[j.s.c]

Moreover compressors are tricky little things. Could cut your sound, on the other side be used as a OverDrive. As im not very smart with electric, I spent few hours to mix thread gain comp pots to finally found that the right setting could narrow the bass to treble spread (i dont know if im clear).

Actually this narrowed signal could be useful for funk, country, etc.,,

[flatpickerjohn]

My two cents,,,, they are playing Telecasters and they sound great. My guess is that if they were playing a Gretsch, or any guitar that stayed in tune, they would make it sound great as well. I firmly believe that if you can pick as good as those two, it doesn't matter what they have around their neck.

[Synchro]

Originally Posted by flatpickerjohn

My two cents,,,, they are playing Telecasters and they sound great. My guess is that if they were playing a Gretsch, or any guitar that stayed in tune, they would make it sound great as well. I firmly believe that if you can pick as good as those two, it doesn't matter what they have around their neck.

Good point. A guitar is a tool for creating sound. Just as there is specialization in hand tools, various types of hammers for instance, there are guitars that are better suited to certain tasks such as a Tele for spanky Country sounds. Nonetheless, a skilled craftsman can get a lot of utility out of a specialized tool. When I was in my late teens and early twenties I nailed shingles onto any number of houses and became quite comfortable using a roofing hatchet. To this day, I use a roofing hatchet as a hammer because I'm comfortable with it.

Likewise, I've owned just about everything except a Ric'. I've had Teles, Strats, an ES-340 (think 335), several Les Pauls, a Gibson Johnny Smith and various other guitars, there's a fairly complete list on my website. Out of all of these I find that a Gretsch with Filtertrons is the tool best suited to my tastes. If I want to Chik'n Pik I use a Gretsch in its most treble configuration and let fly. It's close enough to a Tele sound for my needs.

There's also a big difference between recording and live performance. If I was recording a Country lead part you can bet that I'd use my Dynasonic Jet. If I was playing the same song live I'd use whatever Gretsch I had on stage, probably my 6120-DC or my G6122-1959.

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Wow! After 10+ days of no responses I figured I either offended all the Gretsch players on earth or I asked such a stupid question nobody wanted to embarass me and my ignorance....

That said I thought it a reasonable question. Why?

My music tastes cross a number of genres but one of my favorites is country and so much country (as well as other kinds of music) is done with telecasters (think Paisley and Urban today right on back to Don Rich and the Bakersfield sound). So if you want to get that sound - could you do it on a Gretsch? That is what I was wondering.

Also I try to be an equipment minimalist - trying to get the most out of whatever I have. Part of this is knowing or learning what guitar(s) can "cover" what - especially when combined with variable amp possibilities. I admit I was wondering about the possibilities with a corvette.

JSC did a great job on working up a version of the same jam on a 6120 and even given the issues with recording I can still hear the hollow body bass coming through. The teles seem to have more of a - I don't know how to say it - cutting bright spank twang on the highs and even on the low end.

I really want to thank JSC for putting in the effort to give it a whirl - I was really hoping somebody would. Thanks man!

As for different telecasters - from what I can tell Laura (the girl in the video aka iowa91) has a few teles a baja and a John5. From what I can tell they are very different animals - the baja is pure tele the John5 seems to be tele like but with the edges taken off and more lows. She plays the john5 in this video about a minute in.



Now admittedly it is a different kind of music but I still don't hear a lot of tele spank.

Here is another of her videos with a variety of guitars.



The baja definitely has the tele "cut" - the john5 is different.

I will likely be looking at a baja or whatever tele gets that sound if no Gretsch can.

Thanks again everyone for the replies!

-Ed-

[Flynnski]

Originally Posted by flatpickerjohn

I firmly believe that if you can pick as good as those two, it doesn't matter what they have around their neck.

Yep..unfortuntalety I suck at it. But slowly learning to chicken pick.

[james lee]

Originally Posted by Flynnski

Yep..unfortuntalety I suck at it. But slowly learning to chicken pick.

Chicken picking is fun.. the main issue with a Gretsch and chicken picking will be all the cool behind the nut bends.. a Gretsch doesn't do those very well. But I bet one sounds interesting in a chicken pick situation

[checugs]

Was the question "is there a Gretsch that sounds like a Tele?".
Answer: No, there isn't.

[james lee]

Originally Posted by checugs

Was the question "is there a Gretsch that sounds like a Tele?".
Answer: No, there isn't.

Thank you..

I tried to say that.. but was overlooked..

[MTurner]

Originally Posted by james lee

.. the main issue with a Gretsch and chicken picking will be all the cool behind the nut bends..

I'd never seen that "behind the nut" thing until looking at the vid below a few months ago. Thought it was very cool. Lars Martin is the name of the player in the video - he can pick the snot out of it, for sure.

You Tube

[james lee]

Originally Posted by MTurner

I'd never seen that "behind the nut" thing until looking at the vid below a few months ago. Thought it was very cool. Lars Martin is the name of the player in the video - he can pick the snot out of it, for sure.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFqEfkvIBiY

You tube

Jason Jordan..

Doug Seven..

Just two kick butt chicken pickers..

[WATThouse]

There is a reason so many of us Gretsch users also love Teles. They are two fantastic flavors of krrrang and twang.

[Synchro]

Originally Posted by MTurner

I'd never seen that "behind the nut" thing until looking at the vid below a few months ago. Thought it was very cool. Lars Martin is the name of the player in the video - he can pick the snot out of it, for sure.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFqEfkvIBiY

That's impressive.

[j.s.c]

Originally Posted by EasyEd

JSC did a great job on working up a version of the same jam on a 6120 and even given the issues with recording I can still hear the hollow body bass coming through. The teles seem to have more of a - I don't know how to say it - cutting bright spank twang on the highs and even on the low end.

No Tx it was a pleasure to work on it ! Ok, I may retry and improve the recording side with my pod xt (but I really never read the user manuel). Question how to configure the pod to be as transparent as possible? Arrgg pod+pc=headhache...

5 hours later : i give up with the recording seesion with the pod, could not have a true bypass sound with it (or I don't know how).

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

I wanted to address this directly. It was not overlooked.

Originally Posted by james lee

Thank you..

I tried to say that.. but was overlooked..

I completely agree that guitar to guitar no guitar can likely fully imitate a tele however in this day and age we have so many effects, amp types and settings that I think it valid to ask if in the entire string of what happens from the finger to ear - is there a Gretsch that can "cover" tele country? I was not thinking purely of guitar to guitar.

In my original post I mentioned the Roland/Fender project - the VG Strat. A bunch of guitars in one. How long before you simply buy the body shape you like and have everything Fender, Gibson, Gretsch you name it in one guitar. Signature sound is not intellectual property as far as I know so one multi-guitar capable guitar through effects and a tube amp - maybe nirvana. But until we get there can a Gretsch come close to covering a tele?

-Ed-