Why does it look like one of the Chinese White Falcon knockoffs?

I am a new Gretsch 5120 owner. I have owned several Epi's, hollow body, semi hollow body and Les Paul. Most of them I have been very happy with, but ended up selling or trading all of them. When the Swingster first came out, I wanted it real bad because it looked like a Gretsch, and had coil tap. When I got the money in hand, I said the same thing many of you have said.... why not just buy a Gretsch? Love my new 5120. No regrets. I still like Epi's and may one day have another. You can bet that I won't be selling or trading my Gretsch to get one though.

Good for you BBeard. Sometimes, only a Gretsch will do. I like some of the Epi's too. I had a MIK Casino for awhile, a Dot in natural, and a flame sunburst Dot. They were all good playing, fine sounding guitars, but when I wanted to sell off, or trade off something to buy another Gretsch, the Epi's were first to go. I still have a '97 Epi ES295. I'm not parting with it.

I think Strummerson is on to something. Having owned two Gretsches (a Peerless made 5120, then a roundup) and 4 or 5 Epis, the Peerless made Epi ES-295 is the one that stays. It's the right RI version, with the proper body shape.

If Epiphone made other P-90 guitars of similar quality, I'd be buying more epiphones. MD

Owning both a Swingster and a new G5420T, I can say they're very different guitars and I'm keeping both - the Epi for the Chet/Scotty thing and the Gretsch for the twang.

First let me say that I love Gretsch guitars. If money was not an issue I would have the top of the line hollowbody and solid body. But since guitar is not my main instrument I have to compromise and scale back a bit.

I own a Pro Jet g5236-T which is my carry around to practice guitar. It was the closest playability to my main guitar which is a Duesenberg Starplayer TV which I was lucky enough to get from a friend for 1/3 of the market value. I love the Gretsch and would not part with it.

But when it came to a Hollow or Semi-Hollow body I tried everything in my price range. Keeping in mind that the 5120 in Japan is about $900 average price. I just could not justify the price.

I did find a Swingster at $400 new on a year end sale here. I played both the Gretsch and the Swingster as well as the Ibanez AFS75T, Wildkat, Epi-Dots and more. But not one of them had the versatility and range of tones that the Swingster offered. Since all are about the same price here, it really was a clear decision to go with the Swingster.

Here is what I like about it.

I can get dreamy Cocteau Twins tones out of it without overdoing the effects. The basic clean tone is so flexible that I can get any variation of dreamy from it that I want to.

I can get that vintage guitar tone, think of work being done by Chris Isaak. The tremelo is stable, only guitar that was a match for the tuning stability of my Duesenberg's tremolo.

Finally, it is relatively easy to play. The Starplayer and the G5236T are easier to play for me, as I am not that big and a hollowbody is a new size for me. But the Swingster is comfortable.

Now I think it could benefit from some minor changes. But all in all I have been very happy with it. I want to play 1920s and 1930s music, blues, and 1950s-60 dreamy roadhouse twang mixed with dreamcore effects for a neo-David Lynch film feeling and this guitar is great for that.

Had the Gretsch been the same price, I may have gone with it for name value as I do love it. But tone wise, it was shy of the Epiphone Swingster to my ears.

Always go for the tone.

Gretsch won't lose sleep over this. People will buy an Electromatic because they want a guitar that's a real Gretsch without the Pro Line price. But Epi should really bring back the ES-295. That would appeal to the rockabilly crowd more than the Swingsters.

Ok so im Gretsch true and through ! also have strats and teles , lately i came across a inspired by John Lennon Casino , played it for a bit ,then i just could not put it down , i n the weeks after i would still think about this natural Lennon Epi . so this pass weekend it found a new home and i just love the lightnees , the action ,the tone of those US p 90's ,with the grover tuners , a way better guitar than the standard casino . try one if you get a chance !

Gretsch won't lose sleep over this. People will buy an Electromatic because they want a guitar that's a real Gretsch without the Pro Line price. But Epi should really bring back the ES-295. That would appeal to the rockabilly crowd more than the Swingsters.

+1 except I think that Gretsch should jump the gun and do a twin P90 gold top with florentine cut-away and beat Epiphone at it's own game ;)

Gretsch won't lose sleep over this. People will buy an Electromatic because they want a guitar that's a real Gretsch without the Pro Line price. But Epi should really bring back the ES-295. That would appeal to the rockabilly crowd more than the Swingsters.

+1 except I think that Gretsch should jump the gun and do a twin P90 gold top with florentine cut-away and beat Epiphone at it's own game ;)

What they should do is update the G3967 with twin cream P90's. Maybe keep the cat's eyes, or maybe some bound F-holes, I'm not sure. Regardless, I'd buy one if they made a run of them.

OOOOOOOOhh Yeah. That baby with twin creme Dogear P90's and a floral pickguard just to give the finger!!

Jack Stacey - That guitar speaks to me. In fact its yelling at me. Oh golly ...

I think the series/parallel switching is cool, though the guitar would be way cooler with Epi mini-humbuckers and a B6 instead of a B3 vibrato.

The thing is that there are really different levels of guitarists out there. I am a multi-instrumentalist so I have to split my equipment budget across ethnic strings which are all hand made and expensive to import, production equipment for recording and synths and then guitar.

I love the Gretsch sound, but had the Jet Pro not been heavily discounted (silver was not very popular here) at almost 1/2 off the normal price, I wouldn't be able to have one.

From a budget perspective there are a number of decent hollow body and semi-hollow body instruments out there including Epis and Ibanez that play very well and sound great. On the other hand the G5120 is about $300 or more higher in price in Japan. And the real beautiful Gretch guitars are $25000-$3000. Even used they pull 70-80% of their value.

So I have to choose something that sounds very good and yet does not crash my music budget. The Swingster really does deliver here. Great sound, great flexibility, plays well, can be had new for $600 and in unpopular colors (yes this is a major upside in Japan) for $400.

To my ears I can get what I want out of any of these guitars. I don't have a Gretsch sound in mind. I like guitars based on whether it can sound like I need a guitar to sound like or not, which is often all over the spectrum of tone. So flexible is #1, comfortable to play #2 and within my budget #3.

So I love my Jet, silver shine and all. And I really do love the Swingster.