Let's take this apart. We'll start at the end.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
If you want to spend $500 to $1000 for Parts and Labor, and make the above repairs, this guitar is PHENOMENAL !!! If you don't want to spend the cash, look for an old Chet Atkins Model... Like Setzer does.
Setzer bought his "old Chet Atkins model" when it was under 200.00, and Gretsch was essentially out of business. Since the early 90s, he's been gigging with modern Gretsch Setzer models.
His guitars are all über-professionally set up by TV Jones; Tom flies from Washington to Minnesota to do the job, and I suspect that costs more than $500.00 - $1,000.00.
Don't want to spend "the cash"? Go ahead and look for "old Chet Atkins models" now, and see how they compare in cost to current Setzer models. You'll drop a LOT more cash on an old one. And then, since vintage Gretschs are notoriously uneven and inconsistent in playability, expect to spend for a setup anyway.
AND vintage Gretschs have 12" - 16" neck radii, not the 9.5" used on Setzer models.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
The Body is built exceptionally well inside, and the paint job is awesome! How Does it Sound? The Pickups will instantly transport you to the 1950's and give you a Classic Vintage Sound. How Does Play? With the factory setup an experienced player will feel that something is not quite right, and the inexperienced player will eventually come to the same conclusion.
Guy confirms that the inherent quality, construction, and sound are right there; I thought the sound of a guitar was really the bottom line. Many players will put up with ANYthing to get a sound they can't find anywhere else. Even if I agreed with all the guy's criticisms, and Gretschs were miserable junk, they're still the only one way to really get that Gretsch sound.
Do some guitars come with substandard "factory setups?" Doubtless. Bad stuff sneaks through EVERY company's QC filters. But most Gretschs by far ship with competent setups. I've unboxed and played many new Gretschs, and only a few have really needed much attention beyond adjusting the bridge to taste and lubing or dressing the nut slots.
But when we unbox a Gretsch, or – worse yet – pick one off the wall in a store, are we really dealing with "the factory setup"? We know what happens to wooden things over time, and as they change climates. Any Gretsch has travelled afar and done hard time in boats and warehouses before it reaches a dealer.
FMIC's policy is to inspect every pro-line Gretsch before it leaves the warehouse, and address any issues found. Anyone who works in any business knows that policies are not always followed, and sometimes a lick and a promise are substituted for a thorough job. Still, again – in my experience – few clunkers slip through.
THEN the guitars spend time in dealer inventories. In the case of Gretschs, which are rarely stocked in quantity, most of this time is spent on the wall, subject to use by anyone and everyone – in all climates, under the direction of store "guitar techs" who vary wildly in ability and in intentions. Bridges slip, strings deteriorate, wood dries or gets too damp: ANYthing can happen to an individual guitar.
For Anonymous Guitar Tech to judge Gretsch in general, or even Setzer models, on his observation of one guitar of unspecifed provenance, is ludicrous.
In any case, any builder has no idea what gauge strings or what action an eventual purchaser will prefer. Unless the buyer is working directly with his luthier, or a custom shop, setup details must be the domain of the dealer, the purchaser, or his tech. This typically applies reGARDless the price of the guitar. (Presumably this work is Anonymous Guitar Tech's bread-and-butter, and he ought to appreciate it.)
To provide middle-of-the-road specs, Gretschs come with "medium action," and low-tension .011 strings (except the Setzers, which come with .010s).
Anonymous "guitar tech" obviously KNOWS all this:
The neck with the factory setup has Way to much relief. Guitar factories ship guitars out with plenty of relief so they can hang in music stores for a Year and not have any buzz when someone plays them. I Measured .035 of relief at the 5-6th fret.
He tells us what guitar factories do, and why, emphasizes that guitars can hang in stores for "a Year", then takes the Setzer to task for having too much relief. What's up with that?
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
A Properly setup neck should have .002 to .000 of relief, because this is how much you will have to file off the frets to get them perfectly flat.
What? WHAT? That's not why necks have relief. What does that even MEAN?
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
When you adjust the truss rod to remove the relief, more than likely you will need some fret work.
How does he know? Did he adjust the truss rod? How can he evaluate the fret job – or neck – till he does so? (I note he never mentions the action.) He's speculating for histrionic effect.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
The Nut should be re-cut or replaced depending on the other factors mentioned above.
A nut can need attention if other elements of a setup are changed, and is part of a general setup, but again he's speculating that THIS guitar will need it. Many manufacturers don't cut nut slots deeply enough, figuring that if they take material out, it's harder for a tech to tweak than if they leave slots a little high. But I have never had to slot a Gretsch nut deeper, and my guitar tech commented that the 6118-125 I got in April has one of the best-cut factory nuts he's ever seen.
I did have him widen the slots a little, because I was going up a gauge in strings. Again, it's better for a builder to leave too much material rather than too little.
Anonymous "guitar tech" has to say that this Factory Set-up is among the Poorest I've Ever Seen.
I didn't see the guitar he's whining about, and it may have been out of whack. None of the Gretschs I've ever unpacked have had substandard setups. And – again – how did he conclude he was looking at "factory setup," and not the result of oblivious neglect in the supply chain?
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
The Maple on this G6120SSLVO is probably AA Grade nothing fancy, like the Vintage 6120's are.
Wow! Actually I've seen relatively few vintage 6120s with fancy flame or figure. Flame addiction is an affliction of the vintage-collecting era, and was not rampant when the guitars were built.
Some guys (and especially Gretschies) actively DISlike extreme figure. Others like it. Modern Gretschs run the potluck gamut from tame to pretty flame, so a guy who looks around can find a tree to suit him.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
The Bigsby ... sounds like the "Wreck of the old 97'" coming down the track, with all it squeaking. Here's a simple fix. Lubricate all the moving parts with Vaseline and replace the Factory Washers with teflon washers about .030 thick.
Yep, that's a simple fix alright. Standard operating procedure to address a squeaky Bigsby, and something any competent dealer would do as part of a pre-sale setup. It could apply to ANY guitar. But for what it's worth, I've never come across a squeaky Bigsby on a new Gretsch, though I've wanted to adjust the arm height or feel on a few.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
The First thing that I saw when I opened the case, was that the strings were not correctly aligned over the Pickup Pole Pieces. After going to TV Jones' website and getting the spec's for their Classic Pickups both the Neck and the Bridge Pickup Pole pieces, did not match the Spec's from TV Jones. (The Pole Pieces were measured with Calipers accurate to 1000th of an inch) What does this mean? Either these are not TV Jones pickups or they are poorly made, and it will be difficult to make the strings align over the pole pieces. The Best Fix would be to Buy New Pickups from TV Jones Directly and install them. You do not need to replace the wiring harness it actually has Switch-Craft Parts and decent wire. If you don't want to replace the pickups you will have to remount them for the best alignment possible and re-cut the bridge saddles for the best possible spacing.
Well, I'm glad at least we get decent wire and Switchcraft!
Feller doesn't say in what way the strings are misaligned – whether they're off-center to the pickups, or whether the pole spacing is wrong.
Bigsby tailpieces are notoriously inconsistent in fit, and a slightly off-center Bigsby can run the strings at a bias across the strings. An easy fix for such a Bigsby is a shim under one corner of the mounting bracket.
He's not clear about what he measured with his über-precise calipers, the distance between the polepieces or the distance between the strings and the polepieces.
If this guitar's pickups' polepieces didn't match the specs on TV's site, then, ergo, it didn't have TV Jones pickups. For a Setzer model to ship with the wrong pickups seems unlikely, but we know anything can happen. If it did, it's a matter for the dealer to take up with Gretsch.
TV spaces the BRIDGE pup poles slightly wider to better match the string spacing at the bridge, while Hi-Sensitive Filtertrons have the same spacing at both neck and bridge: a comparison of pole-piece distances between neck and bridge could have confirmed that indeed the guitar had TVs. (There are also TV stickers on the bottoms of the pickups.)
In any case, inspect ANY run of guitars from any builder you like, and tell me how perfectly the strings track over the polepieces on both pickups. Report back.
His "solutions" of buying new TVJs (hoping they'll align better?), or RE-MOUNTING the pickups and re-cutting the bridge saddles are simply inane. Why would anyone "fix" a new guitar in these ways? If the pickups are misplaced from side-to-side, the guitar is defective and ought to go back to Gretsch.
Guy makes me tired.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
For your information Setzer replaces his entire bridge with a Gibson ABR-1 Bridge.
I believe, for his information, that TV Jones cuts the saddles in whatever bridges Setzer uses. And I think they generally have drilled aluminum saddles. Gibson ABRs most emphatically do NOT come with the saddles cut to a 9.5" radius.
Anonymous "guitar tech" said:
the Fretboard is a 9.5º radius and the Bridge is a 12º radius which means, if you set the strings up for normal playing, some strings will be higher off the fretboard than the the others. The fix for this is to replace the Bridge Saddles a have the saddles cut to a 9.5º radius.
He's got this right (other than referring to radius in degrees!). Gretsch seems to use a 12" radius on all their bridges, and that does represent a mismatch with 9.5" fingerboard radii. There are some reports that the 12" on Rocking Bar and Space Control bridges may be a vague spec, and actual units may vary from that.
On the other hand, the radius of the TOP of a bridge, or the arc described by the TOPS of the saddles, is irrelevant. What matters is the arc described by the BOTTOMS of the string grooves, since that's where the strings rest. I don't know that the notches in Setzer model bridge saddles are NOT cut at different depths for different strings, to create the proper arc across the strings.
But many players do report issues with a mismatched radii between fingerboard and bridge on some models.
One fix is, as Anon suggests, to cut the saddle slots so that the bottoms of the notches make the desired radius. The saddles do NOT have to be replaced, as you (or a tech) will be cutting some deeper. Attending to bridge slots is part of a good setup anyway.
Another solution is to replace the Adjusta-Matic bridge with a bar bridge which has been bent to the proper radius, and had its string slots cut precisely to maintain that radius. Those are now available, and in a variety of metals to fine-tune tone and attack.
I can't judge Anon's skill as a guitar tech from his rambling screed; plenty of technically gifted people aren't verbally articulate. But he speaks about the problems of the guitar he observed with such imprecision that I'm not inclined to give much weight to his complaints, and his work would have to speak highly of his ability before I'd leave a guitar with him.
It sounds like he came across a guitar needing a setup (for what reasons we have no way of knowing) on a particularly whiny day, and took it out in an online rant.
I suspect if he sampled a wider range of Gretschs, his opinion would be much different.
Everyone squeezes out a lemon every now and then, but I wouldn't fear buying a Gretsch on this guy's account.
