mr79
Well-known member
Recently I decided to give my poor tenor a break from my endless quest to make it sound more 'guitar-like', and just go ahead and buy a guitar. This isn't meant as a replacement for my ukes, just a different sound I've always wanted to master, but have always been daunted by. Now I've got a bit more uke experience the guitar seems less complicated, so I decided to look out for a cheap but well reviewed parlor guitar.
To cut a long story, I went for the Gretsch Jim Dandy, which is part of the same Roots collection as their ukuleles - I'd tried a few of their ukes and the guitalele and was impressed, so figured I couldn't go far wrong, especially as they retail at around £130 here in the UK... finding one new and sealed in it's factory box for £75 on another forum was the clincher, and the guitar arrived with me yesterday. I thought I'd just post a quick review from my amateur perspective...
The guitar is built from agathis, a kind of spruce/pine type of wood, and is finished with a near matte black finish, with a red sunburst on the front. The sunburst is much more subtle in real life than in pictures, and in most lights the whole guitar looks black. It has a parlor size body and a 24" scale with 12 frets to the body (18 in total). Fit and finish is really good, no imperfections to the paint that I can find, no overspray or dust caught under the paint. The 'binding' and rosette etc are all painted on, and there are a couple of overlaps to the painted lines. Gretsch are actually being quite crafty with the whole 'roots, downhome, authentic, homemade, shabby-chic, retro vibe' thing, because any imperfections such as a slightly offset rosette or a wonky paint line actually add to the charm and vibe, rather than being a detraction. Crafty, very crafty!
The nut and saddle are plastic, but well finished. The frets are well polished and dressed - apart from three on the bass side up on the edges of the 8th, 9th and 10th frets, where there are 3 noticeable sharp burrs (see pic below). This is the only thing 'wrong' I found, easily fixed, and not in a place your hand comes into contact with easily anyway.
The most surprising thing was the set-up. The guy I bought it off had never taken it out of the box. I talked to him on the phone, and he said he'd bought it from a 'stack-em high' sort of place that didn't do set-ups... in other words, the set-up it arrived with is the set-up Gretsch did in their factory - and it is excellent. The action is perfect at the 12th and 1st, not so low it buzzes anywhere or loses volume, not so high it's... Bruko High. Likewise the neck relief is spot on (all this being subjective of course to what I like, but I have never yet bought or worked on an instrument that cost less than £500 that didn't need adjusting). The intonation is near to perfect, maybe less than 3% sharp on the bass E at the 12th fret, but that amount in itself could probably be my technique.
It sounds lovely, nice clear highs with a real warmth to the middle, although the bottom end is a little muddy, partly I think down to the strings - it comes fitted with D'Addario 12s, which I find a little heavy for the size of the body, so I'm putting some 11s on (and it seems this is quite a common opinion). It sounds beautiful picked, straight away you feel like Skip James or Merle Haggard, living on muscle, guts and luck...
About the only things I might change on it are the strap button (does the job, but seems a little flimsy, so I'm putting a metal one on), the strings (probably a personal choice) and I may make and fit a bone saddle - the difference to the sound will probably be small, and I'll mainly do this for my own amusement - but none of these things are necessary changes.
All in all I'm over the moon - if I'd paid full price for it I'd still be over the moon, and I think I'd still be very happy if I'd paid around £200. It'll get played, not worried about, and best of all it stops me from abusing the limits of my tenor ukulele and allows it to go back to being a tenor ukulele!
To cut a long story, I went for the Gretsch Jim Dandy, which is part of the same Roots collection as their ukuleles - I'd tried a few of their ukes and the guitalele and was impressed, so figured I couldn't go far wrong, especially as they retail at around £130 here in the UK... finding one new and sealed in it's factory box for £75 on another forum was the clincher, and the guitar arrived with me yesterday. I thought I'd just post a quick review from my amateur perspective...
The guitar is built from agathis, a kind of spruce/pine type of wood, and is finished with a near matte black finish, with a red sunburst on the front. The sunburst is much more subtle in real life than in pictures, and in most lights the whole guitar looks black. It has a parlor size body and a 24" scale with 12 frets to the body (18 in total). Fit and finish is really good, no imperfections to the paint that I can find, no overspray or dust caught under the paint. The 'binding' and rosette etc are all painted on, and there are a couple of overlaps to the painted lines. Gretsch are actually being quite crafty with the whole 'roots, downhome, authentic, homemade, shabby-chic, retro vibe' thing, because any imperfections such as a slightly offset rosette or a wonky paint line actually add to the charm and vibe, rather than being a detraction. Crafty, very crafty!
The nut and saddle are plastic, but well finished. The frets are well polished and dressed - apart from three on the bass side up on the edges of the 8th, 9th and 10th frets, where there are 3 noticeable sharp burrs (see pic below). This is the only thing 'wrong' I found, easily fixed, and not in a place your hand comes into contact with easily anyway.
The most surprising thing was the set-up. The guy I bought it off had never taken it out of the box. I talked to him on the phone, and he said he'd bought it from a 'stack-em high' sort of place that didn't do set-ups... in other words, the set-up it arrived with is the set-up Gretsch did in their factory - and it is excellent. The action is perfect at the 12th and 1st, not so low it buzzes anywhere or loses volume, not so high it's... Bruko High. Likewise the neck relief is spot on (all this being subjective of course to what I like, but I have never yet bought or worked on an instrument that cost less than £500 that didn't need adjusting). The intonation is near to perfect, maybe less than 3% sharp on the bass E at the 12th fret, but that amount in itself could probably be my technique.
It sounds lovely, nice clear highs with a real warmth to the middle, although the bottom end is a little muddy, partly I think down to the strings - it comes fitted with D'Addario 12s, which I find a little heavy for the size of the body, so I'm putting some 11s on (and it seems this is quite a common opinion). It sounds beautiful picked, straight away you feel like Skip James or Merle Haggard, living on muscle, guts and luck...
About the only things I might change on it are the strap button (does the job, but seems a little flimsy, so I'm putting a metal one on), the strings (probably a personal choice) and I may make and fit a bone saddle - the difference to the sound will probably be small, and I'll mainly do this for my own amusement - but none of these things are necessary changes.
All in all I'm over the moon - if I'd paid full price for it I'd still be over the moon, and I think I'd still be very happy if I'd paid around £200. It'll get played, not worried about, and best of all it stops me from abusing the limits of my tenor ukulele and allows it to go back to being a tenor ukulele!
Last edited:
