Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 5420T 2 Tone Green 'Anniversary Green' Chinese made v G5420T Fairlane Blue Korean made guitar review

 

Guitar Reviews 4U - Comparing a 2023 Gretsch 5420T 

2 Tone Green 'Anniversary Green' Chinese made guitar with a 

2016 G5420T Fairlane Blue Korean made guitar 

A brief overview of the 5120 to 5420 Gretsch timeline journey

 The Gretsch G5420T -

Korean made Mk3 2016 (left) Chinese made Mk4 2023 (right)

my Mk4 was sold by Peach Guitars in the UK. Nice people to deal with,

a good old-style guitar shop that sets up a guitar and gives great service

When Gretsch launched the 5120 guitars in the early 2000's it was a game changer for the guitar players who wanted a genuine Gretsch at an affordable price. And it pretty much kicked into touch other makers looking to create similar styled guitars.

Smaller boutique labels such as Vintage, AXL, Alden, Eastwood, Hutchings, Roberts and other badge engineered guitars were often made by a small number of factories for those other 'names'. The 5120 pretty much dented that market by providing a genuine Gretsch at an affordable price and the 'right' name.

My Korean made 5120 the 'Mk1'-

upgraded with Gretsch Filtertrons, Space Control Bridge 

and Chet Atkins 6120 Scratchplate 

It was for Gretsch their 'Squier' moment - affordable guitars in the image of a more famous parent. The original 5120 and the 5020 Dearmond pickup equipped model ranges at this price point soon became platforms for upgrade as players recognised they could upgrade them.

Like the Squiers had from Fender - these were a good basic guitar which could be upgraded easily. There was a special 5120 that was a limited run which featured Filtertrons as standard.

G5422, G5126, G6120DC,G5420 & G5422 Guitars

The 51220 and 5422's here were upgraded with Gretsch Filtertrons

The 5120 was for Gretsch the start of a rich seam of guitar making and the 5120 line became improved and launched as the 5420T the 'Mk2', now featuring hump block fretboard inlays and the 'Black Top' FIltertron pickups - last seen used on the Baldwin era Gretsch guitars.

G5126 Silver Sparkle with Dearmond pickups

G5420T Silver Sparkle a 'Mk2' Electromatic

The 5420 'Mk2' retained the large 5120 headstock with the 'Electromatic' name vertically placed. The shape was of a style used on the Japanese Gretsch reissue guitars of the mid 1990's owing their style to the headstock design of the pre-1957 6120 guitars. The neck profile was slim and easy to play. The addition of f-hole binding firmly put the 5420 up a notch. However it was not until the 'Mk3' that the headstock was reduced in size and lost the 'electromatic' vertical name.

G5420 Mk1 Headstock shape carried over on to the Mk2

The guitar was then updated to a 'MK3' version, it went back to the thumbnail inlay fretboard, the headstock shape and size was made smaller more in line with the 1958 and later 6120 size and shape head, the new guitars were well received and led onto the special colour 5420's with the Fairlane Blue guitar immediately making a big hit. Like Fiesta Red did for the Stratocaster. F-hole binding appeared and sealed the look.

G6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod in Regal Blue from 2004 -

perhaps the inspiration for the 5420T in Fairlane Blue?

The Korean made 5420 colour range was expanded from the basic Orange stain of the original 5120, that came from the 1955 6120 and the 5420's were offered in a range of colours including Black, Sunburst, Aspen Green, Silver Sparkle and Daphne Blue, Surf Green although some of these colours were limited run colour shades often for far east markets like Japan or Malaysia.

The Mk2 Electromatic featured a slightly thicker neck than the 5120, I personally found this neck not as easy to play as on my 5120. This was changed on the Mk3 guitar more to a thinner profile neck more in line with the 5120 profile. Perhaps due to player feedback.

My Korean made G5420T Mk3 in Fairlane Blue as purchased -

2016 one owner as new, prior to upgrading it with B6C Bigsby

Chinese made G5420 Mk4 in Azure blue - compare the blue shades!

The Korean made guitars became a Mk3 with the design revisions of the smaller headstock, pinned bridge base, return to the neo-classical inlay fretboard, f-hole  and a slimmer profile neck as we have covered. Having a Mk2 and a Mk3 side by side at the time, the Fairlane Blue Mk3 was easier to play due to the thinner neck. 

The Mk3 like the 5120 had a single square post block between the top and back panels which provided a means of reducing feedback and adding strength to the guitar, I have Terada 6120's with this same design single post so this is no 'low cost' option by any means.

G6120 1959 Trestle Bracing example

The 5420T Korean guitar has a single post between top and back panels

The 5420T Chinese guitar has '59' pattern bracing as below:

Gretsch updated Trestle Bracing - this provides greater strength

to the construction without adding extra weight

With 5420T production moving to China, the guitar design was in to the Mk4 era, this included the addition of Trestle Bracing to the guitar designed in conjunction with Mike Lewis of Fender, a feature now also included on the Player Series guitars. The Rosewood fingerboard changed on the Mk4 Chinese made guitars to Laurel wood and the Tunamatic base was Rosewood and is now Laurel Wood. 

Vanson Roller Saddle Bridge -

fitted as an upgrade to the Tunamatic Blade Saddle Bridge

that is fitted as standard on the 5420s and 6120s

The guitars still featured the open backed Grover style Machine Heads which are a budget version of the Grover units used on the green 6118T Anniversary guitar, Blade saddle Tunamatic bridge and the B60 Bigsby - all upgradeable parts which many owners do change out, as I have done on my Mk3 5420T. 

The neck is described as 'C' Shape on the Mk 4 and on the previous Mk3 as 'U' Shape - but comparing the two side by side in a playing situation, I can't detect much difference between them!

The 5420T in 2 tone 'Anniversary Green'

 

The rear view of the 5420T 

The Dietzler Paints chart of 1958 Cadillac colours - 

inspiration for the original 2 tone Green 6118T guitars

The Mk4 guitars now feature Trestle Bracing enabling the body depth to be reduced by about 3mm, otherwise they appear overall the same as the Mk3, although some of the hardware positioning and items has changed. 

The pickups have been revised over the Mk3 and the guitar now sounds slightly brighter acoustically and also plugged in, having a slightly more single coil sound like with the new Brian Setzer Hot Rods, so it is a bit like a Dearmond / Filtertron type of sound.

Some owners may decided to go and install the 'classic' Gretsch  Filtertron units which with adaptor plates can now fit the guitar without other modifications to the mount. The black top Filtertrons do make the guitar look like the later 1960 6118 Anniversary guitar, the Brian Jones 6118 had neck binding which i think made the guitar look more complete, something I thought was missing from the 6118 reissues since the mid 90's.

Gretsch 6118T Anniversary Player Series model with 1959 style Bracing 

The guitar colours for the Mk4 guitars have been updated with the Azure Blue replacing Fairlane Blue. Airline Silver, Orange and a great 2 tone Anniversary Green model as a tribute to the 6118 guitar are also offered as alternative colours. Limited edition 5420TG guitars with gold plated parts and special paint colours are also offered.

Korean 5420T upgraded with Wilkinson WJ45 Machine heads - 

an example of the way in which these great value

guitars can be improved with better quality hardware

The scratchplate is a tasteful silver shade on the Mk3 and Mk 4which works on all the colours and the one on the Chinese Mk4 5420T does not fit the Mk3 Korean guitar! The strap buttons have been changed on the Mk4 Chinese guitars and the thread on the string post is a left hand thread into the body unlike the previous Korean and the Japanese guitars which have right hand threads. Remember this if changing them or replacing the Bigsby! I put Straplocks on my Mk4.

The B6C here custom paint filled on my Mk3 upgrade -

an improvement on the stock B60 unit

The finish of the guitar is really good for the money, inside the Mk4 Chinese guitar, the bracing strength allows for a slightly thinner body, externally the green paint on the anniversary Mk4 I have is flawlessly finished as is the Mk3 Korean Fairlane Blue finish. This is a guitar you could easily pay a lot more for.

Gretsch 5420T guitars - upgraded with Bigsby B6C,

Vanson Roller Saddle Bridges and on the blue guitar

In conclusion, the 5420 series guitars are great value for money, a real Gretsch, at an affordable price and I have used them live on stage for some years along with Japan made Gretsch guitars. 

Gretsch 5420T with 6118 Anniversary nameplate 

The Japan Terada guitars are about the best Gretsch guitars I have played but you are looking at a price ticket sometimes three times as high as a Korean or Chinese guitar. That said, I find the Electromatics nice to play and have a great sound. I used my Orange 5120 for around 4 years with a jazz band even though I had a 6120 to hand.

Gretsch 5420T Anniversary -

A 6118T tribute!

The finish and construction is really well done on these instruments and I only wish they were around in the 1980's! 

 

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Paint repairs - Gretsch G5420T examples shown

 

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Paint repairs - Gretsch G5420T examples shown

Upgrading a guitar can leave you with new areas to paint match -

this is often tricky for existing metallic colours like this Fairlane Blue

So, you've upgraded some parts on your Gretsch guitar but this leaves you with a situation to overcome - that of matching repair paint to the original colour.

In this review, I'll show you how to match Gretsch colours to Fairlane Blue and to the Anniversary Green used on the 5420T guitars for the repairs.

Obtaining a perfect match to paints can be expensive for the amount needed and often the amount of paint needed is very small. 

On the 5420T in Fairlane Blue, I upgraded the open back machine heads to closed back Wilkinson WJ45 units you can see this review here on how I did that job. This left me with bare wood plug ends to disguise to the original paint colour.

Blue mix in a Bigsby B6C unit I did -

Acrylic car touch-in paint used

After drilling the new holes for the replacement Wilkinson units I plugged the original screw holes that were now not usable with hardwood cocktail sticks. Small wood plug pieces were glued in to flush level and left to dry.

Once I fitted the new machine heads, I then had the bare wood to cover. In this case I already had some car touch-in paints to hand to use but not a direct match, this was a Trophy blue acrylic paint for a 2004 MGTF car. I find the car acrylic touch-in paints are easy to use and dry quickly, working with cured poly and epoxy paint and cellulose.

Touched in Fairlane Blue on my 5420T

after fitting Wilkinson Machine Heads

I used a couple of drops of clear acrylic finish in the mixing palette and then toned this with the MG TF blue a small amount at a time, in this fashion you increase the colour depth in the clear carrier gradually until it matches. Its done a pretty good job here. 

Dark Green infilled B6C detail on my Gretsch 5420T upgrade

I upgraded my 5420t 2 tone Anniversary Green 5420T with a Bigsby B6C and you can read the story here. During this job also I replaced the strap buttons with strap locks and had to do a reinforcing repair to the strap button area nearest the neck which meant I needed to do repaint areas to chipped paint. 

My 1958 Cadillac Versailles Green Dietzler paints match!

for my Gretsch 5420T 2 tone Anniversary 5420T

Once I had done the repair to the inside of the body of the green 5420T guitar, I was left with an area where the paint had chipped away. The colour I needed I found was from Dietzler paints and although I did find some Du Pont cross reference, it would likely be tricky to get a pure match to the darker green on the 5420T. So I mixed my own by eye to suit.

5420T Versailles Green repair around the strap button area -

you can't see the new paint - so a successful job done

The Dietzler 1958 Cadillac paint chips 

On this darker green match for the 5420T, I noticed that the Versailles Green was a 'smoky' looking green and rather than just use a dark Racing Green type of shade and lighten it, I would blend up to the green shade I wanted.

The Versailles Green has 'yellow' tone to it rather than some of the green shades which have more of a  'Blue' tint to them.

I noted that a Ferguson Tractor Grey would be a good carrier base to tint up, so found a Ferguson T20 Grey which was a mid grey and could be tinted up with a dark green, for this I Green I used a Fraser Green I had modified the shade of slightly to paint garden bench ends. 

Both of these shades are UN1263 Synthetic Resin paint base used in vehicle restoration, the type it is also referred to as semi-cellulose in some places. 

For the final paint match, I put a small amount of the Ferguson Grey into a mixing palette and then using the Fraser Green, added small amounts into the Grey and mixed it around with a brush.

I checked the paint on a brush by eye to the Gretsch paint, until it matched and then painted in the repair areas on the guitar.

Once the paint had dried and hardened, after about 2 days, I carefully flatted the proud paint back to the level of the original paint using 1200grit wet and dry paper with water and washing up liquid to get the blend of paint levels. 

Once to level and dried, I gently polished the repair area with Farecla G3 rubbing compound to remove any surface swirl scratches and then used a clear autoglym resin polish to finish it off.

As you can see here, the paint match is invisible which is the intention! 

Paint matching to original paints can be done at home, but can be more challenging with some sparkle and candy finishes.

For the 5420T with clear tint coats like the Orange, I would use a Tamiya X-26 Orange Clear tinted into Tamiya Clear Coat. These paints are shown below

X26 Clear Orange and X22 Clear Coat acrylic paints

 

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Guitar Strap Button area wood repair and Strap Button replacement

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Guitar Strap Button replacement and wood repair

Here's a quick guide on how to fix your Strap Buttons if the wood is damaged.

A Bigsby upgrade on my Chinese made 5420T led to repairs needed 

and to the replacement of both of the strap buttons with Strap Lock Buttons

The Chinese made 5420T is supplied with spin-on Strap Lock Buttons 

These have LEFT HAND threaded screw posts into 

the body unlike the Korean and Japan guitars

that feature normal right hand threaded parts!

Gretsch  nice quality Japan Strap Buttons R/H Threaded posts!

The unique threaded Strap Buttons an innovation Gretsch Guitars are very good, but have a drawback that if the button gets dropped and lost on a dark stage you are in trouble!  As a consequence, many owners fit strap locks for speed of strap removal and guitar safety. 

On a recent Bigsby B6C upgrade on my 5420T guitar, the Strap buttons were replaced, but the screw post threads that go into the guitar are left hand threaded on this Chinese made guitar, unlike the Korean and Japan guitars which have right handed thread units. 

Holes can 'tear' out - like on this 5622T -

This is a fairly easy to repair.

Removing the button screwposts from the Chinese made 5420T guitar led to some damage at the neck end of the guitar and here's a quick article on how to fix a Gretsch that has damage here. The threads on the Chinese posts were left handed!

On the hollow body guitars fixing enlarged holes is fairly straightforward and this method I used actually strengthened the guitar in the button area.

Neck area Strap Button repair - hollow body Gretsch

The button post nearest the neck damaged the wood on removal as it was very tight. The wood here is quite thin and to avoid more damage I devised a simple way to reinforce the wood when fitting a new strap button to that area. The body in this area is not completely flat, so I cut a small block of hardwood - Maple is best, but I used a Mahogany substitute block around 1/2" by 5/16" approx. for the job.

I sanded by hand the top of the repair block away from the centre of it in all directions to give a 'contour' shape to match the guitar interior body profile curve - not much wood is needed to be removed here. (A plastic contour gauge will aid you in this job.) Then I drilled a hole through the centre of the block to aid the installation.

Showing how to pull up the repair block into place -

this block provides a good base for the post to screw into.

To instal the block, drop a piece of string or thread through the old button hole and catch it with a crochet hook or a piece of bent wire and pull it out through the F hole below the strap button hole. I then put the block onto the string and left plenty of spare string outside of the F hole. You'll see why shortly!

I tied a piece of match to the string under the block and applied some PVA wood glue to the top of the block, then holding the lower end of the string to keep the whole string taught, pulled the block up and through into the guitar body, so it glued into place under the string post hole.

I taped the string out of the post hole over onto the body to keep the string taught so the wood glue would bond the block to the inside of the body. It took this particular glue 24 hours to dry out.

A day later, I removed the tape and pulled the string back through the F Hole and removed the match, then pulled the string back through and out of the guitar body. Now I had the wood reinforcing repair block right under the place I needed. So when I redrilled the hole to the final size I would be drilling into much deeper solid wood than just the body side.

Next I needed a Dowel peg to repair the oversized hole left, a BBQ Skewer fitted the hole well so a short length of it was cut off and readied to fit. Get it as flush as you can before fitting so your work to level the peg dowel is reduced. This helps reduce damage to the body when sanding or finishing.

The Peg Dowel was then glued into place with PVA Wood glue and left for another day to cure. Once that was done I used more PVA glue to fill the recess around the peg and again left it a further day to cure. This PVA glue can be sanded and painted over so it was simplest to use this as a filler and it goes hard when cured. 

Schaller Strap lock Button installed and damaged paint touched in

Once this glue was cured I carefully sanded the peg back with a Dremel Hobby tool using a fine sanding band. During the string post removal the green body colour was marked by the grips used on the reluctant string post so i had now to colour match the green paint.

I used a UN1963 resin paint to do the paint repair - Ferguson Tractor light Grey and tinted it with some Fraser Green Tractor paint to the correct shade. I did this under artificial light which is not ideal but as you can see from the above picture, you can't see where I touched in the areas so that was successful. There is some light flare above the selector switch, so that is not a defect area.

Paint colour matched for the damaged area on the guitar - 

Ferguson tractor Grey base with Fraser Green added to suit

Once the paint had cured I sanded it back using wet and dry paper with water and washing up liquid carefully. I used a 1200 grade fine grit on the job using light pressure. This did scratch the surrounding paint area so I used Farecla G3 fine rubbing compound to remove the scratches and a wax polish to finish off.

Next up was to drill the blanked off hole to take the new Strap Lock screws. I decided to use Schaller Strap Lock Buttons rather than the Gretsch screw on button posts. 

A Drill Block Guide - this keeps the Drill bit squarer 

when drilling using a cordless drill

To drill the holes I used a Cordless hand drill. I predrilled the Drill Block Guide from a piece of Pine Beading wood on the Pillar Drill. I used 1.5, 2 and 2.5mm Drill Bits as you can see on the Block here.

The way I used it was to put the drill block guide on the 1.5mm drill bit and start the drill bit carefully, then slid the block down flush with the guitar body top and then carefully and slowly drilled through the dowel peg repair. I then repeated the process with the 2 and 2.5mm bits to open the holes out enough for the new screw.

When doing this drilling job - check your screw sizes against your drill bits before doing any drilling. I would suggest that you use a scrap piece of wood to drill and try your screw into that to get the right size for the job before going to do the job on the guitar.

I use this Beeswax Leather Polish to lubricate screws for guitar work

Once drilled to the right size, I fitted the Schaller Strap Lock Button and felt, over a stainless steel washer which sat on the guitar body top to provide more area for mounting. I gave the screw some wax sparingly and screwed on the button, job done.

Looks great and much stronger than originally made.

Bigsby area Strap Button repair - hollow body Gretsch

Strap Button hole enlarged - a fairly easy repair to do

Some guitars may have a wood block in this area inside the body so all that is required is a dowel peg repair. If one is not present then use the wood block method used on the neck end to do the repair. The advantage is here the Bigsby tail plate covers the repair area over so paint colour matching is not so critical here.

Be aware that some guitars run a ground wire through the end of the body to sit under the Bigsby plate so do ensure this is in place and making contact after doing your repair.

Watch Reviews 4U The Longines L2.640.4 47mm White dial Avigation Watch

 

Our review is for the supersize Longines L2.640.4

a 47mm 'Avigation' Pilot's watch 

A mighty white watch and there's a bit of a story to it!

I came across this particular Longines L2 47mm size sometime ago when it came up on Ebay as a used watch that was being listed by a Pawnbroker in Manchester and it was up for around the thick end of £900 but I recall it went for around £795. 

(A mint unworn condition example with box had gone a year or so before for £1700 on Ebay.)

This one here did sell, I had been quite interested in it back then as I had a black dial version for about the same money. I was no stranger to the 47mm size watch as I had owned a number of marriage watches previously, but had decided to move those on and concentrate on collecting original Longines pieces from the 2000's on as they were just such great design and value for money and easier to move on in the resale market.  

No exhibition back here - but a dual rear cover watch

I saw this particular watch back on the market a good few months back on Ebay again and kept an eye on it, it was up for around the £1000 mark and kept an eye on it, which was worth doing as it came up in November 2024 at an offer price that was too good to pass up.

The large crown is endorsed with the Longines logo and name

So to the review. This L2.640.4 is based on an early aviation watch style, where pocket watches were adapted for wear on the wrist rather than on a leather fob or watch chain. 

Early aviators and automobile racers needed convenient timekeeping and a watch on the wrist was the requirement. And the large 43-50mm case sizes on pocket watches provided an easy to read dial for this purpose.

The classic simple design is functional and very 'Bauhaus'

with elegant form and function on display here

It was from this concept that the 'trench watch' style became popular, pocket watches were plentiful and fairly robust too.

Longines has always since the days of Charles Lindbergh been synonymous with aviation, he wore a Longines specially made for his historical 1924 transatlantic flight and it was from that event and the requirement for aviation watches in WW2 that Longines became well known for that market.

The more 'military' looking black dial version of the same watch -

which Longines have used as inspiration for their 'avigation' watches. 

In the 2000's Longines as a brand started to rise in popularity again for a number of reasons thanks to a wide range of bold designs drawing on elements of the past and also of modernity, in this L2.640.4 those meet and provide you with a 47mm width Stainless Steel cased beauty, with a 26mm lug width, this example is on an aftermarket white strap which looks great against the white dial.

The dial looks white face on and yet at angles gives casts of off white and pearlescent white depending on the angle it is viewed from. The hands are dagger shaped with generous lume filled recesses, the numbers are applied in polished silver metal, it is simple, plain but very stylish, an exercise in modern design with a hint of vintage.

The L2.640.4 movement - almost a shame to conceal it!

The movement is a pocket watch sized unit and contained under two back covers, as you can see from the above photograph the movement is nicely finished and it is almost a shame to hide it away!

The Crown is a large size with the Longines logo and name present which is a nice touch. There is no date as is correct for an aviation watch in the early style and a seconds dial at the 6 o'clock position complements the large name and logo on the dial under the twelve marker.

On the wrist it is noticeable weightwise but I am used to this size of watch and I am ok with it, I do like larger watches and 40mm upwards suits me, 42-44 is good for me, the watch is not over thick either, I have some Longines that are quite deep at around 14mm, the Grande Vitesse chronograph comes to mind there. However this watch is no heavier than a Longines 44mm tri compax chronograph.

Elegance without compromise - I love the simplicity of the Bauhaus ethic -

this watch embodies that form and function style so perfectly I think

So if you are ok with a larger watch and like the visual impact, it is sure to start a few conversations. Given the size of the watch it has its own market away from the smaller wrist. 

I purchased the watch on a brown leather strap which looked good but it also came with the white leather strap it had worn earlier, and to me this colour suited the white dial well, so I have gone and fitted the white strap.

Condition wise this is very good and lightly worn, a few small scratches near the lug ends from strap changing showing but for a sub £650 deal price watch that retailed at around £2000 when new, it is great value for money and another worthy addition to the collection. 

Great value for money, fairly rare and great quality.