Gretsch G5222 Electromatic Double Jet - Walnut Stain Reviews

This guitar is the best out of the box guitar I've ever bought.
I have two new Gibsons.
An LP and an SG and this guitar is nicer, prettier, better sounding and easier to play. At 1/4 the cost of either of the Gibsons.
I love playing it. Perfect intonation and not a buzz anywhere with the action set at .050"
Amazing fit and finish.
And these pick ups are amazing.

I was honestly shocked at how nice it sounded and the quality of the build considering the price tag. I found it sits a little funny after a bit of playing and rotating it out with a SG Standard and a Les Paul Deluxe. Overall I recommend for classic rock tones as well as overall appearance.

Been away from electric guitars for many years. Mostly been in acoustic instruments. Decided to try electric and after research picked the Gretsch. I was looking for something a little out of the norm and have always liked the Gretsch sound. I don't live within 60 miles of a guitar store, so I had to rely on Sweetwater and Youtube reviews for making a decision. Couldn't be happier with the G5222. Checked all the boxes for me. The first and most impressive characteristic was the appearance quality of the instrument. Finish was flawless, set up, and played great right out of the box. Sweetwater sets the standard for customer service.

Ordered this from Matthew, thanks Matthew!
I had Sweetwater Plek it and install a bone nut.
I replaced the bridge pickup with a TV Jones, just like Malcolm Young's beast, a $3000 guitar!
I removed the neck pickup and left the cavity open.
Upgraded the tuners to locking tuners and I use 11-48 strings!
I sanded the neck down to the wood and gun oiled it!
I am so happy how the tone matches with AC/DC tunes!
I have my version of the beast
I love this guitar!

I've had this guitar for a few months now and it's become my favorite. The great thing about "affordable" guitars like this is that I'm not afraid to tinker with it for fear of diminishing its value if I ever chose to sell it (which I won't). I've played around with pickups (TV Jones filtertrons, and GFS single coils) and now I have it set up with GFS dream 90s and I think it sounds perfect. Great clean tones and really nice overdriven tones.

The price/quality ratio for this guitar is amazing. I had mine plek'd and given a bone nut before it was sent to me. It plays effortlessly and rings out forever. It's a real pleasure to play. I'm certain that the Japanese made version for $2.5k is beautiful, but I find little to complain about with this guitar. I also have a Fender mustang and Fender american performer telecaster. Those are nice too, but I think the tele is going to hit EBay soon because I always reach for the Gretsch first and the mustang second.

I got this guitar hoping that it would have a different sound from my other guitars due to the filtertron pickups. Well it does sound different but not necessarily in the classic Gretsch way. The Broad'Tron pick ups Sound great…. Sparkling cleans and growling with some gain. The guitar itself is flawless, and resonates beautifully. Fretwork is beautiful, neck is easy to play (though I like a satin finish neck better), and with some string stretching it holds tune beautifully. A bit neck heavy but nothing terrible….. not nearly as bad as my SG. I got some HS filter'trons to put in this guitar, but I think I'm going to wait a while and enjoy the sound that the guitar makes now. I like it so much I may just have to buy another Gretsch to put those filter'trons in! A great guitar for the money, and a great guitar at any price.

This guitar punches way above it's weight class. If you want some jangle and punch while still having decent articulation then this is your huckleberry. It's comfortable, light, and easy to play. This is a unique guitar. It plays and sounds like nothing else that you probably have. I plan on making this my gigging workhorse.

This a whole lot of guitar for the money.
Played beautifully out of the box (thanks Sweetwater) and sounds killer.
The workmanship is ridiculous. My mate assumed it was a $3k guitar. It looks like one – that binding is mint.
If you're reading this and you're not sure, just do it. You won't regret it.

First, I need to give shout out to Jacob Stutzman for helping me out and giving me regular updates on the shipment of my gear. THANK YOU, good sir!

My Gretsch arrived well packed and secured in its boxes. Opening it up was a real treat. It looks exactly like it does in the add (I purchased the one with the Walnut Stain), which is gorgeous. It is surprisingly light for a solid body, noticeably lighter than my old Les Paul was. This is because it is chambered.

The binding is tight and flawless, merging almost seamlessly with the binding on the neck for the fingerboard. The frets feel really good, and they are rounded from the factory. I think I'll work on them a little more, but that's just personal taste. I do love the size of the frets (medium jumbos).

The fingerboard is nice, and sits right where it should with the neck sitting just proud of the body. I like the closeness to the pickup, which is still easily accessible and adjustable.

The bridge is standard fare, but very nice. I'm not sure yet (need to make exacting measurements to be sure) but I think you can run a Gibson Tune-O-Matic bridge on it. And if that's the case, I'll go with a Schaller roller to ease friction and help things stay in tune. But that's farther down the road. I want to enjoy this guitar just the way it is for a good while. Speaking of tuning...

I think one of the first and immediate upgrades will be to the tuning machines. The stock ones that ship with the guitar work well enough, but it takes a lot of twisting back-and-forth and fiddling to get the strings tuned right. This is particularly true with a poly tuner (I use a Peterson StroboClip HD, available here at Sweetwater). Other than that one small complaint, the factory tuners seem to hold tension on the strings well, with no tuning issues after a good hour's worth of hard play.

Also, this Gretsch is close enough in scale length to a Les Paul to cause me to unwind the G-string (third) and re-wind it with the coils on top of the cinch instead of the bottom. That helps keep things in tune with the G-string, which is sometimes a real problem. My new Gretsch Electromatic has a scale of 25.6 inches while a typical Gibson Les Paul/SG is 24.75 inches. It might be just shy of an inch longer, but old habits die hard, and there's no reason to not do it and then wish you had later on.

The action was set a little high for my taste. But still, my new Gretsch plays WONDERFULLY. I plan on breaking out my gauges and lowering the action/adjusting the bridge and truss (the latter as required) later tonight. But just so everyone reading this understands, it's definitely playable right out of the box after you tune it, and it sounds GOOD. If, on the other hand, you think you can yank it out of the box, tune it, and step on stage and go, then I have to say, "No, you can't". More, I don't know of anyone who has gigged for a while who would do that.

The one thing I thought odd were the strap buttons. For those who don't know, you unscrew them, put your strap on the guitar, then screw them back on. They do a great job, but I prefer a quick-release setup (I use Dunlops) on my straps.

And now the really good part. Those bad-*$s pickups! I have a custom 2x12 cab I built and stuffed with a WGS Reaper on one side and a Invader on the other. I ran this Gretsch first though a Peavy VK head, then an Orange Dark Terror. I left the pedals out of it.

Once the heads were dialed in, each time those Broad'Trons ROARED. I mean that. They sound GREAT. All of the tone and volume knobs work incredibly well, and were positioned out of the way so no accidental adjustments occurred. The pickup switch is just perfect, too.

MAN this Gretsch screams! Especially with a fuzz box and/or tube overdrive in the chain. After a clean run, I used my Friedman Fuzz Face and got some nasty, hairy, angry sounds out of it. Then I threw in my Friedman Motor City and EHX Attack Delay and once all three were dialed in the sounds were GLORIOUS. This Gretsch makes me want to sell what few Fenders I have and get another one of these. It sounds that good.

And the fingerboard? NICE. I prefer something a little harder like ebony, but I have to say that the laurel isn't bad at all. The action is smooth, even with the strings sitting a little to high for my tastes.

The only other complaint I have, and its really minor, is the synthetic bone nut. I need to think about what I want to do with that. But again, that's down the road a-ways.

So! Would I buy another? Oh yeah. Thinking about it already. What you get, for the amount you spend? WORTH IT!

I have wanted a Gretsch for a very long time and reading and watching reviews of the G5222 convinced me the time was now. The guitar is drop-dead gorgeous and plays like a dream, the neck is comfortable, and the fit and finish is impeccable. The whole buying experience was a real pleasure with Sweetwater and my sales engineer Mark Magdich.

The guitar is just stunning, the fit and finish are amazing with not a blemish to be found and it plays like a dream, the neck is very comfortable, the weight is just right, and I love the sounds the Blacktop Broad'Trons give. I have wanted a Gretsch for a long time and I cannot put this one down. It arrived very well packed ( Nobody mentioned the little bag of candy! I shared with the wife and avoided any flack about yet another guitar ) I cannot express how pleased I am with every aspect of the sales experience with Sweetwater! I began by sending an e-mail inquiry about the availability of another color and got a prompt reply from my sales engineer Mark Magdich, I thought things over and placed my order and then received a follow-up phone call from Mark and had a very pleasant conversation. I was kept informed of the status of my purchase including a very nice collection of images of my Guitar. I guess I have become used to indifferent customer service lately but Sweetwater is anything but indifferent, I felt as though I mattered as a customer and that my purchase was important. I highly recommend dealing with this company for all your music needs, you will not regret it.

When I unboxed this guitar I was absolutely stunned. It is beautiful and sounds twice as nice. I had heard that they use cheep pots in these models, Fake News. The pots are very sonically sensitive and stay where you put them. Not your traditional Gretsch sound (Unless you dial it in). It is well crafted and light weight. This is not a cheep guitar, in the sense of "Cheep", however it is quite affordable almost to the point of embarrassment after actually holding one and playing it as opposed to seeing a picture and a price tag. This guitar is wonderful to be modest about it. Thank you.

I have several guitars but have wanted a Gretsch for some time. I was looking for a new rhythm guitar and thought the time was right to finally make the purchase. It has turned out to be a great choice. The mid-range of the Broad-Trons are full and rich - solid and strong. Moving to the bridge pickup and adding some gain changes the characteristics to allow for some great lead tones. The guitar is, in my mind, perfect for classic rock (and a little blues) that our band plays.
Taking the advice of Jared Kalish, my sales engineer, I also had the instrument pleked, good choice (thanks Jared), it plays well beyond what the price point would indicate.

I've had mine for a month now and overall I think it's great. Overall quality is better than similarly priced Squiers that I've owned. My only "complaint" is with the pots and treble bleed circuit. The pots are not audio taper so there isn't much usable range in the dial. But that's easy to fix with new pots if you wish to. Also the treble bleed circuit doesn't seem to do anything. It's a simple capacitor and resistor wired in series. Maybe the values are off, but the treble rolls off as if there was no circuit at all. But again, it's nothing to get upset about at the price point and it's all easily fixed if I wish to.

This is my first humbucker-equipped guitar, and I'm still getting used to it. The neck pickup sounds muddy in the bass to me, but I think that goes with the territory with Humbuckers. The bridge sounds really great though.

The highlight for me is the neck. The shape and size is perfect for me and I find it really easy to play. The finish on my guitar is flawless. Stunning finish quality at the price. In short, I would not hesitate to buy one of these.

Yes, there most certainly IS a difference between a $ and a $ Gretsch. I needed a spare at gigs in case I broke a string and I chose the Double Jet because of its accessibility to the 17th fret and the larger fret wires. The pickup are actually pretty hot and sound ok for an inexpensive guitar. I had to lower them quite a bit to their sweet spot.
I could throw money at it and swap the pickups and wiring harness with TV Jones parts but for now the only thing I've done is replace the nut and get it set up to my liking. I may replace the bridge at some point too, but it spends most of its time in the case.
It's definitely not a horrible guitar by any means and I take into account that it's a $ axe that could use some upgrades if I were to use it every weekend. Worth the cash? …Yeah, I'd say so.