Gretsch Guitar

[sweetandsour]

Well the gig was a great success but still have setup problems on the Gretsch "grr" at the pro who set it up, so switched to my backup "axe".

Eventually the cops came in and shut the gig down in the middle of a raucous Buddy Holly number, sort of fitted in with our image as a 50's Rockabilly outfit.

Glad to hear you had a good time.

There are loads of guitar-tech clips on YouTube. Have you tried looking at any of those for advice?

[BlasterBates]

Yes I think I need to shift the bridge around. It isn't indvifually adjustable with screws but it "floats", so you move it, not nice though, so I think I may just upgrade the whole thing, hammer some frets down (as outlined in instructions shipped with the guitar ) stick a proper bridge on, better machine head, and an upgraded bigsby perhaps, essentially it should then just be a 6120 with a "made in Korea" label.

[BlasterBates]

Having now done a couple of gigs with the Gretsch, the Rickenbacker, remains boxed up.

However after a well received "Rock this Town" in the pub I'm now keen to chase up the Brian Setzer raunchy sound. I found a demo on you tube, lesson on Rock this Town, so I'm just perfecting the riffs and solos. Now the guitar on this demo really has a superb sound. Not sure what makes it. Now it is an expensive Gretsch, but I think it's the pick-ups and perhaps the type of slap-back echo.

Any tips on how to recreate without spending thousands of pounds? Would TV Jones classic pickups and any old tape echo effects be it?

[threaded]

after much umming and aahing I'm on the verge of buying this:

http://www.audioelectric.de/shop/pro...oducts_id=5176

comments?

Have you looked at Wizard Guitars?

[BlasterBates]

Yeah thx but was looking to upgrade what I have.
I did see a guitar on the Internet, was a private demo of a cheap Gretsch, which I have and he was very close to the sound I'm looking for, but I'm not sure if that's the pick-ups or the amp plus effects. The expensive Gretsch just give a subtle higher quality sound to whatever you have.

[Bagpuss]

after much umming and aahing I'm on the verge of buying this:

http://www.audioelectric.de/shop/pro...oducts_id=5176

comments?

No this is better

http://www.thomann.de/gr/gibson_gary...60a68127786c3d

[Lockhouse]

Any tips on how to recreate without spending thousands of pounds? Would TV Jones classic pickups and any old tape echo effects be it?

I know this might seem a stupid answer - but why not just e-mail Brian Setzer via his website (I assume he has one) and ask him?

[BlasterBates]

Now that's a good idea, at least there might be an assistant who knows the answer. In fact I might mail some people doing great demos and ask them.

I would be prepared to pay a few hundred quid for an upgrade and the appropriate effects box if I knew it did the trick. If it didn't it might be a wasted investment.

In fact I have a gig on Friday, so I was going to select a Fender amp valve sound as opposed to the ultra clean setting, put a bit more tape echo than I normally have and drive to the verge of distortion see if that raunch comes through. But having read up, I think it is possible that the DeArmond 2000 pickups are a bit tamer than the Dynasonic or or TV Jones pickups, so I could imagine this might help. Plus a better bridge and perhaps a lower action with thicker strings might help as well.

Anyway I find Buddy Holly a hell of a lot easier to emulate, but he had a simple guitar sound.

See how it goes, the main motivator was the audience reaction to it, as originally we were focussing on a Buddy Holly sound. But with shouts of "more more" etc this seems like a path worth following.

[Lockhouse]

Now that's a good idea, at least there might be an assistant who knows the answer. In fact I might mail some people doing great demos and ask them.

I would be prepared to pay a few hundred quid for an upgrade and the appropriate effects box if I knew it did the trick. If it didn't it might be a wasted investment.

Let me know when you get something on Youtube!

As an aside; have you heard "Please Mama Please" by Go Cat Go? Wicked!

[BlasterBates]

yeah I'll check it out.

Might be worth looking up some modern Rockabilly stuff, and put more of it in the gigs.