The Best Acoustic Guitars of the GRETSCH brand

Well I opened the guitar and first impressions were, ‘wow’!
As I tuned it up, it became clear to me that there would be some minor issues that needed addressing. (Which is pretty much standard for any new guitar, they all need adjusting to your style & liking at first)

– Firstly – The guitar (Body only) is very slightly warped, but that does not effect the tone or playablility. You can only tell when looking really close.

– Secondly – The bridge saddle was high so I had to sand it down a tad.

– Thirdly – The Bridge slightly bellies out under medium/heavy string tension. Not badly, but I was a bit worried at first. This made the action even higher than I would have liked. Bellying Significantly decreased after installing lighter gauge strings.

– Fourth – Two or three frets needed filing down. Easy job. 5 Minutes.

– Build quality? For a Gretsch within this price range, I’d have to say overall good. The neck is also very slighly warped. After adjusting the truss rod it was made better, again. Only visible when looking for it and doesn’t affect the sound, tone or playability.

It must be said. That I am, at best, an intermediate when it comes to adjusting anything on a guitar.
So don’t let any of this put you off the Jim Dandy!
A few small adjustments to personalise your guitar to your play style & liking is often needed when buying a new guitar.
The Jim Dandy is beautiful. It sings the blues better than anything I have heard or played.
The sustain is something I did not expect for a guitar of this price.

No guitar, whether you pay £100 or £1000 is going to be perfect, look close enough and you will find an imperfection.

Also, something worthy of noting, when I ordered this guitar, I did a lot of shopping around, not only did Thomann have the best price, but it arrived fast!
The guitar looks better when you see it with your own eyes. Miles better in person than it looks on any picture or video I have seen of it.

Overall – A beautiful guitar, with imperfections but the imperfections only make it more unique in my opinion.
Comfortable to play, plays and sounds beautiful. String bends sound almost too pleasing, adds a bit of class and a vintage look to any room you keep it in.

Buy one! You won’t regret it.

P.S. Please don’t use heavy strings on this guitar.

I mostly play bass and was looking for a guitar to play on the couch, therefore it should be easy to play, smaller than jumbo and fun.

Pros:
+ The Jim & Dandy came well set up, I only adjusted the neck slightly to get a low action, still there is no buzzing.
+ Tuners work very well, I almost never have to touch them.
+ Finish is also nice, really nothing to complain on my guitar.
+ Since it’s a small guitar, it never get’s in the way and it is also never to loud so I often play while watching something. It’s also very light.
+ Played in a finger picking style, the guitar has some kind of Delta Blues sound.

Cons:
– Depending on the plek the guitar can sound kinda cheap/plasticy. I think nylon pleks sound the best but even better is to play with your hands.
– In the first week I got black fingertips from the strings that came with the guitar.
– The ‘G’ on the pickguard looks a bit like the ‘G’ of a big search engine.
– I play a lot more guitar now and feel bad about my bass guitars.

Overall this is a fun little guitar, of course it lacks the big tone of guitars with bigger bodies but it plays nice, it’s size is perfect to play it on the couch, you don’t annoy neighbours, it looks cool, sounds bluesy and all of that in a budget.

I fell in love with this ugly beautiful beast a few months ago and began saving for it immediately. I have had her for 5 months now and have very little to complain about, apart from a few points….

I gig with the Rancher Bigsby frequently (2-3 times a week). She holds up well on the road and stays in tune well when using D’addario 11’s. She came with 12’s, however, I experimented with 11’s & 10’s (nickel wound electric strings for the Fidelitron pickup)
as I thought the 12’s deadened the acoustic sound of guitar.
The 10’s were too light, 11’s were just right.
I’ve also tried Ernie Balls Hybrid strings but was quickly driven mad trying to keep the guitar in tune! Also, I’m a hard strummer and the B broke during every gig, just too light for me.

Acoustically this guitar is quiet (I have yet to try acoustic strings). Plugged in, she growls. Sounds great with a little overdrive/distortion!
The volume knob is very useful if you don’t have a floor tuner.

I didn’t have to get the guitar set up when it arrived. Action was pretty much perfect. I play a bit of slide and it works great, no troubles. Vibrato arm was tight enough (I’ve read reports of them being too loose on arrival)

The Bigsby and arm itself are very stable, doesn’t seem to have any notion to explode just yet! Provided you don’t do any dive bombing on this baby! Stays in tune well while using the whammy.
After 5 months the gold coating is beginning to fade and turn to silver in some places.

We play 2-3 hours a night standing and the guitar is heavy. You’ll definitely feel it across your shoulders the next morning. I am also the lead singer and have had to adjust my stance in order to compensate for the weight of the guitar.

Those who have any notions about installing strap locks will run into difficulty. The pins are big and you can’t remove them.

ONE HUGE PROBLEM.. This has caused me SO much hardship since getting the Gretsch. There is no case. Thomann have sent me two hard cases. One of which I was assured it would fit and that it had been double checked. The case closed with about a 2 inch gap and for the sake of the neck, my pocket and my sanity I sent it back.
I scoured the internet in search of a case that might fit and found a part number of a case that Gretsch (Fender) had put with the guitar. Rang their office in America (from Ireland) and was assured that that was the case for it.
Valued at €150 (€50 more than I was expecting to spend) I called the nearest fender dealer and asked them to order it for me.
2 weeks later I drove 3 hours to the shop to find that the guitar wouldn’t even sit into the case!
I now have to have a case made which is going to cost between €250 and €300 and is giving the case maker a serious headache.

All in all its a great guitar! Especially for and Indonesian build. Quiet in an open session setting. Its built to be plugged in.
Extremely eye catching, (expect a lot of open mouthed guitar players in the room)

I bought this guitar mainly because I wanted to have a guitar with a Bigsby and from this point of view this guitar hasnt disappointed. Plugged in to an amplifier, the guitar’s got a very nice sound and the bigsby adds something, that’s for sure.

However, were I to be looking at buying this guitar again knowing what I know now, I would probably have chosen another guitar, either another (more expensive) Gretsch semi-acoustic, and not worried about the acoustic side of it, or perhaps another brand altogether with a Bigsby on it.

The plusses; nice sound, the Bigsby effect.

The minuses; action is a bit high, also the narrow width of the fingerboard (43mm) makes it less playable for me than other guitars such as the Gibson Parlour, which is absolutely fantastic guitar. Because of the Bigsby, nothing can really be done about the action, once you’ve reached the bottom of the thread on the bridge.

In general, this is a nice guitar but I will mostly only use it for very specific purposes. Not a guitar I would play all the time.

I am a Gretsch fan, and I will always be. But the Falcon Rancher, after waiting for 6 months for the delivery, was a bit of a disappointment. It is quite nice when playing acoustig but plugging it into a system put me off during the gigs. Does not give me a kick for some reason, quite the oppsite of my 5120 hollowbody that is always a turn on and sounds awesome even on a cheap Fender amp. Still working to figure out a sound for the Rancher, because the guitar looks awesome…

I’ve yet to gig her through an amp but:
Firstly, I must say, what a gorgeous looking guitar and a lovely finish. So smooth! She sounds very fresh and can get very varying tonnes when playing different positions, if you damp the strings at the bridge and hit a firm chord there is a very powerful sound.
I’ll update when I’ve gigged her this weekend!

I bought this guitar to replace my stage dreadnought which was a bit weary but I believed to have a fantastic sound in the studio. I was wrong! This Gretsch outperformed it on both stage and in the studio. I was looking for a guitar with that dreadnought warmth but also with higher frequencies that is perfect for acoustic pop or indie pop and this is the one! Our sound engineer was also happy with it’s sound as it fits into the mix perfectly. Altough it’s neck is a little thicker than i tought it’s very comfortable and it feels great to play on this instrument. It’s always an excitement to pick up the guitar and just play it for fun, but it works well on the stage too. Not to mention that it’s the greatest looking dreadnought on the market I believe. I was also checking out the line input sound with the Fishman pickups and with it’s built in EQ it’s very good for demo takes. Tuner replacement is needed but not necessary that’s the only negative in this build, altough it’s just how every mid price guitar is.