Gretsch G9230 Bobtail Square-neck Mahogany Body Resonator - 2-color Sunburst, Padauk Fingerboard Reviews

For a straightforward squareneck, it doesn't get any better than this in the under $1k range. Stellar tone. Crisp with beautiful projection. The pickup is clean sounding and does well plugged in, though there's some loss of twang in the translation, but that's to be expected. Overall very, very happy with this piece of kit.

This is one great sounding guitar! It has real guts and power when pushed hard with big full tone that doesn't choke up and also retains it's tonal depth when played softly! Fit and finish are perfection. For this price I really think you'd have to jump to $2,000 to get another step up, me personally I won't bother checking out any others this one is it. And thanks to my SW sales engineer Aaron for sending me one that sounds even better than one I played locally. Sweetwater does it again!

Looks great, plays great and sounds amazing. I am very impressed with the quality of this instrument especially for the price.

Very pleased with the 9230 Dobro. Has very good sound, very good product. Well built received in perfect condition. Quick delivery. Sweetwater people very helpful and nice to work.

Awesome dobro! And Awesome service. Sweetwater is the only place I buy gear any more.

This is a very nice guitar. Beautiful construction, and sound. Bright warm tone from the wood with just the right amount of chime from the resonator. It puts out plenty of volume without plugging it in, however I must say the Fishman pickup works very well using my Fender Champion 100 amp. Add a little reverb, or some dirt for playing some gritty Blues. This guitar performs. The cord jack is concealed in the strap stud which is a nice touch. I see no need for an acoustic amp for this guitar. I read every review I could find, and watched every Youtube video before I decided on this model. If you do the same, the choice is easy. All in all, a great guitar that won't break the bank.

Being primarily a fingerstyle guitarist, I decided to add a squareneck to my arsenal after suffering a finger injury that will prevent me from playing conventional acoustic for a couple of months. I couldn't be more please with my choice of the Gretsch Bobtail 9230. Fit and finish are excellent, and the spider and cone give good tone and projection, with the mahogany adding some warmth that's lacking in the metal body versions. Setup was perfect out of the box. Contrary to some reviews I had read prior to my purchase, the included Fishman Nashville pickup gives great, natural tone when played through my Fishman Loudbox, without needing to use an Aura pedal. An outstanding instrument for the price!

I wanted to get a step-up square-neck resonator guitar and know several people who swear by Sweetwater. So, I put the Gretsch on my birthday list and suggested that my wife buy it here. She tells me that the customer service was top-notch and the guitar came perfectly set up and carefully packed. As for the instrument, several of my folk/Americana music colleagues really like the tone and projection.

Your sales department was great. Very friendly will definitely purchase again.

Overall this is a good instrument for the price. But a warning: It's loud and fine playing live. But when recording with a mic or the fishman pickup you will need to remove the fingerpicks otherwise the attacks when you strike the strings with your metal and even plastic fingerpicks will distort and overdrive either your mic or the digital recorder. You might not have this problem if you record to analogue tape recorders. It even blows through the compressor's "Fast attack" setting. I had my compressor set to nearly instant and it still distorted. And it's not a warm fuzzy distortion like Jimi Hendrix. It's a harsh scratchy digital distortion. Some pedal steel guitars do this too. You will only get a nice tone and acceptable recording if you play with your fingers with no fingerpicks. Then it's good.

Let me preface by saying that I've played guitar and bass for years and began playing lap steels about two years ago. Before ordering my Gretsch I had never played a square neck resonator. So, I'm definitely in the learning phase on this instrument. With that said listed are the reasons I couldn't give it five stars:
1 - Inconsistent but annoying string buzz. It only happens occasionally. I have isolated the problem…the tailpiece contacting the cone cover. Usually if I wiggle the tailpiece it will go away. In researching I found that it is common to place a small piece of leather or felt between these two surfaces to eliminate this issue. So, not a major problem it seems.
2 - I have tried the Fishman pickup on a couple of different amps and recorded with it into my DAW. So far I haven't been happy with the sound. It feels like it looses its dobro twang. When I recorded with my SM57 it sounded great. I'll keep experimenting with the pickup. Also may look into the Jerry Douglas pedal.
3 - I did notice a clinking noise when turning the guitar over and can see a single small piece of loose furling(?) through the f-hole. As solidly as the instrument is built I'm not too worried about this, but still…
So, getting the negative out of the way, I am still overall impressed with this guy and look forward to many years of getting to play it. I'm sure over time I'll get better and it will reach its potential.