Build and features

We should say from the off that our experiences of the Gretsch Electromatic range over the years have been rather mixed. Instead of us being able to regard it as a genuine alternative to the more expensive Professional Collection Gretsches, the examples we’ve played haven’t always impressed.

Happily that’s all changed - this G5120 is a genuinely wonderful guitar that possess the just right vibe, feel and look - even though this version of the Western orange stain is a tad on the red side to our eyes.

The pickups comprise a pair of vintage-styled humbuckers, which are hot off the Gretsch drawing board, while the licensed Bigsby B60 vibrato works in tandem with a floating adjust-o-matic bridge. Here the three bass-side saddles are sited in the opposite direction to those of a traditional tune-o-matic in order to further aid stability when the strings move with the vibrato.

Put simply, we’d be hard pressed to distinguish this from a G6120 in a blindfold test - high praise indeed…

Next: Gretsch G5120 Electromatic sounds, pros and cons