In its May issue, UK’s Guitarist magazine reviews a few of the new Gretsch Players Edition and Vintage Select Edition models, bestowing the Guitarist Choice awards on both the Vintage Select G6120T- ’55 Chet Atkins and G6118T Players Edition Anniversary with String-Thru Bigsby®.
“Workingman’s Gretsch with great upgrades, not least the locking tuners and String-Thru Bigsby,” notes the mag of the Anniversary model.
As for the Vintage Select G6120T-55GE, the mag noted that it’s a “classic guitar with high build quality, great playability and huge ‘twang’ factor.”
The review includes a full feature breakdown of the aforementioned models, in addition to the Vintage Select G6136T-59 Falcon and the Players Edition G6119T Tennessee Rose.
The final verdict?
“Beautifully made and with some lovely period-correct details mixed with more modern concessions, there’s little we don’t like here. Choosing your fit, however, may be a more difficult decision. The White Falcon is a serious investment, although its sturdier build and longer scale (not to mention those Filter’Trons) give it perhaps the most versatile sonic palette. Considerably lower in cost, our two Players Edition models are close cousins and either would be perfect for those for rockier, less ‘Gretsch-style’ outings, the new string-thru Bigsby alone will cure what most of us find a chore: restringing.
“That just leaves the Chet Atkins G6120T-55 hollow body, which with its lighter build and those DynaSonic-style single coils, really gets to the essence of the ‘Gretsch sound.’ If you haven’t played a Gretsch for a while, you might be very surprised. These are some serious guitars.”
The mag also features an interview with rock ‘n’ roll rebel rouser and longtime Gretsch artist Darrell Higham, who was asked to weigh in on the newest Gretsch models in the review section.
“On a 6120, like the Chet Atkins Reissue we’ve got here, you want a nice dainty neck, because it’s a guitar you feel you should play quite fast on — and, actually, the 6120 is very versatile and you can use it for lots of different types of music. It’s not just great for rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll, especially with lighter gauge strings than the 0.011s that are on here.
“I think the updates they’ve made on the Players Edition guitars here are good,” he also noted. “If someone’s looking for a semi, but worries that Gretsches are too genre-specific, they should go for one of these, like this Tennessee Rose. It could be an indie guitar or jazz – there’s no reason you couldn’t do anything on a guitar like this. I really like this one – it feels really solid and it could become your main warhorse. There’s nothing delicate about it, even the scratch plate feels welded on.”
Be sure to pick up the new issue, and also check out the video demo below.