[Michiel]

Hi!

After 15 years of happy strumming on my Samick Jazz Deluxe, it's time for something new to rekindle the fire . I'm seriously considering a Gretsch 5120 or a 5129, but I don't want to trade looks for sound.

I love the sound of the DeArmand pickups on the 5129, but I'm not too fond of the looks of the 5129. I prefer to have my gear look woody .
The 5120 on the other hand I like for it's looks, but the instrument I played just didn't sound as good to me as the 5129s I tried.

Is it possible to make the 5120 sound the same as a 5129 with std pickups?
Or would I need to do a pickup swap?
As far I could see the two pickup types have different sizes; what would be needed to make the DeArmand's fit into the cavities of stock pickups on the 5120?

Thanks from a newbie in the Gretsch scene.

[Pappy]

You would probably need some spacers to accomodate the smaller pickups in the bigger hole.

Of course, you could get the 5120 and tweak the pickups night and day and see if anything gets the tone you want first before you go ordering some spacers (I think they would probably need to be custom ordered dor the DeArmonds) and pickups.

[Jukebox]

Custom order the pickup fom TV or the likes would be your best choice if you want a 5120.

[coolbus18]

As a 5120 owner ,I would go with TV Jones classics. I've adjusted my p'ups and they're still dark in tone.

[ishtar]

Welcome, Michiel. Plus one to JB's reference to TVJones.

[Michiel]

Hey Guys,

Great, thanks for the suggestions (and the welcome Ishtar ).
I noticed a lot of posts around the web of people modding the 5120 with TV Jones' pickups; that seems the most straight forward way to go.

Listening to TV Jones' comparison page, the sound of the "TV-HT neck" is closest to the sound I have in mind. Again tho... the sound vs looks trade-off. Aaarg .
Well, at least the logo is orange, like the guitar.

Which mount type would I need for the 5120?
There appear to be 4 different types.

This friday I'm at my local music store again. I'll see what offer he can make me.

Thanks again.

[araT]

Welcome to GT Michiel!

The best way to figure out which mounts you'll need would be emailing TV Jones himself, he's very helpful & responds to all emails personally

[Scott]

I'm confounded.

Michiel, you say you love the sound of the 5129, but the looks of the 5120...pardon me for asking, and I have many years of Gretsch experience, but are these guitars not the same carcass with different pickups? They're the same bodies with different pickups! Save the pickup money and just buy the guitar that sounds best to you as it is out of the box.

And if you like a guitar to look "woody", you could always strip the finish off one of these guitars. Just a suggestion...

[Michiel]

@araT:
Thanks, I'll do that. BTW, just noticed VT Jones' forum. Hardly any mention of the VT-HT pickups though. I wonder if they would fit on a Gretsch.

@Scott:
Indeed, the 5120 and 5129 are 99% the same. Only diffs are pickups, bridge and finish. Looks aside, the biggest 'click' I felt was with the 5129. .

I was thinking along the same lines as your advice . Though using paintstripper on a new guitar sounds a bit harsh doesn't it? Alternative could be that fake wood they used to stick on '70s car-dashboards .

I really liked the weight-balance, action, sound etc of the particular 5129 model I tried. Could be that it was just setup a bit differently from the 5120 they had there.

[Jukebox]

Scott, I think if you take the finish off of a 512X you will not find any wood grain. They use something else on the tops.

[afm_380]

The EM2 mount from TV Jones is what you'll want. Rumor has it that the TV Jones DynaSonics in a filtertron sized mount are now orderable, hopefully this also means that they are available in an EM2 mount. This would be my recommendation if you like the looks of the 5120 the sounds of the 5129 and additional pickups doesn't break the budget. Or just bite the bullet and snag a G6120DSV from either Joel at Shanghai Music or Rocky at Streetsounds (their pricing to us is amazing ... and we all know you'll end up with a proline eventually)

[Michiel]

@Jukebox: Hmm, that could also explain the difference in weight-balance (I think) I felt.

[Michiel]

@afm_380: I'd like to have a local supplier here in .nl . The type you mention runs here at 2k6 - 3k euros, which is more than I'm prepared to spend at this time.
I'd hardly dare play the thing . (nope, definitely not a pro player ).

[afm_380]

sorry ... we're spoiled here in the states I should have looked at your location before making such a suggestion.

My first grestch was a 5120 and it's AWESOME. I went the inexpensive route with the pickup swap, and installed a GFS Dream90 in the neck position and a Dream180 at the bridge. But now that the JV Jones Dyna's are surfacing it'll more than likely get another pickup swap.

Here's the link to my mod

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Jukebox

Scott, I think if you take the finish off of a 512X you will not find any wood grain. They use something else on the tops.

I understand that. I'm mainly speaking to his liking of the tone of the 5129 rather than the looks of either guitar. Sound is a lot more important at the end of the day than looks.

I still say that underneath all the finish, different bridges and some small differences in hardware(especially the pickups), they're the same guitar. Just looking at saving someone a few dollars by buying the right guitar(for him) in the first place. No need in investing in TV Jones pickups when it's simply not necessary.

[Michiel]

Hi Scott! Point taken . I agree that sound should be the decisive argument for buying an instrument. But it can't hurt to figure out if I can get the best of both worlds, hence the post .

I got a reply from TV Jones BTW: he recommends the magnatrons in EM-2 english mounts. They should come close to the sound of the DeArmonds.
He also comments that the neck angles of the 5120 are slightly different from the 5129. ('on the higher side' are his exact words... Not sure what he means by that?).
So it seems they are (ever so slightly) different instruments after all.

That said, it's probably wiser to stick with my first impression and go for a 5129. Or one of the others in that series if the red puts me off too much .
The firebird would go nicely with my oldtimer though .

[Sarah93003]

Hi Michiel and welcome to the forum. If you were in the US I would suggest saving your money and instead of buying a new 5120 or 5129, go for a used (but loved) pro-line with the pickups and finish that you like. In the long run you will be much happier, I think.

I love my 5120 and bought it for the sound it makes. Otherwise, I'd have a pro-line in it's place.

[Michiel]

Just posted pics of my current guitar here:
http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/me...olid-body.html


And thanks for the suggestion Sarah93003. I'll see if I can try them out here some where too .

Edit: I see now that you're referring to the profession line; those are just out of reach considering my budget.

[tartanphantom]

The 5120 has a lower neck set than the 5129... the 5129 neck is set higher because the pickups are basically surface mounted.

[araT]

Originally Posted by Michiel

Just posted pics of my current guitar here:
http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/me...olid-body.html

Beautiful Samick, Michiel! I bet that thing rocks!