Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 6120 BS Blue Sunburst 1995

 

Guitar Reviews 4U - Gretsch 6120 BS Blue Sunburst 1995

The Gretsch 6120BS Terada Made 1995

I'm reviewing this 1995 Gretsch 6120 in Blue Sunburst made by Terada. This arrived needing some much needed attention which fortunately I was able to quickly do and with a half hour well spent, this guitar which was at a really good price is now really great again and playable.

I'll show you some nice new pictures of the guitar before we dive into the differences between this 95 and the later 2004 onwards guitars and a review of the 95 6120.

I put a set of D'Addario hybrids on this with a 10-46 Bottom set with 9-42 top three strings and it cuts over 30lbs of stress off the guitar over straight 10-46 strings, sounds great and ias easier to play.

Fitted a Vanson Tunamatic Roller Saddle Bridge as I do on most of my Gretsch guitars, dropped on easily and fitted better than the Tru-Arc type which did not fit the thread centres on the Bridge base.

The Heel of the neck merges to the side of the cutout here

in this left view of the 6120

The 1995 left with a 2024 Azure Blue Players 6120

Note the 'Square' shoulder on the 1995 guitar

For a 30+ year old guitar the 95 is in great condition

A slightly wider headstock on the 95 -

the features of block inlay from the 56/57 era

make this width correct for the time it is representing

The darker almost Cobalt blue in some light of the 95 guitar

A pickup height raise was required so I made these shape plates x 2

for each end of the front pickup to go under the Brass "ears" -

I used a Magnum Ice Cream stick (Beech Wood) as above for the material,

Took off scratch plate and front pickup ring and removed pickup screws. The wood of the stick was 2mm thick - cut the stick down to parallel as in the orange outline shape, rounded the corners and made a drill hole off the job to allow the screw to go through.

Then I used small side cutters to open out the hole to a U shape - dropped the wooden plates in carefully each end and pushed into place, carefully put pickup in place and put the Filtertron screws back.

Only tighten down the Filtertron screws so they are just holding the pickup in place securely (don't overdo the pressure), then reinstall the Bezel Ring and the scratch plate.

This 2mm lift just raised the pickup to make it around the same height as on my other 6120's so the sound wasn't too weak. Through the amplifier the guitar sounded louder and against my other 6120's was as loud and didn't feedback even standing close to the amplifier.

A history of the pre Fender 2004 Gretsch guitars

The resurrection of Gretsch as a going concern after the Baldwin years led to the realisation that a manufacturer was needed to build stock for the brand name.

Terada of Japan filled that breach after a number of approaches to US guitar builders had stalled. In fact the Terada choice was a case of right place, right time and from my own ownership perspective, this has led to some extremely good guitars.

Top Dollar guitars like Gretsch and Fender made in Japan are great quality and the elevation of the Japanese factory quality in the 1970's led to a realisation that the game had changed.

The 'New' Vintage model 6120

By the mid 1990's we find ourselves at the era of this 1995 example of a Gretsch 6120, which I am reviewing and have just purchased. 

This guitar like with Fender guitars of the era sometimes produces guitars which were vintage 'Right' in some features and also 'vintage 'Wrong' in others in the same confusing package begging the question 'why did they do that?', this 6120 is an example of how a purist might view what was produced and see the obvious differences.

Whilst some of the features seem at odds with the end result of a pure vintage guitar, I think these oddities have created a niche of the Gretsch canon that should not be dismissed just as anomalies. In fact they are rare and have their own place in the collecting market.

However, this pre-2004 Fender Gretsch era produced some great guitars, Trestle Bracing isn't always the thing to have, read on, as we explore what some see as 'anomaly Gretsches'.

So what is apparently not stock for the look?

This 6120 has the 1956 Block fretboard markers, like the Eddie Cochran 6120, also the wider headstock found on the 'Cowboy' era 54-56 guitars with these pre Neo-Classical fretboard inlays, the old style B6 Bigsby isn't on this guitar, the later B6 V type is, which I actually prefer.

The body depth is 2.7" so for the general specification of this model of a 56/57is right, although the Filtertron pickups as on this guitar wouldn't be in this guitar until around 1958, for a 56/57 the DeArmond single Coil would be the choice. That said these pickups do sound very good.

The 3 way switch is right for this era, but the sealed machine heads would have been represented by the open back geared Waverley type. 

Also the neck at the cutaway merges to the body a feature I really like, but on the 6120 has a slight triangular shape instead of this moulded in shape. 

Inside the body we have the old Tone Post between the top and back panels not the Trestle Bracing of the 59 onwards era, so this is right and also the use of a top with a slightly thicker 5 ply rather than the later 3, along with the Tone Post and the denser top really gives the guitar great resonance and a more of a woody sound.

'New old' actually works on this 6120BS from 1995

The apparent mix and match of era features does work well, whilst this ensures it cannot be passed off as a reproduction of the 1956 or 1959 6120, this mid 90's guitar is a nice departure from the perceived normal of the old known features.

The blueburst trans lacquer shows the wood grain well, the gold hardware also works so well with the blue colour of the finish, the guitar was originally supplied with a round saddle Tunamatic style bridge, mine lost this somewhere down the line and collected a Tri-Arc round bar that didn't fit the base, so i replaced that with a Vanson Roller Saddle Tunamatic as most of my other 6120's and similar have.

The Filtertrons are really great sounding, even though they are away from the strings they really do sound good and have a good tone.

I tested the guitar with a Vox VT40 and was standing to the right of the amplifier at half way up on the volume without feedback, you could feel that the classic Gretsch resonance where the guitar starts to almost feedback but doesn't if you go too close or had it on the Bridge pickup.

I only play at lower volumes with a swing band or jazz band so this feedback isn't an issue. It does sound like a Grestch, but not so compactly tight as a 6120 with Trestle bracing.

The sealed machine heads too are a great feature, these are also on my 1997 Duane Eddy and the 2003 and 2007 6120 AM and TM guitars. I don't like those old open backs, they wear and the ratios aren't as good for fine tuning.

The build quality is great as a Terada never disappoints, the binding and finish are all in great order as is the finish with only one small chip that is in the top lacquer and fixable.

Playability

The slightly thicker depth body is also the same depth as on the Brian Setzer 6120 and on the Duane Eddy 6120 and this 6120 too and it isn't really that noticeable against a 6120 with a 2.5" depth. The neck is beautifully cut and shaped and really does play well, the Ebony fretboard is great, satin smooth and the inlays faultless.

Mine was on old strings and with a new but badly fitting Tru-Arc Bar bridge that was immediatley swapped out for ther Vanson roller saddle one, so with a good clean up, new bridge and strings and a spot of intonation adjustment sounds great. It has a really earthy and woody sound and the pickups sound really good if bright and early 50's Gretsch. 

Sound

The Alnico Filtertrons and the combination of a deeper body with a sound post and 5 ply top does give it a different sound to a 6120 with bracing. The sound is a more open, 50's sound and the pickups start to have a slight break up 'baggy' sound which gives the guitar a more vintage 50's vibe, at 30+ years old the guitar is now 'vintage' in a way.

For swing and jazz it has a more classic sound, that said I use 5420 Electromatics and 6120 Terada Gretsches for this music too, at 50 % volume on my Vox VT40  the guitar wasn't feeding back but dod have that connected vibe when the guitar gets driven a bit by the amplifier, something Brian Setzer likes.

Is it for you?

I have never had a bad Terada Gretsch and having owned around 25 Gretsch guitars since the 80's I'd say the feel is great, the sound is very Gretsch and it has the playability of the Japanese made guitars from Terada even the later ones I own up to the most recent 2024 6120, I don't regret buying it at all, despite the cheap price to what it could have cost, it just sounds great, plays well and is vintage now in its own right. It did need some work to get it properly playable which I can do and a slight adjust on the string height at the nut but that's not a real problem for me as I've been doing that sort of work for years.

It does really puzzle me why the Brian Setzer 6120's have that old style Bigsby when that guitar is a 59 and should have the V type B6, a design I really like much better. This 95 is by contrast rather odd it doesn't have the older Bigsby design, however I prefer the B6 V type.

Now a few days later, and with only a minor set up of the treble strings, the guitar is much improved and maybe a slight raise of the Neck Filtertron will give it a touch more volume.

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.

A great addition is this Anniversary nameplate for the 6118

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.

This really sets off the headstock!

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.

Get the 6118 look for Electromatic money

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. 

My template for lining up the Nameplate -

made from 2mm artboard card

the spacing was 46mm wide by 15mm tall

15mm was the spacing measurement on my 6120 Hot Rods

between the Gretsch name and the Nameplate

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

This 5420T in 2 Tone Anniversary Green is a great guitar, 6118 Anniversary guitars are hard to find used and this is what prompted me to buy this 5420T version, with a few simple upgrades you get a much improved guitar. The colours really grab the attention too.