[ennisphd]

Those of you who have read my other recent posts know that I've been hunting for my first pro Gretsch, and I've been struggling. Long story short, I have a Black Phoenix on layaway. I've been chipping away at the balance owing and next big cheque I get in the mail is going to pay off the guitar so I can bring it home. Now my fear of commitment is flaring up, and I find myself wondering if I should in fact take home the White Falcon that is hanging on the wall in the same shop.

Part of the reason I'm reconsidering the WF is this: my bandmate has come with me on my guitar shopping trips and in the process he has fallen in love with the Black Falcon. He's going to buy one within the next month or so and frankly I'm now thinking about how the both of us will be playing very similar looking black Gretsches on stage. As my friend says, "nobody cares when there are 2 black strats on the stage, why should it matter if there are 2 black gretsches?". Fair enough, but still....

Here are my pros and cons for each guitar:

Black Phoenix:
- the 1 guitar I played that really grabbed me.
- great neck
- tv jones pickups
- I don't need/use the extra switches and knobs
- silver sparkle looks good, but not as good as the gold sparkle
- black finish looks great but shows every blemish and tough to keep clean lookign

White Falcon
- absolutely classic looking
- the model that is closest to what I'm looking for - the 6136T which has the necessary filtertrons and bigsby, does NOT have the verticle Gretsch logo on the headstock (instead features horizontal logo).
- even if I don't use the extra switches/knobs, they look great.

I know there is no right answer here, and I think I answer my own question when I start listing the pros of the Phoenix. I love the look of the WF but love everything else about the Phoenix, more. And, if I bought the WF I'd insist on upgrading the pickups to TV Jones anyway. But if I don't buy a WF now I feel like I'll need to get one eventually because it is iconic.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts. I know, life is rough when your problems center around which of these 2 beautiful guitars to buy.

Liam