Gretsch G5210T-P90 Electromatic Jet Two 90 - Amethyst Reviews

I had been eyeing this purple beauty for a long time. When it dropped $100, I could no longer resist. Plays great, sounds great, looks great. Very happy. Arrived setup great.

One of the knobs had fallen off in transit which was weird, and one of the pots was a little loose so I had to tighten it. Access to the very highest frets is a bit awkward but still doable. I wish they had 19th and 21st fret markers. That was a strange design decision to me, but again and very minor thing.

I bought some locking tuners to put on as I like those on all my guitars, and I plan to replace the Gretsch strap lock system with Dunlops like I have on all my other guitars but even as is, I've had no tuning issues. It's a great guitar right out of the box.

The wiring scheme is unique in that I've never had both separate volumes for each pickup as well as a master volume, but that's cool and gives you some options. The bridge pickup individual volume is a little awkward to get to on the fly, but again, not so much that it bugs me or anything. The master volume is in a location I've never had on any other guitar so while it's a bit foreign to me, I don't have any complaints about it. Just a matter of getting familiar with it!

Gorgeous in both sight and sound. I'm very happy I bought it. My 7th electric and possibly my new favorite!

While I am pleased with the Gretsch, it did arrive with a few quality control problems. All the volume/tone knobs were very loose; 2 of them 4 haven fallen off and were rattling around the box. They are metal and fortunately did not cause any damage. They are set-screw rather than plastic push on. I was able to get the two back on and tighten the others myself. The screws on the truss-rod cover are only half screwed in. I realize this is a "made in China" instrument so I wasn't expecting the QC to match that of US made instruments. However, that seems like a big "miss" in the highly touted sales tool of the "55 point inspection".

My other gripes/observations are:
There are no front or side fret markers past the 17th fret. Maybe that's a Gretsch thing I wasn't aware of. My bad if so. I knew there were not top markers but assumed there were side markers. It is something that I will find annoying for the time I have it. I do occasionally play that high on the neck and there is nothing worse than a 1/2 step error.

The fretboard wood is extremely open pored and very dry. I can feel it. I suspect it will loosen up over time and with some fretboard conditioner and good old sweat and oil from my gross hands. I again recognize this as a Chinese made instrument so the quality of woods will not match higher end instruments. I have other instruments with Laurel fretboards and they are much better quality wood.

The tuners: They feel cheep. That's not my big gripe though. They're crooked...crooked in sense the two sides don't match. They are vertically even, but rotated unevenly on the left and right. The low and high E string being the most noticeable, being about 10-15 degrees off. The A tuner sticks out noticeably (horizontally) further than the B tuner. Would another guitarist notice it at first sight? Not likely, but I do. I did go back and look at the close up of the photo. If one were to look very closely, you could see it. The angle of the photo however, makes it hard to see.

I like the way the Bigsby looks, but tuning stability is not great. Even with light use, it seems to be cursed with G and B detuning problem. I have only had one other Bigsby fitted guitar and it had the same problem. It's probably the nature of a Bigsby. The overall feel of the guitar feels "tighter" than it should to me, despite the scale length being even shorter than a Gibson. I play 52-10's strings but this guitar feels tighter than my other Gibsons. Again, maybe this due the Bigsby. Maybe the poor quality tuners contributes as well. If I keep this guitar long term, I'll probably replace the tuners.

I haven't pushed it loud enough or long enough to have an opinion on the pickups and electronics.

My parting thoughts are...it's a beautiful looking instrument, despite my gripes above. The top is gorgeous. The binding is good. the Mahogany back and neck look great. The neck shape feels good.

For Gretsch: Use a template for tuner posts and set screws...or check your CNC programing. Getting straight tuning keys should not be difficult.

For Sweetwater. Your 55 point inspections missed two easy things.

Eastern-made instruments have come a long way in terms of quality over the last 10 years. The cost is reasonable, and frankly I've paid more for inferior instruments. If you can deal with some of quirks and idiosyncrasies of a Bigsby or Grestch (or perhaps you embrace them) and a few QC issues, I do think it's a good value.