented kids playing together on there YouTube Fogertys Factory channel during the covid  lockdowns 
They released excellent regular videos together.
https://youtu.be/Ab0-SkZjb_A?si=b62ZoVc34OSY7m3J

OilCityPickups

jellybelly said:

This was a great thread to catch up on! 

Have only just got a Gretsch myself, a centre block Electromatic (recent Chinese one) with 'Broadtrons'. Have to admit it's - as others have said - quite PAF humbuckery compared to what I always *thought* the Gretsch sound to be. 

But I have no idea what the options to change that would be, given the sizing of these pickups seems super specific and not necessarily interchangeable. A 'rebuild' as a regular Filter'tron? What's a drop in replacement and what isn't? No idea!

Doesn't sound bad by any stretch, maybe I should just play the thing....

Several manufacturers including myself and Jason Lollar do proper HB sized Filtertrons 

Above: My own Humbucker sized Filtertron style pickups 

Yorkie

Yorkie said:

So, do the Double Jets do good Atkins CGP cleans or are they ‘just’ Malcolm Young soundalikes? 

Any Double Jet users playing Atkins style music out there? 

dazzajl

Yorkie said:

Yorkie said:

So, do the Double Jets do good Atkins CGP cleans or are they ‘just’ Malcolm Young soundalikes? 

Any Double Jet users playing Atkins style music out there? 

I really do hope not!

Okay…. Clearly not my style (far too civilised) but I’d say that while black tops might not be the very best Filters for that sound, they’ll be much closer than nearly all PAF style pickups. 

Yorkie

I think I’m in a bit of a bind here…not sure there’s a good way forward. 

I’ve been offered a G5232T in a trade. 

The stuff I record is normally clean — closer to Chet Atkins than Malcolm Young. I do play AC/DC with a bit of grit — for fun — but I am happy with PAF style rudeness. 

I am a little guy. A hollowbody looks huge to me. But the Double Jets all seem to have the Bigsby-designed-Bigsby, which seems to be universally hated. I don’t want to get something and have to Dremel the fuck out of it on day one just to make it work. 

I like the sound of the black top filters more than the broadtrons. But the streamliners all seem to come with those PAFalikes. And the Jet I’ve been offered (dark cherry colour, which looks… dark) does have the filters. 

Help please. Out of the box suggestions welcome too. 

dazzajl

Yorkie said:

I think I’m in a bit of a bind here…not sure there’s a good way forward. 

I’ve been offered a G5232T in a trade. 

The stuff I record is normally clean — closer to Chet Atkins than Malcolm Young. I do play AC/DC with a bit of grit — for fun — but I am happy with PAF style rudeness. 

I am a little guy. A hollowbody looks huge to me. But the Double Jets all seem to have the Bigsby-designed-Bigsby, which seems to be universally hated. I don’t want to get something and have to Dremel the fuck out of it on day one just to make it work. 

I like the sound of the black top filters more than the broadtrons. But the streamliners all seem to come with those PAFalikes. And the Jet I’ve been offered (dark cherry colour, which looks… dark) does have the filters. 

Help please. Out of the box suggestions welcome too. 

Ignore the talk about the B50 Bigsbys. The aesthetics aren’t as nice as a B70 but they do work well enough. There is a thing called a bigsfix that’s an extra bar which reduces the break angle but I’ve never felt I needed one. 

Or, going really out of the box, you could buy this instead  

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/264332/fs-gretsch-masterbuilt-stephen-stern-jet#latest

TheMarlin

dazzajl said:

Yorkie said:

I think I’m in a bit of a bind here…not sure there’s a good way forward. 

I’ve been offered a G5232T in a trade. 

The stuff I record is normally clean — closer to Chet Atkins than Malcolm Young. I do play AC/DC with a bit of grit — for fun — but I am happy with PAF style rudeness. 

I am a little guy. A hollowbody looks huge to me. But the Double Jets all seem to have the Bigsby-designed-Bigsby, which seems to be universally hated. I don’t want to get something and have to Dremel the fuck out of it on day one just to make it work. 

I like the sound of the black top filters more than the broadtrons. But the streamliners all seem to come with those PAFalikes. And the Jet I’ve been offered (dark cherry colour, which looks… dark) does have the filters. 

Help please. Out of the box suggestions welcome too. 

Ignore the talk about the B50 Bigsbys. The aesthetics aren’t as nice as a B70 but they do work well enough. There is a thing called a bigsfix that’s an extra bar which reduces the break angle but I’ve never felt I needed one. 

Or, going really out of the box, you could buy this instead  

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/264332/fs-gretsch-masterbuilt-stephen-stern-jet#latest

If the B50 feels a bit stiff in use, get the tuning stabiliser (in @dazzajl link above). It makes a world of difference to the feel and tuning stability of the bigsby. It transforms the worst Bigsby into a great. Itami. Get the squishy spring too!

dazzajl

You might want to link the bigsfix @TheMarlin, my link was far less useful 

TheMarlin

dazzajl said:

You might want to link the bigsfix @TheMarlin, my link was far less useful 

Sure. This is what you need to transform a bloody awful B50 into a great Bigsby. 

https://bricksbiggsfix.com/products/bts-v3-de

And here is the squishy spring, which also makes a great difference:
https://bricksbiggsfix.com/products/sss

Yorkie

Thanks for your input, it’s greatly appreciated. 

I know nothing about Bigsby bridges. I really like the look of the double cut electromatics, but I am not 100% sure I would want to get something in almost immediate need of hackery. 

Jon

Yorkie

Still going on about double jets. Can’t see myself getting out of this gretschole. 

The electromatics with the Bigsby and filters… do they all have those weird sparkly paintjobs? The only one that doesn’t seem particularly sparkly is the red one… Shame, I liked the light blue one until I saw the glitter. The red wine one I was offered had it too.