NGD: GRETSCH White Falcon G6136T

grayn

This is a guitar I never thought I would buy.  I've had 3 Gretsches before, 2 Electromatics and a Brian Setzer Hot Rod.  I'm a bit of a fan of rockabiily, vintage rock"n" roll and jump  blues, on the quiet and probably the best guitar I've bought, for this style, was a

Duesenberg Fullerton Elite.  But I traded it and so, was on the look out again.  I spent most of the last, short lockdown, scanning

the 'net, for any guitar I thought would be suitable.  It kind of drives you nuts in the end, so I had to go and try some real guitars, in

a real shop.  I started by playing a load of guitars, acoustically, just to get a feel.  These included an Eastman T486B, a Yamaha 

SG 1802 and Revstar 720B and 3 Gretsches.  All were splendid guitars, I'd very much like to own but by now I'd decided I did want a Gretsch and so sat down with 3 preowned models, to put through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, set to very mild crunch, with a good 

splash of reverb.  

The first was a G6659TG Players Edition Broadkaster Jr.  A great guitar, that felt more solid than semi, with a

lovely neck and a great set up.  Unfortunately I wasn't so keen on the Full'Tron Pickups.  Sounded great with both pickups on but I

didn't like the bridge pickup on it's own, at all.  Shame.  Second was a G6196TSP-2G Country Club Semi-Hollowbody in Two Tone 

Grey/Violet Metallic.  Wow, what a beauty.  It was badly set up, with really light strings and a very low, buzzy action.  But despite that it was a great guitar, with a resonant feel/tone and smooth trem, with very tasty, DynaSonic pickups.  The only thing that put me off was the Synchro-Sonic Bridge.  It really sticks out and I found it uncomfortable to play with.  It has sticky out knobs (technical jargon) and I do a lot of palm muting.  Double shame.  

Now I should explain that for almost as long as I've been married, my wife has decllared that her absolute favourite guitar is a

Gretsch White Falcon and in particular, the single cutaway model.  I've spent the vast majority of that time saying, it was far too

gaudy and "Rhinestone Cowboy", for me.  But here was an almost mint (2012), preowned model, so I thought, why not? And just my luck, it had everything I was looking for.  Even with 10s on it, it sounded and played spot on.  Really vibrant and responsive.  The pickups sang and the trem was almost as smooth as a Duesenberg's.  It was the best guitar (for me) I'd played.  But could I cope with theaccordian like, pearly/gold binding, truss cover and lettering?  Of course I could.  

I couldn't wait to show it to the Mrs and she obliged me with a ton of praise, for this white and gold beastie.  OK it looks a bit more

billy than rock and the black, side dot markers, on the neck's gold binding, are tricky to see but it plays beautifully and my vintage

styled compositions sound just how I want, with this Falcon.  Cool.

Koa

Lovely, not understated by any means but wow factor is off the scale. Congrats

boz_h

That is lovely, congratulations. 

Cranky

Very nice, congrats.

stickyfiddle

Never not going to Wow a Falcon

NelsonP

More Billy than rock? Nah, you can have both.....

https://images.app.goo.gl/wiCQPNMAAcjFa7KQ7
https://images.app.goo.gl/NVs5H9r3GfvSjDYJ9

Winny_Pooh

Sweet AF

crunchman

Be prepared for a lot of love if you take it out and play it live.  I get so many comments about mine.

grayn

Thanks chaps.
The quirky thing is, the guitar has 3 volumes knobs (neck, bridge & master) and a 3-way switch for tone.
OK by me, as I usually just leave  a tone knob on full.  So I may actually try the tone switch.

crunchman

grayn said:

Thanks chaps.
The quirky thing is, the guitar has 3 volumes knobs (neck, bridge & master) and a 3-way switch for tone.
OK by me, as I usually just leave  a tone knob on full.  So I may actually try the tone switch.

I normally leave it on full.  It's quite easy to knock by accident, so watch out for that.

Jalapeno

Love it, but I'd be scared shitless somebody would want me to play Billy Duffy or Brian Setzer licks ! 

Good swag !!!!!!!

crunchman

They are actually a lot more versatile than people think.  You can do a lot more than rockabilly with them.

DB1

Gotta love a Falcon! I had a black one, a white one, and a LPB Jr one all at the same time, and they looked fantastic individually and collectively. A while ago I decided that I couldn't get on with Gretsches, which is why I bought @AlexO s Hot Rod last week.

That Falcon is a thing of beauty though - Sound Affects, I'm assuming, from the description of the others?

grayn

DB1 said:

Gotta love a Falcon! I had a black one, a white one, and a LPB Jr one all at the same time, and they looked fantastic individually and collectively. A while ago I decided that I couldn't get on with Gretsches, which is why I bought @AlexO s Hot Rod last week.

That Falcon is a thing of beauty though - Sound Affects, I'm assuming, from the description of the others?

Spot on.  It's either S.A.. Frets or Promenade Music, up my way.

melod

Great guitars. That’s one thing that annoys me about being vertically challenged (that and perhaps being excluded by 70% of earths female population)

Blaendulais

Nice box set of New Tricks as well

Kylef

I’ve had one for nearly 10 years, and it’s probably the only guitar I have that I’ve not played live. I do need to make the effort.