Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 5420T Machine Heads upgrade to Wilkinson WJ45 machine head units

 

Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 5420T Machine Heads upgrade

The Wilkinson WJ45 Machine Heads - I use the Chrome ones in this upgrade

I had been considering doing this upgrade on my 2016 Korean made 5420T for some time to replace the original units for improved tuning stability, its a straightforward job to do. 

I chose these units as they will fit the existing bushings and are 2 screw fixing - although I had to drill new holes. They also are based on the Kluson style units from the 1950's so look the job. 

A shame that Gretsch didn't use the the sealed units from the modern Streamliner 2420 guitars on the Electromatic as they are much better.

I had a set of Wilkinson WJ45 3 + 3 units to go on the guitar in my spare parts stock. They are also 2 screw fixing type and based on a Kluson style design with a better gear ratio than the ones on the guitar at present.

Remember to check any screw sizes before drilling! 

I am re-using the original screws that were on the guitar. 

Later guitars may have different sized screws. 

Always check the size twice before drilling!

The original unit left and the Wilkinson at right

Notice a moulded on collar on the original, more on that later!

Firstly, before removing a machine head unit I placed a small piece of masking tape under the machine head base lower side to ensure I had a straight line to work to after removing the original one. The original small holes for the baseplate do not match the hole spaces on the new WJ45 units so the old ones would have to be filled. 

I used a PZ1 Screwdriver to remove the screws and it fitted the ones on the guitar fine. (Take care here removing the screws and ensure your screwdriver really fits well as the last pack of WJ45's I got for another job didn't have any new screws or bushings in and small screw heads are easy to damage.) If you rip the screw head recess this creates a real headache to get the screw out!

The Bushings for the Head stock were the same size as the new ones so I did not remove the old ones as the WJ45 posts fitted them fine, I did lube them carefully where the post touched the collar area.

I used cut down cocktail sticks to make filler plugs for the old holes that had to be filled as they did not line up to the holes on the baseplate of the new units. To do this cut off the sharpest part of a cocktail stick point at 3mm or 1/8" from the tip so there is still some taper on it, then using the original screw depth of 9mm, measure on and cut a c. 9mm filler plug from the stick to that length. This means you likely won't have any excess to trim off.

I used a small amount of PVA resin Wood Glue to glue the plugs in and this worked well - don't overpack the hole with glue as it may stop a tight fitting plug going in fully. I ensured the plugs were to the level of the headstock rear face by using the flat end of my scalpel blade holder to seat them flush.

One of the old screw holes is covered over by the new machine head under the plate on each new unit, but I decided to fill both old holes for each unit to make a good job of it. Once the new WJ45 machines are in place and the glue has had a day to dry out, I can paint match the exposed plugs.

Masking tape strip to help line up the new unit

I've done the E and A string units here.

I greased the new units before installing through the oil hole on the 

back cover. I used a light duty general auto chassis grease from a tube 

Having taken off the A string machine head I found that an order of removal would be needed here. When I test fitted a new WJ45 unit onto the headstock in to the A string position, I found that the WJ45 plate just sat on the E string baseplate of the old unit.

So I would have to also take the low E string unit off to get the clearance for fitting the new A unit, having firstly used a piece of marker tape placed for alignment purposes, before removing the old unit as you can see in the picture above. I found this method gave a clear run to the job and replaced the Low E and A string units together.

The original unit has a moulded collar to the baseplate - 

I will use a lathe to hold the string post and cut these collars off with a parting tool

and at the next string change, then install them with the WJ45 units

to give more support to the base of the post into the headstock

For the new screw holes, I used a 1.5mm drill with a piece of masking tape 9mm from the tip as my drill depth gauge - you don't want to drill through the headstock plate here! I drilled one hole, blew out any wood debris and partly screwed in one screw to the new unit, I lined up the baseplate snug against my tape line, checked that the post wasn't binding in the bush by giving the key a turn or two and then drilled the second hole using the baseplate to the tape as a guide.

All the new WJ45 machine heads fitted

Once the second hole was drilled and any debris removed from the hole, I took the unit out and gave the post shaft at the lower end a light coat of Brass instrument Key oil to help lube it where it contacted the bushing and then lubed the small screws with beeswax.

I installed the WJ45 unit and screwed it down checking again that there was no binding of the bushing against the post. Then it was a case of doing the D string one and with that done, the top row of the units was completed. I was co-ordinating this upgrade with a string change so I didn't waste any strings in the job.

The rest of the high E, B and G string units were replaced in the same fashion and holes filled.

The new WJ45 keys look in place here from the front and suit the headstock size

The button style of these is like the G6118 Anniversary style ones

So, that's the job done, and the guitar has some improved machine heads on. I will likely remove the cast on collar bushings off the old units and next time I do a string change put those in the headstock holes to give the string post a bit more rigidity and support.

I did consider fitting locking machine heads to this guitar but I think these Wilkinson ones will be adequate. Once I have the colour match on the wooden plugs, it will finish the job off.

The Wilkinson units are around £25 GBP a set and although inexpensive look and feel good in operation.

Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 5420T 2 Tone Green 'Anniversary Green' model China made upgrade with Bigsby B6C and Vanson Roller Bridge

 

A few quick and easy upgrades for your Chinese made

Gretsch 5420T guitar in 2 Tone Anniversary Green

Out of the box - the Chinese Gretsch 5420T Electromatic guitar

**Before you drill any holes on this project, I suggest that you drill holes in some scrap Pine or similar softwood and try the screws for fit so that your 'final' holes will not be oversize. I use BBQ Skewer and Cocktail Sticks to fill any left over or unused holes on my guitar repairs. For info.** 

The new 5420T guitars are easy to upgrade and in this review I'll be adding a USA Bigsby B6C vibrato and a Vanson Roller Saddle Tunamatic Bridge to the guitar in place of the B60 Bigsby and the Blade Saddle Tunamatic Bridge.

My similar upgrades on the Korean version of this guitar went without a hitch, but I did run into a couple of small problems on this job. Firstly, the strap button on the Bigsby was very tight and the screwdriver slotted head on the post stripped out easily so I had to use grips to remove the post which was not ideal and damaged the thread. I had to order new strap buttons and screws and I got a set of Japanese made Gretsch buttons and screw posts to fit. 

Secondly, the spacing on the bridge posts was not quite the same as the Korean and I had to relieve the Bridge block holes with a 4.5mm drill - not a great problem, but a delay all the same. 

I have fitted around 8 of these Vanson bridges to Japanese and Korean Gretsch guitars without any issue in the past, so it was unusual to find on this one that the holes were just too tight on the hole spacings. Fortunately I have a pillar drill to hand and was able to open out the holes to 4.5mm without any drama to get the Vanson to fit . It just goes to show that things can change on guitars!

I have fitted a number of the Vanson Bridges without a problem - 

possibly the Bridge Post spacing and Bridge dimensions may have 

been changed slightly on this model, but I was soon back on track 

The Bigsby B60 is quite straightforward to change over and I used masking tape to mark out the positions off the old unit and for the alignment of the new one. The B6C to go on this guitar has 3 screw holes and the strap button is also used on the end plate as an extra 'screw' - on the B60 it has 2 screw holes and the strap button screw post has a central hole so you get 3 screws holding the tail on which is not really sufficient as the holes are not in the best place to stop the tail plate lifting with the string tension. 

The B60 also relies on the strap button as a screw hole to locate the unit.

The B6C has 3 screw holes plus one for the button

On my 5120, I drilled 2 extra holes as the plate was lifting away from the body. The screws are in the 'wrong' place, they need to be lower down the plate to get the best advantage. It is a cost cutting measure to only use the 2 main screws.

The B6C detail recesses here have been in-filled with green paint.

Against the light green body this will look nicer than the stock black

The B60 is not as smooth in action as a B6C and the B6C is the design I find looks better too. The B60 does the job but the B6C is miles better, it is the one used on the Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitars and the Player Series, a unit design that was launched in 1960 on the 6120 and similar guitars. 

The B6C overlaid on the B60 - you can see the tail plate holes here .

The paint fill effect works really well

The job to replace the B60 with the B6C is quite straightforward to do. Firstly I measured up the gap on the my other Gretsch guitars at home and 6mm between the bottom of the plate and the top of the binding strip on the guitar top seemed to be the distance on most of them.

A 6mm card spacer used to gauge the right height of the B6C

I made up a spacer strip out of 2mm art board card strips and used this to get the height for the new B6C, this takes the guess work out of the job!

Masking tape was used to locate the new B6C in place - 

always measure twice and check before you start drilling holes! 

I drew centre lines off the existing guitar Bigsby and checked the alignment twice before going anywhere near a Drill. For this job I used a Cordless Drill, you get a lot of control and can drill slowly which is the ideal situation.

The B6C now installed 

I used a 1.5mm drill to make the pilot holes for the B6C main 3 plate screws but do check the screws supplied with your new B6C for size before drilling anything! I found I had to open out my drilled holes out to 2.5mm for most of the screw depth and then used a light smear of Beeswax on the screw threads to help them go in to the wood easier.

You can always drill a scrap block of soft wood like Pine and try the screws in that before drilling into your guitar. Fortunately I have a Vernier Gauge to hand so I could measure the screws and drill bits before doing anything further.

The new B6C's plate just covers over the holes from the previous B60 -

Be aware that the threads on the strap button posts on the Button end differ in thread pitch between the Japanese and Korean / Chinese type posts. The Japan Buttons won't fit the other Korean / Chinese Button posts.

Lastly here, the strap button hole was drilled, having first checked the size of the strap button post thread. The Japan made threaded screw also has a cross point end and I found a PZ1 screwdriver fitted into this really nicely. The thread was lightly coated with Beeswax and it screwed in nicely into the guitar body.

New D'Addario 10-46 strings fitted -

The Green in-fill paint really looks smart against the lighter green top.

I had already adjusted the Vanson Roller Saddle Bridge Saddles to approximate the old Blade type  Tunamatic Bridge's saddle positions, before fitting it. One all the strings were on, I did intonate the Vanson Bridge Saddles correctly.

I used the spring from the original B60 unit as it was shorter in height and the arm now sits at around the right height position, there are different length springs available as aftermarket parts.

Adjusted ready to play - taken in daylight to show the real green colours

Lastly, a spot of adjustment to the set up and action and the G5420T was ready to play. The B6C I found was much more responsive and had an easier action than the old B60.

This upgrade really makes a good improvement to this guitar. 

I plan to upgrade the machineheads on the guitar in the near future with Wilkinson

Kluson type closed back units in place of the standard open back 'Waverley' type units 

Wilkinson WJ45 Kluson type machine heads

a replacement for the Gretsch 'Waverley' / Grover type units 

On the subject of the machine heads, the G5420T standard heads fitted to the guitar are 'at a cost' units and not very expensive, although functional. A good upgrade is to use the Wilkinson WJ45 type heads - these have 2 screw holes which are an almost dead fit to the original types. 

Another advantage is that the metal cases enclose the gears which are a good gear ratio. Plus the hole on the back shown here is used to add a light grade auto grease - I add this before installation and this helps give the gear wheels longer life and to retain tuning accuracy.

Guitar Reviews 4U - the Gretsch 5420T 2 Tone Green 'Anniversary Green' model review - China made - a fabulous guitar for the money!

 

A review of the Gretsch 5420T 2 Tone Green 'Anniversary' model

As the 6118 Anniversary gets hard to find, this is a suitable

alternative with great build quality and playability.

Pictured from the official Gretsch site.

The Gretsch 5420T 2 Tone Green 'Anniversary' model is a new edition of the 5420T in the popular Electromatic series guitar range. So lets give it a review.

I was looking to buy a 6118 Anniversary 2 tone green guitar but they are hard to find so I thought the 5420T would fit the bill, having previously owned a 6118 in green.

The 2 Tone Green on the 5420T is quite a hard colour to photograph -

Nice smoky green back and sides with a minty ice cream top

The 5420T harks back to when the Gretsch 5120 kicked off the move to provide a popular Gretsch 6120 style guitar in an affordable format around 2008. Like Fender with Squier, this was a genius move by Gretsch.

It immediately put an affordable Gretsch 6120 style guitar in your hands, without breaking the bank. And effectively impacted the marketplace presence of similarly Gretsch looking guitars made for boutique companies such as Alden, Vintage, Hutchings and Eastwood.

The Ditzler' Paints 1958 Cadillac paint swatch shows the two colours on this guitar

Building on this success, the 5420T guitars emerged around 2012 and were refined over the years with small detail changes, including a number of limited edition special colour editions being released onto the market.

The Ditzler  'Gretsch shade' paint chips matching the 5420T

The game changer for the 5420T was the Fairlane Blue model made in Korea that really took the guitar world by storm in 2016. Recently a new 5420T colour combination based on the old 6118 Anniversary 2 tone green guitar was launched. Having owned a Terada made green 6118 I was interested! And seeing the 6118's are now hard to find and wanting one, I thought I'd look at a 5420T in this colour configuration.

Ditzler's 42260 Acadian Green top with a 42261 Versailles Green back and sides

The DuPont codes for these colours are 246-92001 and 202-912151

In recent years, the 5420T moved from Korean production and production is now done in China. So, also owning a Korean made Fairlane blue 5420T, I was curious to see how this new Chinese made guitar fared. I'll review the two side by side in another review posting.

The 'minty Ice Cream' Acadia green on a 1958 Cadillac

This 2 tone 5420T green guitar was purchased on-line from Peach Guitars in Essex and I'll review their shop later in another review but please visit the link and check out their range, they offer great service and very competitive prices. They are a proper old school guitar shop that cares about the guitars they supply their customers.

The Versailles 'smoke green' rear aspect of the 5420T

Unboxing the new 5420T 'Anniversary' Green guitar I was amazed at the quality of the guitar, both in terms of the build quality and finish. Given that it has 2 paint shades, this was very nicely finished with no uneven paintwork even where the two paint colours met, it might be unfair to compare this guitar to a Gretsch made in the Terada Japan factory, but against those it really does hold its own.

The post-2015 revised smaller headstock -

more 'Gretschy' sized than the larger one of the earlier 2008 on Electromatics

Hardware is an area that is adequately done on the 5420T but the buying price allows you to upgrade these parts, which is something I have done on my previous Electromatic guitars.

The machine heads were found to be quite sound despite being inexpensive. The Streamliner in comparison has closed machine heads, geared with a good ratio, I found them very good. (On my Korean 5420T they have started to wear so I will replace them with the Wilkinson WJ45 ones as the screw holes are a near fit).

I previously owned a 6118 Anniversary and I must say that the 5420T 'version' of it having the bound F holes, neck sides and headstock looks better for the binding and is an advantage in protecting the guitar and makes it look more finished.

The 6118 in comparison looked rather 'incomplete' I felt without the binding.

Open backed 'Waverley' type Machine heads - as on the Anniversary -

the 5420T machines are worth upgrading with closed Wilkinson WJ45 Kluson 3+3 ones

The paintwork on the 5420T is quite amazing as I have stated. It was often like that seen on cars of that era that could be purchased with 2 tone complementary colour schemes.

Gretsch was one of the first companies, as was Fender to visit the automotive paint colour charts for inspiration. The 6118 Green shades combination has continued on this 5420T edition and I think it is a superb choice of well suited colours.

Wilkinson WJ45 'Kluson' style  3+3 Machine heads -

a 2 screw fixing like the Electromatic 'Waverley' type

A good upgrade for your G5420T and not expensive

Our guitar here is finished in the two shades of Green, seen on the 1958 Ditzler Cadillac colours chart and looks great, but is hard to photograph to get the lighter green really show the true colour. Once you see one in real life you'll love it! 

I have adjusted the colour of the top in the picture below to a more realistic representation.

Colour adjusted to how it looks depending on your screen - 

With a B6C Bigsby it will improve the look!

Pickups are plug to plug wiring making assembly easier

See my upgrade of this guitar here

The guitar for the review had been set up well by Peach Guitars and even came with a Q card showing it had been checked, acoustically the guitar sounds bright and seems slightly lighter in weight than my Korean 5420T in blue. Sadly, a number of retailers cut corners by not setting up guitars, it is not difficult to do. Recent previous buying experiences showed this up.

The Gretsch 5420T from Peach Guitars

The C shape neck on this 5420T does not seem much different in profile to the U shape on the Korean one I own, even down to the thickness at the nut. The body is around 2mm thinner on this Chinese made 5420T than my Korean 5420T, the measurements all round though seem very similar. The Chinese 5420T does have trestle bracing, perhaps adding to the brighter sound.

The Gretsch 5420T 3 way selector switching

The fretboard is Laurel on this guitar and I did oil it well before giving it a play, I have noticed on the new Gretsch guitars of late that the first few plays of them leaves you with dirty fingers on the fretting hand, I am not sure if the strings were original from the factory but they sounded ok, I will replace them in any case in my upgrade project.

The B60 Bigsby works well -

I will upgrade to a B6C to make it more like the 6118T Anniversary guitar

The black top Broadtron Pickups fitted are new FT5E uprated units (which like the Brian Setzer signature pickups) in comparison to a standard Filtertron, are brighter sounding than the standard fare or in this case against the Korean FT5E types on my Fairlane Blue 5420T.

The smoke green with lighter green top colour scheme

Plugged in the new guitar like my 6120 Hotrod in Candy Blueburst sounds really great, the sound is 'woody filtertron' with a nice clear sound all round even on the neck pickup, but more inclined to a single coil clear treble sound. Its unmistakably a Gretsch sound still.

The Trestle Bracing and the new pickup version does seem to make the sound brighter.

The neck and middle switch position (which can often sound muddy) are clear and with a bit more treble edge than you normally find on the previous FT5E pickups, the bridge pickup has a more cutting sound, but without sounding fragile or thin.

At around 4.9k output the pick ups sound nice and not tinny or thin.

A really great specification for the price tag

I tend to play a clean sounding guitar and testing the guitar against a Barney Kessel track playing along, the new 5420T sounded the part. Chords and single note playing were sounding good, although I will give the action a final adjustment to my taste when it has settled down. 

Peach Guitars did a good job on the setup - unlike the guitar shop I purchased a previous Gretsch this year from, that one had not been checked at all. So top marks for Peach Guitars for their efforts.

The Bigsby B60 vibrato works well but I do prefer the B6C version, see my review of and upgrade on my other Electromatics to the Bigsby B6C unit here. 

I found the B60 worked on this guitar nicely and stayed quite well in tune, given the strings may not be completely new. I have a B6C ready to fit which will make it look more like the 6118T and improve the appearance.

The 5420T retails with a retail price at around £899 GBP although I have seen an RRP of £1040 quoted in one place and this guitar was on offer at £673 GBP including delivery and I was very pleased with this deal, having paid about £550 for my blue 5420T in lightly used but as new  condition in 2016 when the Korean made guitars were often around £750 GBP. Delivery was quick and it was very well packed for shipping.

The green 5420T is when taken overall with considerations such as price and specification a very nice guitar, sounds good, looks the part and is open to upgrading if you desire. Certainly at the deal price, it leaves you a lot of scope and headroom to upgrade.

For those looking for an occasional arch top for example for band use and can't justify a pro series Gretsch, buy this. Even as another guitar in your collection, it will open up possibilities perhaps to other musical styles. 

It is good value for money, the build and finish are excellent even at this ticket price and it does play and sound the part. The striking colour stands out too. 

For those finding the 5420T body deeper than they prefer, try out the 5422 type guitars, more in line with a 335 style and even played by established artists.

So, overall I have no real issues with the guitar and it looks plays and sounds great, for the money it is a really reasonably priced Gretsch guitar. They have really done a good job on this edition. Its a winner. 

Thanks to Peach Guitars for a great buying experience.

I have now done an upgrade on the guitar with the B6C Bigsby and Roller Bridge.

And with the new Bigsby with green paint in-filling, below

Guitar Reviews 4U - Peach Guitars shop Colchester Essex

 

A review of Peach Guitars in Colchester Essex

My Gretsch 5420T Electromatic purchased from Peach Guitars

Recently I was looking for a Gretsch 5420T Electromatic in 2 tone 'Anniversary Green' finish and found one on the Peach Guitars site. It looked just what I required, I had been looking for a 6118 Anniversary in green but they are a bit hard to find now, having previously owned one.

My recent purchases from supposed 'leading UK Guitar stores' have been disappointing, with unchecked instruments sent out in almost unplayable condition for example.

This is not acceptable when you are spending around 2K on a premium guitar. On one occasion one guitar arrived in the wrong case. Even then when you contact them and state the guitar hasn't been checked and set up, they don't really care, they have your money by then. Fortunately I am able to do this type of set up work but that isn't the point at this level of guitar.

A very different story with Peach Guitars thankfully! Quite the opposite to my recent experiences I am pleased to say. 

I enquired with the store if I could have the guitar delivered to my work address and that was able to be done, Jeff from Peach Guitars was very helpful and I decided to make the purchase. I hadn't dealt with the company before but had seen their adverts in magazines and on-line.

The price of the 5420T guitar was also very competitive as a bonus too. I paid using the Paypal option which went fine and waited for delivery.

The guitar duly arrived to me a couple of days later at work and was very well packed.

More than that, it even had a Peach Guitars QC card with it, showing it had been checked over and the set up was done.

Unboxing the guitar, I was no stranger to Gretsch guitars but I was very impressed with the build quality and finish. The acid test was to play something and sure enough, the guitar was playable out of the box and sounded great too. 

I did receive contact from Jeff a day later to enquire about the guitar and I said that it was great and I was very pleased with the transaction. It was nice that they followed up the purchase, most don't nowadays.

Peach guitars are like guitar shops used to be only a decade or so ago, (Coda Music springs to mind when I have purchased guitars from them), great guitars, set up and with quick delivery.

I would recommend Peach Guitars without question, for their great service, competitive prices and a great purchasing experience. They are an example to the others to follow.