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
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.
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.
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