Gretsch G9220 Bobtail Round-neck Mahogany Body Resonator - 2-color Sunburst, Padauk Fingerboard Reviews

Absolutely beautiful musical instrument. I love everything about it. Excellent sound quality. Pretty much a newbie when it comes to 6-string guitars. As a 77 year old basement wannabe musician. This guitar has been on my musical bucket list. So far it has exceeded my expectations. I want to thank Eric Bothwell my Sweetwater sound engineer in helping me out with my questions and decision making. Also for his follow-up on my purchase. Despite my initial concerns with shipping, my order was delivered in a timely manner and extremely well double boxed to prevent any shipping damage. I am very happy that I purchased from Sweetwater for all the aforementioned reasons. Highly recommend.

I really love this guitar, it's easy to play and sounds great. All I had to do was tune it and start playing. This is my resonator guitar however I have been playing guitars for over 60 years. I recommend this guitar to anyone wanting a good resonator guitar without spending a lot more money.

I'm currently in Australia and I have not found a Gretsch resonator that sounds this good.

The tone is amazing! Enjoying playing this guitar and getting the feel of it. Glad I made this purchase!

I have wanted to learn slide guitar for some time. I have also been fascinated with the resonators. This is a beautiful resonator and has good tone both with or without the use of an amp. I usually play with it on an acoustic amp and learning slide is a challenge. Those who are adapt make it look easy. It is a new challenge for me that I was ready for. I can play just as a guitar but keep it drop tuned for slide lessons that I am taking.

I have been playing guitar for 5 or 6 years since retiring. Lately I have been watching and became a fan of those who play resonators. My fascination lead me to purchase this from my favorite online music store. Sight unseen but based on reviews. And they were right! It is so beautiful and the sound is great without an amp. I ordered the round neck for ease of transferring from guitar since I have never played slide. That learning process starts today and what a great way to spend Sunday afternoon! Thanks to Mike Brandt for his advice once again. This is a great addition to my stringed collection that I hope to enjoy for years to come then pass on to family as an heirloom. I also ordered the Gator case that is suggested for this instrument and it is very nice!

While watching a 50-year Grand Ole Opry tribute to a female country singer on DVD, a band who recently changed their name to be more PC came on and a member played a slide guitar. Like 'Marvin Berry' said in the movie 'Back to the Future', "that's the sound you're looking for!" I simply had to have a resonator guitar in my collection. I spent much research time trying to decide 'spider vs cone', 'round vs square neck' and compared all the competing brands in this price range.

I listened to sound samples on a variety of internet platforms with both high quality speakers and headphones. Yes, sound and tone are subjective, but my ears kept telling me that the Gretsch G9220 is a superior instrument. I then found multiple reviews from professional teachers and musicians that agreed with my 'ear-nalysis'. This thing sounds way above its price class.

My sales engineer Rob Kramer (X1653) fixed me up with the Gretsch G9220 and Gator Resonator tweed Guitar case. After waiting 24 hours to tear into the box, I was rewarded by an amazingly built instrument (and candy). Pictures don't do it justice. After replacing the strings with a fresh set of EJ-16s and adding a few drops of F1 oil to a rather thirsty fretboard, it was good to go. After a few weeks of playing, it really came into its own and, man is it LOUD! I since discovered drop-D tuning and a glass slide and never looked back.

With the hot and humid weather we have been having in northern VA, it doesn't take much convincing to make me believe it's 1925 and I'm sitting on a New Orleans porch playing the blues. Yeah, it holds its tune under some pretty adverse conditions, too.

For the price you can't beat guitar...the spider cone has a beautiful resonance to it.... it is very light and has a nice warm tone to it...... I don't know if any of you guys are old enough to know the cartoon El-Kabong.... but that's who my wife mimics as she chases me around the house, with that bobtail in her hand trying to kink me over the head with it!

I own one and love it. I am not a big fan of the steel bodied resonator sound. I prefer a richer tone of a wood body-- this delivers that rich tone!! It is a beautifully crafted guitar. It competes easily with far more expensive resonators. I also own Martins.

Unbelievable sound, projection is great, has that lovely silky dobro sound. Most importantly is there is no buzz in the resonator. The resonator itself is top shelf, the F holes IMHO produce a better tone than the screened holes. Switching from slide to finger is a breeze, as she can handle a heavy glass slide with lower action and intonation is better than expected. That tone alone will melt your heart, I like square neck but i wanted versatility and a channel to practice for electric slide. This is perfect as the sustain seems endless, and even fingerpicking with trimmed nails and a lighter glass slide will still give you that pop-punch silky dobro sound with higher volume than you'd expect....I mean wow Shes loud! Oh it looks good too, not as important but certainly makes it easier to love. Grover tuners too, so rest easy it stays in tune

This is an excellent guitar. I received great advice from each Sweetwater staff member.

My first resonator guitar, And I'm pretty sure I got it right the first time. Very easy to play, stays in tune, got a great sound and it's got them old fashion great looks. Very happy with this purchase.

Great guitar , if your looking not to break the bank , this is your guitar . It plays really well , and the sound is right there , delta blues , blue grass sounds "spot on" , combing certain notes almost sound banjo-ish , I would have given it 5 stars , but I never played any others to compare it to . Everything I play it , I am starting to combine slide and fingering notes , I would definitely recommend this guitar to anyone , and dealing with Sweetwater Music , there's never an issue !

I bought this model specifically for the Fishman pickup system, and it has been surprisingly outstanding. A nice feature is the spider bridge, which I feel provides a bit more sustain and 'twangy' tone, and I feed it into a tuner, a BodyRez and DI and it puts out a great sound plugged in… and a very good sound just acoustically as well. It is certainly worth the purchase price. It is just 12 frets to the body, so trying to get the slide up above that is a bit challenging, and I should have read the spec sheet more carefully, which is more on me than the product, which is why I gave it 4 stars rather than 5. The V shape of the neck is also quite pronounced, and I thought initially that that shape would give me problems at the end of a three hour gig, but it is really not an issue for me. Finally, the headstock has gotten a lot of positive attention from my colleagues and audience members, and while I know that it is probably just plastic, from a distance and in the right light, it resembles pearl, and the name Gretsch does have brand recognition, so I like that aspect of it.

This is a lot of fun with a ton of sounds and volume to spare.

The guitar came poorly setup; nut was cut way too deep on strings 1 & 2, too much relief in neck and the cone-tension screw was loose…… but, most of all, the strings were absolute junk. The product spec indicates that the guitar came with D'addario strings. Maybe, but I've personally never seen D'addario strings color coded the way these were. Out of the box the guitar had disappointingly low volume, the action was too high and the strings choked out pasted the 7th fret. Once the nut was repaired, other adjustments made and the strings changed to D'addario EJ24's, the guitar woke up. Volume went up significantly, strings no longer sound choked at the higher frets and it generally sounds good and plays well. So, the take home lesson is don't be too disappointed until the guitar is properly setup and has a new set of strings. In the end, good value for the money.