Gretsch g9120-sk tenor koa uke

FYI for this community: just spotted another screamin' deal on a (discontinued?) solid koa tenor model that received good reviews here and on HMS.

They may need a set-up out of the box, and I see a real variety of quality of grain of the wood tops on different postings, but for the money...
$219 inclusive of shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/302291377197

** Edited post: Maybe not such a deal. Please note CozyCabin's experience below.

In case it helps anyone, and of course your mileage may vary. I own several of the roots series Gretsch instruments, all really great, so I jumped on one of these knowing how good the 6 string was that I owned for a bit.

Uke came, was terrible moreover, and sent straight back. These are discontinued and, and my opinion is that's for good reason. There was no quality control, sounded dead, little twist to the neck, neck not straight off the body (break angle at the body) will DEFINITELY need comprehensive setup,.....could just be mine. But anyway, if you get one make sure you can handle the possibility of having to do the possible return hassle. In summary, not even worth the 200 regardless of the looks from 3ft and being solid koa. The tone was surprisingly thin and plinky for a koa tenor. Little to no sustain, very scant low frequencies.

Just one opinion but for what it's worth. Nice of you to post the good deal though. I was very excited at the prospect, the product way missed the expectation though. Fairly certain mine had been sold before I got it too, and again, returned for obvious reasons.

cozycabin said:

Uke came, was terrible moreover, and sent straight back. There was no quality control, sounded dead, little twist to the neck, neck not straight off the body (break angle at the body) will DEFINITELY need comprehensive setup,.....could just be mine. But anyway, if you get one make sure you can handle the possibility of having to do the possible return hassle. In summary, not even worth the 200 regardless of the looks from 3ft and being solid koa. The tone was surprisingly thin and plinky for a koa tenor. Little to no sustain, very scant low frequencies.

Click to expand...

Holy moly! Same seller this past week?
If the vendor is disreputable, I should perhaps take this post down. Or leave it up to warn others?

Goes to show you the value of shopping with quality retailers - rather than the 'deal' on Ebay.

What a shame. We were happy with the Gretsch laminate concert G9110 we bought for a friend. I liked the vintage vibe.

Oh, no, the retailer is great. Very fair and I believe they are the largest gretsch and Guild dealer in the country. He didn't give me a seconds problem to return. Even offered that his luthier pick me a replacement that had something tonally and no issues. I just decided the money better spent on something else. So someone may get a much better turn ordering one than I did. I would buy there again and have bought acoustics there in the past.

To the other point about the 9110 laminate, yes, I've heard only good things about those, figured this to be a step in the right direction with koa and solid wood. Logic is great when it applies. It was not. Guess I could say the same for the first 21 Lanikai I got. Super dynamo little laminate. Tried ones (Lanikai solid) at 10X what I paid for it, wouldn't want them for any reason.

Great clarification about the seller versus the instrument you received, thanks much CC!

In my communications with the seller Rocky, he was only gracious and helpful.
My best guess is that he would be willing to open the boxes and hand select an instrument if someone asked, despite the rock bottom price... if anyone wants to see what these are like.
I'd be interested to hear if any UU players liked the solid koa model. Asking for a friend...