Gretsch G5421 Electromatic Jet Club Firebird Red

Been buying, selling, working on and attempting to play guitars since The Ventures played Wipeout. Still can’t play worth a #&@$ but I have become a pretty good guitar tech and judge of what a good instrument is and this Gretsch is a good one! And that’s a big understatement! The fit and finish of this guitar is absolutely amazing. The quality, playability, feel and value for the money are as good as any guitar I have ever owned or worked on regardless of price. I know, sounds like hyperbole but honestly it’s that good. As I said though I’m just a mediocre player so I can’t fairly assess how it’s going to stack up in a band situation since I only play at bedroom level volume and only play by myself but for my situation it sounds fabulous. The pickups are not traditional Gretsch sounding, they are very clean, not muddy humbuckers that sound fabulous with just a touch of reverb and delay, just the way I like them. I may at some point try a couple of TV Jones’ but for now I’m more than happy with the stock ones. I’m not a gear snob but I feel justified in saying this Gretsch blows any Squier or Epiphone in this price range clear out of the water. Mar9. After playing for several hours I’ve a couple of things to be aware of, first make sure the stop bar tail piece is not set to low or the B and high E string will touch the back edge of the bridge causing a faint sitar sound, also the pickups are very sensitive to height adjustment. Start with Gretsch recommended 3/16” then balance them to each other by raising or lowering but as I said they’re touchy so do it in small increments.

I got this at a really good price and I was surprised how nice it sounds and feels with barely any set up out of the box. I tech all my own guitars and there were no sharp frets they were level. The fretboard was nice and level, intonation was spot on and I set the action nice and low.

Great guitar for the price.

Guitar came in with good set up …beautiful guitar.. I got it at discount

Nice and pretty guitar. The neck feels good , its a little heavy . It sounds a little like a semi hollow body . 24.75 scale 12" radius , A few things i would like to see Gretsch do is to use a wireless bridge and make these pickups to sound a bit more like filtertrons. I think too they should have 2 holes on the pickguard over the pickup adjustment screws so you dont have to take the guard off to adjust treble side of pickups. This is a carved to guitar , the streamliner is flat .

I'm a total beginner at playing the guitar. I really don't know anything, except that George Harrison and Chet Atkins played Gretsch guitars.I wanted a good quality guitar on which to learn because, just as a cheap first telescope with crappy optics can discourage someone from further pursuit of astronomy, a junky feeling guitar with high action can cause a beginner to quit playing. Beautiful guitar. I got a red one and the finish is sensationally smooth and glossy. I would have preferred a red glitter finish for an even more vintage look, but the Thunderbird Red (as Gretsch calls it) is stunning.

I'm pretty sure this is discontinued -- the current replacement line is the Streamliner single-cut solid-body at roughly $259.This is my first electric guitar. Despite what you hear about entry-level Chinese-made guitars, my 5425 was playable out-of-the-box with no significant buzzing or dead spots. Once I lubricated the nut (by rubbing a pencil tip through the slots) it's had pretty solid tuning stability The neck is straight, the action is low, and it intonates "competently" (meaning the 12th fret is very close to a perfect octave above the open string).Despite the Gretsch name, though, the pickups are fairly standard humbuckers that may be (it's debatable) voiced "similar" to the classic Gretsch sound. They are not Filter'Tron type pickups. While a lot of Gretsch fans will complain about the Broad'Trons (available on the Jet Pro, one model grade above Jet Club in the pre-Streamliner era), they are at least similar in design to the classic Filter'Tron.Nevertheless, for entry-level humbuckers, they sound great. There are aftermarket pickups that can be swapped in (most notably TV Jones, widely recognized as the superior 'Tron-style pickup manufacturer, closest to the original sound and better overall than Gretsch to the point that mid- to high-end G's just come with TV Jones' in them.)Anyhow, the 5425 is an easy-to-play Single Cut vaguely les-paul-shaped entry-level guitar with good tone, good construction, good intonation and tuning stability. I have no regrets. I now own a P90-based Tagima (also entry-level) and love each one for its own qualities.