That's why I made my own.
Yes! Very nice work too. You have an otherworldly skill level in that department which is a huge plus.
There are a lot of reasons that I do not like Gretsch, other than styling, control layout and feel and these feelings go back 30 years. More recently, my feelings have shifted to less of personal preference and more of a time management thing.
One major issue i have with this line (Gretsch) in general is the labor-intensive nature of the setup. You gotta pull the pickguard to adjust one side of the pickups. You also have to remove a truss rod cover to make relief adjustments.
On the 3 screw models, you have to loosen two strings to keep from 'nicking' them and on the models with 4 screws, you gotta slacken the 'a' and 'd' and pull them from the nut to access the screws.
As you may or may not know, all the Japan builds (starting at $2,899.00) have a Gibson-style truss rod.
Due to the space between the hex flats, you need to loosen the strings for the wrench to swing enough without making contact with them.
On the China made and Indonesian built Gretsch models, I can go in with a 24" Allen T-handle, which makes things a lot faster.
Another thing that I do not like, is going in through the F-holes and securing the wire harness so it doesn't show. My past experience as a kid building ships in a bottle certainly was helpful here.
On the P-90 models, the pickups never rest squarely in relation to the strings. This bugs me, but it's part of how Gretsch does things. You just accept it.
Now, I will say that the difference in quality, fit and finish between a Japanese model and the Indonesian models is immediately visible even from arms-length, especially the size, profile and finish of the fretwork.
There just isn't any comparison between the two of them. Even the colors are different hues between two models (Japanese and Indo/Chinese) so much that two blue guitars actually look like two completely different colors, even though both are actually the same color.
I'm just not really passionate about all these different guitar types.
A guitar is a tool that I use to earn money. Whether that's gigging, teaching at my music academy classes or doing session work.
I tend to favor a Gibson Les Paul for session work.
I tend to favor my lightweight Stratocaster (4 pounds) for live performances. YelloStrat was built from the body I got from you,
@SG John.
Beyond that, I do not need or want any other guitars. I gave away a Schecter Hellraiser C1FR PurpleBurst and a Jackson Adrian Smith recently because I never play them any longer.
But, I realy like to see the look on student's faces when you give them something that they've been dreaming of.
Now, I've always been a minority, probably more so now, and I'm simply voicing my opinion, which nobody will "get" unless they have a similar background, but 7 years of commercial Kos Angeles session work and working for a guitar maker changes you.
There are some guitars that are built better than others. There are different colors. There are different feels.
But once you plug them in, at a live performance, they all sound the same. All the subtle nuances that people strain to hear through headphones is gone...they vaporize the minute the music starts.
Some may not have experienced this (im sure you have, John) but you can stand right next to a loud amp on a stage and not hear it. The sound literally goes right past you out into the crowd.
If I did not have a guitar at all and i needed one for a paid performance, I'd probably buy one of these thinline, lightweight, twin humbucker Telecasters.
I'm not by any means a Telecaster fan, but they are simple, lightweight and have none of the resonance/feedback issues of a hollow or semi-hollow exhibits on a loud stage.
In the end, personal preference is just how we examine things and its how we assign a value to things.
I don't collect gear and I've given away more stuff than I've kept. I really like keeping my stuff simple and effective.
If I'm performing, and it doesn't fit in the trunk of my Mustang, I can't use it.
That's another reason I don't collect gear.
I'm just a worker bee.
I'm happy that I'm not working on Gretsch's full time. I think I would honestly quit if I had to deal with them on a daily basis, but if people buy them, then that's great!!!
If your Gretsch card is stamped "INSP #20" then that guitar has been precisely set up and it's as close to perfect as it can be.
I realize that I'm just a "little-guy" and my opinion doesn't matter to anyone, and that's cool, because I am happy and comfortable being the "outcast" which is a space I've occupied my entire life, but I won't tell you anything that doesn't gave a solid reason behind it.
So, since it's open discussion, like it or not, I just dropped my 2 cents into the guitar case.
Wishing you all the very best...
-Rob
