Gretsch G5622T Electromatic Center Block Double-Cut Electric Guitar - Imperial Stain

I haven’t had a Gretsch since I sold my ‘67 Tennessean in 1996. Honestly, this Chinese 5622T is a sturdier guitar and in many ways a better build than the old Gretsch guitars. The old joke is “Gretsch, the guitar that falls apart in the case.” The bridge is better and the neck relief is more linear. The frets are larger. The modern synthetic finish isn’t as charming as nitro but it is far more durable. It does benefit from a decent setup. It came with generic 10-46 strings, which play too slack on a guitar this scale length. The neck had no relief and the low ratio tuning keys are not great. I installed Gotoh 16:1 locking tuners that dropped right in. I slacked off the truss rod about a full turn and strung it with D’Addario 11-49. Then I was able to lower the bridge. It’s now just right and I can still bend the strings. All this turned this into a guitar that is easily worth double the retail price. I really don’t remember exactly the sound of the pickups in the Tennessean, but the 5622T can definitely gets the Stray Cats tone. Hope this helps.

Just bought this a couple days ago at guitar center with a Blackstar studio 10 v2 practice amp and let me tell you that this guitar will not not not not let you down. It can put out some serious stank, with crunchy bright brights and sounds amaze-balls in overdrive. You can get strat sounds out of the amp all the way to Brian seitzer. I even played some low end death metal, not because the guitar, but the amp. Worth every 800$.

This guitar is a dream to play & beautiful to look at. I have not been able to sit it down since I got it. My only gripe is the factory strap buttons as they do not seem to securely hold my strap endings in place very well (will hold them in place, but doesn’t seem as secure as other brands). Other than that, I love it! I get creamy tones playing through a Fender Twin Reverb.