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

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. 

Thanks to Peach Guitars for a great buying experience.

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.

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Bigsby B6C Tailpiece Vibrato unit review and as an upgrade on Gretsch 5420T Electromatic guitars

 

Guitar Reviews 4U Gretsch Bigsby B6C unit 

a great upgrade for Gretsch 5420T guitars

The Bigsby B6C - here I'll review the unit

Then I'll show you how I'll upgrade a 5420T Electromatic to a B6C -

here shown as supplied with the original type B60 Bigsby

The Bigsby B6C vibrato unit is often referred to as the 'V' type Vibrato as it has the V shaped cutout, some Gretsch guitars have the 'Cadillac V type' non-vibrato tailpiece which is different altogether.

I've installed a few of these B6C units on guitars as upgrades over the years as I prefer the design of them to the B60. 

The B6C unit used was purchased on-line from Thomann UK at £149 including shipping.

The B6C is a superior alloy to that used on the B6 unit fitted to the Korean and Chinese made Electromatics, although that unit works well, the B6C looks visually nicer and I think is a tonal improvement too.

The hinged mounting plate on the original B6 Korean version Bigsby is 4 screw and a different shape than the one used on the US made B6C - the B6C has a triangular shape plate with the strap button screw fitting through a central hole on the plate.

Fitting the new B6C is very easy with only a few basic tools required, which we'll cover in detail below. 

Tonally the new B6C unit I found improved the tone on the Fairlane blue 5420T I fitted it to and looks great.

You may find on installation that the spring is too tall and makes the lever arm sit higher than is comfortable. Shorter tension springs are available for you to set the arm height, avoid bending the arm as the arm should be swung back over the name on the Bigsby when putting in a case and if bent can scratch the top plate and mark it if it sits on the plate surface.

In all the B6C is a great unit and not massively expensive, visually it looks stylish and I much prefer it in appearance over the Bigsby B70 type that has the extra roller over the strings that puts more load on the bridge.

So lets move onto fitting a B6C as an upgrade part:

The upgrade work is quite simple, for tools you'll need a cordless drill, drill bits, dowel rod, screwdrivers, hex key for the strap button, masking tape, wood glue and touch in paint. Fit new strings to the guitar once the new B6C is installed.

If required you can colour match any repair dowel ends - acrylic car touch-in paints or Tamiya model paints I find work as they do not tend to react to the guitar finish and are easy to blend and apply. If colour matching, note that on drying or clear coating over, that this may darken the final colour shade. 

However, most of any repair areas are small and hard to see. The Tamiya series paints have many colour shades available including clear colours and tinted clear colours which you can see I have used on other projects like this Brian Setzer 6120 Hot Rod Truss Rod plate.

The Vanson Roller Tunamatic is a direct fit -

I use these on most of my Gretsch guitars.

I would advise fitting a roller tunamatic type bridge in the upgrade process as the roller saddles aid tuning stability, I use the Vanson type roller bridge but other makes are available. 

The Vanson is inexpensive and I have found them to perform well, look good and basically do the job nicely and I have used them on 6120 Hot Rods, 6120 TM and the 5420 Electromatics.

The standard blade saddle type Tunamatic tends to 'rock' or hang up on the strings when you use the Bigsby, the roller type unit prevents this. 

For extra sustain, once the guitar is adjusted and settled, you could turn some solid metal spacers to sit under the bridge thumbwheel adjusters so you have solid contacts between the bridge and the Tunamatic unit for better tone transfer.

Trial fit of the B6C rested on top of the original B60 unit -

note I have painted in the B6C recesses to the Fairlane Blue colour

  

If you are upgrading from the original type you will probably have to fill the holes left from the original unit that are not covered by the plate, this can be done with wooden cocktail sticks, round BBQ Skewer or wood dowel cut to length - the dowel can be matched to the old screw hole taper for a nicer fitting job.

The 5420T Silver Sparkle - Limited edition of 500 Guitars -

Also updated with a B6C and Vanson Bridge - in process here

On the Fairlane Blue 5420T guitar I blended some MGTF Trophy Blue with Platinum silver to make a touch in paint colour which I used on the wood dowels ends and also in the Bigsby plate recesses to colour match to the Fairlane blue for a classy finishing touch.

On the Fairlane 5420T I upgraded, the new B6C unit plate almost entirely covered the screw holes so there was minimal sight of any repairs.

The new B6C as fitted to the 5420T guitar -

Once installed the tip of the Bigsby should be about 1" 

high off the scratchplate - here the standard spring is installed - 

I replaced it with a shorter aftermarket spring to lower the arm

Once you are set with the new Bigsby and the tools to hand, the job is quite straightforward - and within around an hour's work you should be back into playing. 

In this view, I have used masking tape to give me a centre line

down the guitar body and also on the end of the body side panel -

centreing the line of the guitar on the strap button position.

Always measure, test fit and check before doing any drilling!!!

Once you have removed the old B60 unit you can fill the old holes with the dowel or BBQ skewer. On my job I put the dowels in just under the surface of the existing finish so it allowed me to put a few coats of the repair colour match on so it would fill to the surface of the existing finish and not stand out proud over the surface.

To mount the Bigsby I aligned and centred the unit off the fixed bridge centre line to the strap button hole as in the pictures  above.  

In this view of a 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod you can see the c. 6mm gap 

between the body top edge and the underside of the B6C plate clearly

at the binding edge of the guitar body

I placed the new unit on the guitar and adjusted the height of the top plate off the body at the end of the body - typically the height here from the underside of new B6C top plate surface to the top edge of the guitar body at the binding edge is around 5-6mm, as taken from a 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitar. You can make a spacer of 5-6mm out of thin card to use to gauge the height at the body binding edge. The B6C can sit on here for test height and marking purposes.

A simple block of postcard card laminated to around 6mm or 1/4" in Imperial can be placed at the top binding edge of the guitar to give you the space height the Bigsby top plate to the body at the strap button end as a guide.

The B6C in-filled detail with my colour match to the Fairlane Blue

Turn the guitar side on and the Bigsby top plate as you look down, should then be about straight or with a slight angle down towards the strap button. The 5-6mm height stated above seems to work I find. Check at the body binding edge. Measure and check before drilling.

Mark the new holes onto the masking tape and drill the new holes according to the mounting screws and fit the new B6C and you're about ready to reassemble.

I did the same B6C upgrade on this Gretsch 6118 Anniversary guitar -

this was originally a G Tailpiece equipped 6118 guitar

If you do find that the top panel is somewhat lower at the body end all is not necessarily lost, in this case you may need to use a longer spring in the holder, or a 'jacking up washer' under the tension spring to raise the height of the lever a fraction - but test the arm height with new strings first. This saves re-drilling holes.

The 5420T Silver Sparkle and Fairlane Blue guitars -

both upgraded with B6C units and Vanson Roller Bridges

The washer inserted under the tension spring will raise the height of the lever at the lever end if you find the lever arm too low in operational use.

So that's the upgrade process for fitting the B6C. I hope you have found this useful.

The modern Electromatic and Streamliner guitars are nice quality instruments that can be easily improved with new parts including pickups, bridge units and machine heads. 

 

Guitar Reviews 4U Quickguards Brian Setzer Gretsch 6120 Hot Rod Flames Truss Rod Plates

 

Guitar Reviews 4U adding Quickguards Flames Truss Rod Plates 

to the Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitars 

Quickguards Truss Rod Cover Plates in Silver Sparkle

The new Brian Setzer Gretsch 6120 Hot Rod guitars look pretty amazing and I've upgraded mine with Pickguards as this make them easier to play I have found - recently I found a site called Quickguards in the USA offering a great variety of pickguards and truss rod plate covers. 

I could see the truss rod plates listed on the website would look great upgrades over the stock black and white sandwich type fitted as stock to the Hot Rod guitars. So I purchased some silver sparkle ones for my Hot Rod 6120s. The beauty of these guitars is that they can be easily upgraded to your own taste.

Back in 2015 the Brian Setzer Hot Rod models changed specification and lost the square Brian Setzer Hot Rod model label, replacing it with the engraved truss rood cover. 

I liked the 2015 truss rod cover idea, but I felt they should have also kept the square plate on the headstock too, the Hot Rod pickguard was also dropped around that time. I prefer a pickguard as I find you can use to brace the fingers for precise playing.

See my other article on adding a Gretsch Hot Rod guard to a modern era Hot Rod here:

The 2015 Hot Rod models dispensed with the metal Brian Setzer model plate -

The replacement was an engraved Truss Rod cover - they should have put both on!

The Quickguards Truss Rod covers in Silver Sparkle, appealed to me as I had already on my 2022 guardless guitars, added genuine Hot Rod Pickguards - see below.

Paint removed Gretsch Hot Rod pickguard on the Green Sparkle

Gretsch Hot Rod flames pickguard added to the Blueburst

I test painted Tamiya clear X-23 Blue and clear X-25 Green acrylic

 paint as test finishes onto a clear plastic carton lid -

The overlay of the lid gave me a test view of the final finish 

without having to put paint onto the Silver Sparkle guard at this stage

I ordered two of the silver sparkle plastic Truss Rod covers from Quickguards. They are busy people there and the guards took a while to be made and to arrive, but they are very good. When fitting, they advise to just tighten down the guard onto the surface of the guitar lightly and not to overdo the screw pressure.

The Hot Rod selection 2022, 2005 and 2022

The guards have round ferrules where the screws sit and if you tighten down too much on the plastic sheet material it can split. Just for guidance here.

The clear Green acrylic - I tinted some clear Acrylic with small amounts of Green.

This just toned down the silver slightly, without darkening the guard too much

On the guitars I used for this project - a 2022 Blueburst Hot Rod and a 2022 Extreme Coolant Green Sparkle Hot Rod, I laid the new unpainted guards over the originals to see how they looked against the paint finish on the guitars.

The finished guard has some contrast to the paint finish -

and looks better than the stock plain finish black and white guard -

the Hot Rod name and flames are not lost under a 'too dark' coated finish

To get the right shade on the guard, I first test painted onto a clear plastic lid some Tamiya Acrylic Clear X-25 Green and X-23 Clear Blue sample swatches and tried the guards under the samples to see how they looked.

The blue looked a bit too dark, so I left that for the moment, for the Green I tinted the green colour in small doses into clear Tamiya Acrylic to get the right amount of colour hue, without losing the transparency or having the Green colour too dark and overpowering the sparkle on the guard when painted on.

                                       The plain silver sparkle works nicely here -

The guard contrast is good against the blue, but guard could be blue tinted blue -

however, as this guitar has a silver pickguard fitted, this is now a matching 'set'.

On the Blueburst Hot Rod, I found that the clear blue used neat would be quite close to the guitar colour, so I left the guard on that guitar just silver for now, as below.

This really works nicely and matches the silver pickguard on the guitar

On the Extreme Coolant Green guard against the guitar finish, the silver looked very bright, so to tone it down I tinted some clear Tamiya Acrylic with some clear Green. 

As the Green is quite a strong colour, the idea was to have the clear Acrylic with a hint of added green to show off the silver but to tone down the harshness and darkness of neat Green clear tint.

The silver / Blue theme on the Blueburst 6120 guitar -

a difficult colour to photograph but to the eye is amazing!

Nice if it was blue sparkle!

The Green Sparkle finish on that guitar is quite vibrant so the toned down guard looked good.

As I have a clear guard on the Green Sparkle guitar, the toned down Truss Rod plate fits in nicely.

For the final touch, on the Green guard I clear coated the paint with X-22 Clear coat, giving the guard two coats to finish off, all the colours and clear coats were applied with a soft paint brush by hand.

Guitar Reviews 4U - D'Addario EXL125 9-46 Nickel Wound Guitar Strings review

 

D'Addario EXL125 9-46 Strings review

I fitted these strings to a Maple neck Custom Shop 59 Stratocaster that was giving me problems with the truss rod adjustment meaning I had to take off the neck more than on any other guitar I have owned to keep adjusting it.

So, to add a bit more load to the truss rod I looked at using slightly heavier strings than the 9-42 set i was using on that guitar.

So after some research, I tried these EXL125 'half heavier' set strings on the guitar in place of the 9-42 D'Addario set I had on it previously. It needed more load on the rod but not the extra load from a 10 set loading weight I guessed.

I use the standard D'Addario 9-42 strings on most of my other Stratocasters and they are great there with no issues, these EXL125 strings have slightly heavier bass strings as used on the 10-46 set, otherwise the top 3 strings of the EXL125 set are the same gauge and loading as the 9-42 set.

Checking out the string tension against the 10-46 set and the 9-42 set, these EXL125 strings sat in the middle of the range for string pull in pounds. So I thought that these were worth a try out to see if it would resolve the issue.

The EXL125 strings have done a great job and the slightly heavier bass strings has improved the guitar's sound (it has Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups fitted from the factory). The action is still very slick but there is more relief on the neck than on the 9-42 set.

Now the strings have settled and the guitar has been played for an hour, it sounds great, feels good and has sorted the loading issue on the truss rod and I haven't had to go back and adjust the string saddles or trem block height which is a bonus.

So a win all round.

Nice strings, great sound and work well. I have used this brand for 40 years!

Guitar reviews 4U - Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod guitar G6120-HR 2401215836 Candy Blueburst finish - this guitar is amazing

  

Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod in Candy Blueburst finish

Our review for you is for the Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod  -

You will be blown away by the 'Blueburst' colour when you see it for yourself

Brian Setzer's partnership with Gretsch since the late 1990's has spawned affordable model editions of his classic 6120 and the modified 6120 Hot Rod guitars.

Blueburst 2022, Lime gold 2005 and Green Sparkle 2022 Hot Rods

Now in the 5th generation era, the Hot Rod series has produced some desirable guitars over the last almost thirty years. One particular favourite of mine was the Regal Blue 6120 Hot Rod, a guitar I have rarely seen for sale on the used guitar market.

The Blueburst colour -

the lack of a pickguard is notable here - one is now fitted

When I was aware of the current 6120 in Candy Blueburst, I was interested in one but after seeing it on a video in less than ideal lighting, I did think again. I had seen a 6120 Chet Atkins in blueburst as a used guitar which wasn't in the best of condition for about £500 more, so when an extreme coolant green 6120 came along, it was for me.

The blue paint really sets off the inlaid name 

and the chromed hardware

However, I did rethink the Hot Rod in blue recently and I am glad to say I did go for one that was on sale at £1999 and I review it here for you. Like the Anniversary Green guitars, the Candy Blueburst paint is a difficult colour to photograph and to the human eye it really is amazing, the photographs of this guitar don't really do it justice. 

Brian Setzer loves his Gretsch 6120 Blueburst too!

It has the Hot Rod 'trick paint' effect in that in certain light sources the colour can change shade. The metallic candy effect certainly contributes to this.

The Brian Setzer decal adorns the rear of the headstock -

Locking machines take care of tuning stability

As with this and the last era Hot Rods, the guitars now do not feature a pickguard, or a pickguard in the case to fit later. I personally prefer the guard fitted for playing and aesthetic reasons, which I have contacted Fender about but they have not responded on this. 

I fitted a genuine Hot Rod guard to this guitar, which will make it look like the earlier Regal Blue incarnation of the guitar and improves the playability. If you fit a Pickguard you may find that you need to use the Bigsby plastic spring spacer washer - this is in the bag with the Truss Rod Nut spanner. 

Detune the guitar, lift the Bigsby arm and take out the spring, put the washer in the 'well' where the spring sits and put the spring back in - top in first and then let the arm down so the Bigsby seats on the spring, then tune up and you will find that the arm is at the right height for a Pickguard.

One of the best of the Hot Rod 6120 colours ever - 

Genuine Gretsch Brian Setzer Hot Rod Pickguard now added

This new edition 6120 Hot Rod also features the single volume control moved nearer to the edges of the lower body horn, not something that I see adds any value and looks a bit out of symmetry with the lower horn. It looks frankly oddly placed when compared to an earlier hotrod.

The placement of the volume pot looks odd compared to a 2012 Hot Rod

Against a standard modern era 6120, the Hot Rod has a 9.5 inch radius neck at the nut, it is a joy to play and for those modern Stratocaster players used to a Player series or a 50's reissue Stratocaster, then you'll feel at home here. 

The 6120 with a 5420T Korean Electromatic -

The Korean 5420T has a slightly deeper body and no trestle bracing

These Gretsch Hot Rod guitars are made by the Terada company in Japan and the build quality and finish is superb. The paint on this guitar is difficult to spray as the graduation between the two shades of blue is hard to achieve, the paint is a Candy paint, having that slight metallic look. 

The guitar paint to the human eye is like a Kingfisher bird, which has blue plumage that shimmers in the light and reminds me of how this paint catches the light. Of the two shades of blue on this guitar I prefer the darker one, but the guitar is almost like a combination of the recent electromatic series blue shades here Fairlane Blue and Azure metallic. The combo of the shades really works.

The blue finish is hard to capture on film -

it is outstanding and has metallic lustre small candy flakes

The Hot Rod utilises the 59 Trestle bracing construction on the Hot Rod guitars - a fixture since 2004 and has a thinner maple laminate body like a 1960 6120 and is slightly thinner than my 5420T Electomatic in the pictures, but the 6120 is nicely bright sounding too.

The Brian Setzer signature TV Jones pickups are bright and sound great, I used my 6120 Green Sparkle Hot Rod version with a jazz band recently and it sounded great. 

Against a TV Jones 6120 Hot Rod from around 2005, the newer Brian Setzer Signature pickups are noticeably brighter sounding and have a slightly higher output volume. 

These new signature pickups fall between Filtertrons and DeArmonds in sound, having a nice woody sound on the neck pickup and at the same time clarity and a clear treble sound on the top strings. On the Bridge pickup these guitars have a real cutting Treble sound. The neck pickup gives an unmistakeable Gretsch sound.

A Vanson Roller Saddle Tunamatic was installed -

With a Pickguard fit the plastic space washer under the Bigsby Spring 

as the 'no guard' Hot Rods have a shorter Bigsby Spring -

the washer will bring the arm up to the right height with the guard fitted

The neck is a nice slim feel and to it and is superbly crafted by Terada. Topped off with Gotoh locking machines, which make string tuning and stability when using the Bigsby much more secure. The Bigsby design here is my favourite type, the B6C 'V' type. It has an easy action and contributes to the great sound.

For preference, I swapped the original Tunamatic rigid 'knife edge' saddle bridge for a Vanson roller saddle Tunamatic, which helps keep the guitar in tune when the Bigsby is used a lot. I've used the Vanson roller saddle bridge on about 8 Gretsches and the unit is inexpensive but an improvement over the knife edge Tunamatic fitted as standard.

Pickguards improve the playing experience

Both these 2022 6120 Hot Rods have guards fitted

Strap locks are equipped on this guitar and it is an improvement to have these for ease of strap fitting and removal. 

The guitar sits well on a strap and does not 'dive' as it is equally balanced. Across a number of playing styles it is versatile and playing is easy and you are not having to fight the guitar to get a good playing experience. 

The Japan necks are really a joy to play, once the guitar is set up you can just get on with enjoyable playing and not find yourself struggling to play. This guitar is a delight to play and I have not been disappointed with any of the ones I have played. Mostly I use one for Swing or Jazz and the sound and the playing experience is great.

The B6C Bigsby is such a good unit - 

far superior to the one that came with the 5420T originally

This particular 6120 Hot Rod example is particularly nice to play, that said I have owned 6 Hot Rod 6120's in all over the years and have found all of them to be very nice players.

I have over the last 40 years owned around 20 Gretsch guitars and the Japan made ones are the best in my view, that includes owning 60's and 70's American made Gretsch guitars. 

I definitely recommend one of these great guitars!

If you're considering a 6120 Hot Rod, the Blue one is fantastic, I did look  at the Candy Magenta and Magenta Sparkle guitars too but wasn't totally swayed by the colour which was a bit pink - having owned a candy apple red one before I should have kept! 

I understand that the Hot Rod model is difficult to keep evolving with colours, finishes, guards or no guards and flamed tops or solid paint colours, but we do get a really good guitar at the end of it. I do think they should include a guard in the case with the guitar even if not fitted as a production process.

The guitar now has a Quickguards Sparkle Truss Rod cover fitted 

The 6120 is supplied with a Gretsch hard case with purple faux fur lining, the interior case pocket has a set of Grover Strap Locks included, Truss Rod spanner and a plastic packing washer for the Bigsby to increase the arm height, the washer sits under the Bigsby spring as described earlier.

Quality of build and finish is superb on these Japanese made guitars. This guitar was new but somewhat old stock, not set up and the Rosewood fretboard was dry, hardly acceptable from a guitar shop calling itself a leading retailer.

That aside, a new set of D'addario 10's, an oil or two and a set up and it sounds as fantastic as it looks.

The guitar showing the Quickguards Sparkle Truss Rod cover fitted 

With a list price of £2499, at £1999 in a summer sale it was a great deal although I had been considering it for some months I am glad I did go for it. 

As I have been setting up guitars for many years, having to do this job wasn't a big issue but for a guitar of this ticket price the guitar should have been ready to play out of the box.

Try one and see for yourself! You will want one. Buy one before they are gone!