Gretsch G6228 Player's Edition Duo Jet Electric Guitar - Cadillac Green Metallic Reviews

My first journey into the MIJ Gretsch. Bought a demo model and it's been a wonderful instrument for me. Slightly larger body than an LP, semi-hollow/chambered body gives it a warm woody tone, the neck is a medium full shape, fret edges smooth, could go on and on! Have never played anything that sounds like this, love the pickups and versatility.

Ben Elder helped me with this one, many thanks to him....love to be able to text these guys for information. Highly recommend these!

Craftsmanship is excellent. Intonation and tuning stability excellent. Pickups are hotter than typical Gretsch pups, but pleasantly so. Gretsch wiring, but may not be intuitive to a Gibson, Fender player. Master volume has treble bleed circuit, but the individual pup volume pots do not. Only one master tone control. Typical 3-way pup selector. One of the few hardtail Gretsch models available.
Quite happy with this guitar.

Once again, Gretsch has come through with another winner.I now own three Gretsch guitars, this one, a G6659T in Ivory and a G6131T-62. All of them are wonderful instruments that exhibit true craftsmanship on par, or exceeding, the offerings by Fender or Gibson. Plus you get that unique Gretsch sound.
I'd like to thank Nick Kochanek for all his help and professionalism with this purchase and all the others I've made from Sweetwater. If you're looking for a pleasurable buying experience, forget the big box guy and check out Nick & Sweetwater!

Premium construction, fit and finish. The PUP's top it off very nicely. Turns out the "Gretsch" logo is a throw-back to 1954, the year the duojet was introduced. Get touch. Love it.

This guitar is great. It"s powerful with a bunch of tonal options. For years I"ve been playing a single-coil American Strat which is great in its own right, but I began looking something with higher output while retaining the clarity that I"m used to. That led me to Gretsch.

The G6228, though solid body, has some acoustic aspects to it. Unplugged, it sounds bigger/better than my Strat. I was debating between a Bigsby versus no vibrato. I never liked having a floating bridge on my Strat because of tuning stability, so I chose the non-Bigsby version which comes with Broadtron pickups. The Bigsby version has the Filterons which are slightly lower output with higher definition. After I made my purchase I began to second-guess myself thinking I had sacrificed too much clarity/definition, but I"ve been playing the guitar for about a month now and can say that concern was unfounded.

The medium-jumbo frets are thinner than my Strat. It is it easier to make longer reaches with my fingers. The neck feels about the same, but overall the guitar is more comfortable to play. I cannot explain why, but I can play bar chords for long periods of time with much less discomfort. I have oversized hands if that matters. I recently changed the strings and applied F-One Oil to the fretboard. The playability went from really good to awesome. I can"t emphasize enough how much of a difference that made.

I play my Gretsch every day while my Stratocaster sits there.

Everything about this guitar is great, plays and sounds great, amazing build quality, all with a cool retro vibe. This guitar is a work of art!

I've been playing for about 35 years, in and out of mostly grunge rock and americana bands. I've bought/sold more guitars than I can remember, but have never owned a Gretsch. I've actually sold Gretsch guitars for several years at a major retailer. I've always been intrigued by them, but wasn't a fan of the Bigsby, or floating bridge. That being said, I've been a LP player for the last 25 or so years. I've owned multiple Standards, Classics, Customs, Specials, etc. I still own a R9 and a '57 RI Jr which aren't going anywhere.. Does this guitar replace the LP sound? No.. But.. It does give me a new tone that sounds AWESOME! I wouldn't say "better", just different. I used to own a CS-336 and the tone kinda reminds me of that guitar, but clearer. No "mud" here.. Beautiful harmonics are everywhere and it has a slight "give" when you hit a note/chord. It actually has a sort of "growl" to it I've never heard in a guitar when using overdrive. This probably isn't the best guitar for metal since it's chambered and the notes are not as "snappy" as a solidbody, but it does a KILLER overdriven rock tone. I was playing over some early STP last night and it sounded EXACTLY like that guitar tone, even though I believe that tone was from a 70's LP. Playing clean lends itself to that classic Gretsch sound. Notes are sweet, well-rounded, and clear. I bought this guitar sight unseen as literally no one has it in stock in my city. I was a bit concerned seeing multiple used ones online prior to buying considering it's a brand new model. I can only imagine the previous buyers didn't attempt to set up the guitar correctly. When I first pulled it out of the case the pickups were too close to the strings, making the guitar sound a little harsh and muddy. Bringing the pickups down a bit really opened it up. I've also realized bringing the (no load) tone control and the master volume back to about "8" is just about right, which is great because if you need a little more of either, it's there. She's a keeper!!!

I'm not a fan of 5-star reviews, but this is a pretty remarkable guitar. Gretsch has done a good job of retaining their DNA while making a guitar that is suited for different genres than they're known for.

The build quality is typical Gretsch MIJ Pro line, which is to say top-notch. I am fortunate to also own a Tom Anderson, and while the TA had a more broken-in feel out of the box, particularly with fretboard edges and fret ends that were very rounded, the 6228 is in the same league. The neck is a pretty unremarkable medium "D" shape that I quickly found comfortable. Weight is on the light side, and it balances very well.

Setup was fine, and the neck and frets allow you get a slinky-low action if you like. Even set up low, bends are easy with no fretting out, as the frets are fairly tall. The guitar seem to invite you to play aggressively, and unplugged it's very lively. Tapping on the top, it sounds so chambered as to be darned near hollow, which probably is a key to this liveliness.

Plugged, in the sound is special. I've played a long time, made a few records and played hundreds of gigs, and over the years made buying, repairing, setting up and selling guitars a hobby. The 6228 was still an ear-opener to this jaded old rocker. There's definitely the Gretsch upper-mids and growl, but a LOT more bottom end and sheer output than my old 6220 Chet or the couple Electromatics I've picked up.

I don't think this would be my choice for more traditional country or rockabilly, but it still has the sensitivity to picking that Filtertrons have. I think it would be good for jazz, modern country, indie and classic rock and honestly even metal. You can get into Tele territory and get the twang, but a lot more. I've dropped it to D run through a lot of gain and pulled off a decent Rammstein tone. The clarity and brightness of the guitar keep it from getting too muddy with high gain, but it won't feed back like a big hollowbody, and has much more punch in the low frequencies than any Gretsch I tried.

Not big on writing reviews, but this guitar is top shelf and demands to be praised. After owning SO many Gibson Les Pauls (Standards, Customs, Historics) and Fender Telecasters (Standards, American Deluxes, Custom Shops) over the years, this 6228 is my perfect guitar. All of the grunt of a Gibson, yet with that top end brilliance that I love from a Tele - this guitar has it all. Superbly playable neck. Awesome Cadillac Green color and beautiful chrome hardware make this guitar a looker for sure. This is my first Gretsch after 26 years of playing guitar - I won't wait another 26 to acquire my next!

OK, I'm still loving this guitar but found myself wanting it to be a touch darker in tonality. I know that's what Gretsch's are known for right, their brightness. By simply removing the factory .022mf cap and soldering in an orange drop .047mf cap, ($3.00) she's now perfect. The tone is now super smooth with the ability to roll off the highs for those ZZ Top Classics. My Gretsch does it all now and again it truly is equal to or potentially better than a Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul, IMO!

After years of owning various Les Paul standards / Customs I became tired of their weight and tuning issues. I took a chance on the Duo Jet and all I can say is this thing stomps the crap out of a Les Paul, period! The Duo Jet has a semi hollow body so the notes bloom and have a girth that you won't find in a regular solid body guitar. These guitars average between 7 to 8 pounds and they are balanced perfectly for any style of playing, standing or sitting. The pickups sound great and are very similar to the TV Jones power'tron pickups. The fit and finish of my Jet is absolutely 100% perfect with beautiful woods exposed on the back and neck. The neck plays, at least for me, better than the best LP I've owned and or any other guitar for that matter, IMO. I was hung up on Gibson's for a long, long time and the love affair is now over. Gretsch makes a superior product at a better price point to Gibson. I wasted so many years on Gibson's when I could have had one of these for less money. Do yourself a huge favor and give these a try, I truly believe it'll be time well spent. Further I would also suggest you spend time playing with the tone/volume knobs because the pallet of sounds is absolutely in-creditable once you know how to get it.