Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Jet FT - Black Reviews

I recently purchased this guitar with the Plek pro setup. WOW. It plays nicely with NO buzz! The strings go right back to perfectly tuned after using the Bigsby. There were no scratchs, blemishes, or markings on the finish at all. Everything looked perfect right out of the box. Has great tone. Love the neck. The guitar was $ plus $ Plek, so say $ and plays like a MUCH more expensive instrument. I could not be happier with this purchase. Highly recommend. WARNING: For some reason my giant cat loves this guitar. He doesn't scratch or claw it, he just sits and lays next to it all the time, when it is on a stand. Hopefully he doesn't get to attached to it!

I have a Gretsch 12 string and recently picked up a G5210. Love both of them so much I got the G5230T Black. I play a lot of early Beatles and liked this one because it looks like George Harrison's "ol black Gretsch". Arrived in perfect condition and played great right out of the box. After playing a while I was worried about it staying tune when using the tremolo, so I upgraded to a roller bridge, softer tremolo spring, and a little tail piece that lets you mount the strings straight instead of using the wrap around. My luthier said it made a marginal improvement, which it did at that time. However, after the strings stretched out and after being played for more hours, it settled in and stays in tune, even if I dive the tremolo a bit. Light tremolo has no adverse affect on tuning. After not playing for days, it's still in tune when I take it out of the case. I may not have need the upgrades, but having them done for about $ was no set back. Gretsch has really done a great job. I usually prefer Gibson guitars, but these new Gretsch's give the more expensive Gibson's a run for the money for sure. I'd recommend them to anyone, beginner or pro.

I found this guitar very comfortable to play. I'm able to dial in many great Gretsch sounds. Tuned right up and stayed tuned. I'm so glad I added this guitar to my collection.

This is a whole lot of guitar for the money! Plays great and the pickups sound fantastic. Love the bigsby, stays in tune, and she is quite the looker as well. Glad to have added this one to my collection.

Love this guitar! Plays like a dream, sounds just like I expected after a little bit of adjustment, and looks great! The fit and finish is flawless. Using it with a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp and I love the sounds I get. It takes a little getting used to the treble bleed on the master volume control and getting everything balanced for the sound you want, but once you do, it's fantastic!

I did have to let the truss rod out about 1/2 turn on my guitar after receiving it as the strings had a little fret buzz open and on the 1st fret or two, but after that settled in, all is well. And the action is still superb. I'm surprised they didn't catch that in the 55 point inspection.

I also purchased the recommended case with the guitar and it's a tight fit, especially with the Bigsby on there. Everytime I get the guitar out of the case, the strings have gone a little sharp, so I have to retune.

All in all, I think this is a fantastic guitar for this price, and I would highly recommend it.

I just bought one of these almost just to have more guitars around me. I thought I was happy to die playing my Fender Mustang...but. This guitar is ridiculous. The finish and craftsmanship are second to nothing imo. I can honestly say that it's a better guitar than the gold top american les paul that my buddy paid $5,000 for...or any other Gibson LP I've owned, which has been plenty. It's another universe away from the Mustang (best fender I've ever owned), although it's tamed to my liking after all these years and I will continue to play it. The playability and sound of the Gretsch is amazing. The bigsby is very nice. The master volume and tone knobs are great. It's fast and slippery with slightly less than the most articulate pick-ups. They sound great but full chords on heavy fuzz may work slightly better through different, metal guitar type (EMG) pick-ups if you're looking to hear every individual not in a sea of noise, which I am not, personally, looking for. The sustain is great. Goes on forever it seems even through a little one watt amp. Hooked up to the half stack and it's game over. I paid $449

It's a great guitar, very playable, sounds great. No complaints.

I received this guitar recently from Sweetwater with "star sales engineer" Nate Kauffman's assistance. I believe he was as enthusiastic about this guitar as I was. He got me a great price and got the guitar shipped out to me quickly. Upon opening the shipping box, I immediately looked over the guitar from nose to tail. There were no flaws at all. I checked the action next, and found that there was nothing I was going to have to adjust. I may go down a step in string gauge to "9"s, but so far the "10"s the guitar came with feel ok.
After plugging the guitar in, I was able to quickly get my usual Gretsch tone that I have come to rely on heavily through the years.
This guitar is one of many that I have owned over the years and I rate it at the top. Gretsch has been constantly improving the Electromatic line over the years and it shows! I'm really very happy with this purchase. Thank you Sweetwater and Nate for the best musical equipment buying experience possible.

I had never encountered a black walnut fingerboard before. That's after 60+ years of playing.
I've known for a while now that it was going to cost me some big bucks to get an ebony boarded Gretsch with those little thumbnail markings. But that's what I thought I was playing when I first sat down with this guitar. The fingerboard looks like ebony, feels like ebony, and delivers the bright ebony tone that has always drawn me to Gretsch.
So, when I read the hang tag and found out what the fingerboard really was, it was quite a shock. But, a happy shock fortunately.
Up until this point, I've been avoiding the Chinese Gretches, but I'm glad I picked this one up. It turned out that the rest of the guitar was as much a surprise as the fingerboard. Fit, finish, playability, and finally the sound, sold the guitar.
Now I have to decide how honest I'm going to be when somebody asks if that's an ebony board ???

First, let me explain my star system. The 5th star is rarely given to an Asian/China made guitar. Among the foreign made guitars this guitar is excellent. Very playable neck and decent pickups. Out of the box, mine came with higher action than I prefer, so it took a bit of shop work to get it where I like it. Despite its chambered body, it hangs good, ...ie well balanced. The fit and finish is excellent. As good as anything I've ever seen or owned. Overall, if you want a full 5 star Gretsch guitar, you'll need to fork over an extra $... But for my money, this guitar meets all my needs. Buy this guitar, and spend the extra savings on a great tube amp. With a Fender Twin, about as good a combo as it gets.

I bought this guitar about 2 years ago and I really love the looks, feel, sound and playability. The tune o matic bridge had a little slop in it and rocked back and forth when I would use the Bigsby and also didn't stay in tune very well when using the Bigsby. I installed a TonePros TP6R Tune-o-matic Locking Bridge with Roller Saddles and some Graphtec locking tuners. Man did that ever make a difference. The bridge locks to the posts with a set screw and that made a much more solid link to the body which increased the sustain by huge amount. The roller saddles and locking tuners keep it in tune like a champ. The Filtertron pickups sound great clear and articulate and the bottom end doesn't get muddy. They are in between a single coil and a PAF style humbucker without any hum whatsoever. This is a really good guitar for the price but if you invest a couple hundred dollars more, this becomes a truly great guitar. The pots, caps and also treble bleed work well in this guitar and there is no need to upgrade the electronics. It's one of my go to guitars and I've got guitars that cost 5X more than this one.

It came to me set up perfectly! Sounded even better when I plugged in. Just wish the lefty models had a Bigsby. Highly reccomend this!

Not a bad guitar for the price. I priced the Bigsby tremloe and it would cost half the price of this guitar. Well worth the price.