Dreams Come True: Gretsch Duo Jet

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Tue May 21, 2013 8:58 am

So here it is.

In case you missed what happened in the Dream Guitar thread...

A guy posted an early 1992 Terada build on Mule. It was kinda hard to tell the overall condition of the thing from his florescent lighting shots, with heaps of smudges on top, Gretsch strap pins replaced with Dunlops, aftermarket truss rod cover, not to mention how it was pretty well scraped up on the back. Found out it was a pawn shop about an hour from my office, and I got permission to run over there mid-day and check it out, since the guy dropped $200 off of the original posted price in the morning and I had a feeling it would go bye-bye really fast after that. For reference's sake, despite cracked pickup rings, tarnished this and that and a messed-up pickguard, this somewhat rare but very cruddy black G6122JR sold for $1400 in a heartbeat last month, and guys were frantically posting trying to find the buyer, in order to offer more cash for it.

I get there and enter a tiny entry/waiting room with a barred-off window (apparently this is what a Korean pawn shop looks like) and a tall guy with a poofy wavy perm brought the thing out, saying "you've never been to one of these places before, have you?". The guy knew enough about guitars to show me the fret condition (not that bad), how straight the neck is, and the whole bit, and said that the guy who pawned it hadn't called to buy it back for several months. Long story longer, it was $1150 out the door, which is obviously a lot less than the $2000 they usually go for over here in used condition. It also came with one of these guys, probably the coolest heavy-duty straps I've seen.

Two hours of cleaning, a restring + some bridge adjusting, and based on aesthetics alone I was already a very happy camper: The top is very clean and has but a single noticeable bump plus some weather checking of sorts, the nickel patina on the knobs and filtertrons looks pretty cool, Bigsby B3 is nice and squishy and stays in tune after I greased the nut and saddles, and I actually started to like all the wear on the back. Neck is fairly thin C, about halfway between my Jazzmaster and ST68-TX.

I took these this afternoon before leaving work:

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:01 am

It's also really lightweight. I heard it's not as chambered as the Billy Zoom signature, but knocking my knuckles about I can hear that the thing is practically hollow. I'm guessing around 6.5 lbs or so, probably my lightest guitar in the bunch.

I plugged it in and went to work, and really started to fall in love with the roundness and sparkle of this thing. When played clean, to my ears it almost had that full-on G6120 sound, no doubt with the filtertrons sounding more than at home with the chambered body (albeit being the older, more stuffy ceramic magnets that went into the early Teradas), me initially expecting a more gutsy "solidbody with minis" kinda sound at first based on instinct. All in all, a very nice degree of chime and and single-coil-like sensitivity/dynamics really shine through, and with more gain it just got a lot more fun, with feedback very much under control at higher volumes. I honestly haven't felt this comfortable with a new guitar since I got the Jazzmaster so many years ago, and look forward to doing a lot of work with this thing.

Bye bye Yamaha SG1000, hello Jet.

matte30is · Post by **matte30is** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:16 am

That's one amazing guitar. Congrats man.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:05 am

Beautiful.

BobArsecake · Post by **BobArsecake** » Tue May 21, 2013 1:08 pm

Great stuff! :D

iCEByTes · Post by **iCEByTes** » Tue May 21, 2013 2:07 pm

gratz

LizardKing · Post by **LizardKing** » Tue May 21, 2013 3:39 pm

Beautiful guitar, enjoy it!!!

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue May 21, 2013 3:46 pm

Nice!

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Tue May 21, 2013 3:48 pm

That's freaking awesome. congrats!

westtexasred · Post by **westtexasred** » Tue May 21, 2013 8:23 pm

Congrats!

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:10 pm

She's so sweet.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Wed May 22, 2013 12:14 pm

Thanks for the words and the views, folks! I've really gotta make a proper video of this thing soon.

Sure, there are plenty of Jet videos on Youtube, but the full-sized Gretsch-like toanz I've been getting out of it (especially neck position) really have to be heard to be believed. The Cindicaster behaves in so many ways like a well-grounded, nicely sustaining Telecaster (even the TV Jones Classic in the neck has a hefty, really gutsy thump to it that reminds me of my friend's 1972 LP Deluxe), but you can really hear the body of the Duo Jet give it that classic timbre we associate with the name.

To be honest, over the past several months I had intended to eventually splurge on a much more pricey Country Classic (full 17" bout, 25.5" scale w/Dynasonics), but this thing has satiated any such hunger for well rounded, sparkly Gretsch goodness.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Wed May 22, 2013 12:47 pm

Nice!

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Wed May 22, 2013 1:28 pm

Awesome find. Glad you're enjoying it!

awfurby · Post by **awfurby** » Wed May 22, 2013 2:15 pm

Welcome to the club! You're right about the neck pickup but what I like to do is have both pickups on and then back off the volume on the neck a oittle to get a bit more ore treble come through. Great looking guitar.

jculpjr · Post by **jculpjr** » Wed May 22, 2013 2:42 pm

Very sharp guitar

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Sat May 25, 2013 8:01 am

Noble looking guitar, glad that dreams have a tendency to come true.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Sat May 25, 2013 11:22 am

awfurby wrote:Welcome to the club! You're right about the neck pickup but what I like to do is have both pickups on and then back off the volume on the neck a oittle to get a bit more ore treble come through. Great looking guitar.

Much 'preciated. Would love to see yours as well, don't be afraid to post here!

I regularly blend the more bridge pickup on my 360/12 simply to get the best jangles, but will definitely try it with the Jet as well.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Sat May 25, 2013 5:39 pm

That's a beautiful guitar, congrats Andy. Mad that it's that light; makes me want it even more.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Sat May 25, 2013 11:53 pm

A gorgeous thing. Well done.