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A "Mini Rat Rod", e.g. 2.25" thick, same body shape with the lower bout diameter reduced from 16" to 14". With a TUSQ XL nut, and a less string strainful headstock similar to a Breedlove. Or, simply reissue the Baldwin Era Blackhawk complete with a "tuning fork bridge", but with a 14" lower...

Peavey Vyper VIP-1, which I found to be overly complicated, so I gave it to my Physical Therapist's 15 year old daughter/budding guitarist, after replacing it with 2 Vox's: A Mini 5 Rhythm, and a VT40X.

My first pedal was a Digitech Mosaic 12-string emulator.

My Korean-made satin black Rat Rod of course, with my Indonesian-made non-T G2655 as a runner-up. Both are stock, BTW.

Group picture. Black Rat Rod far right; Black Luna Mandolin middle.

The Gretsch I fell for in 1967 was (obviously) a Baldwin-era Gretsch, that being a Blackhawk. Which is why I snapped up a flat black Rat Rod in 2020 as soon as I saw it on the Zzounds website, because it is a reasonable facsimile of my 50+ year old memory. I have not been disappointed!

Vox AC4?

DHS Milkman

For those of us in the "NOT WELL_HEELED" crowd, where "good enough" is the rule of the day, my Vox VT40X does a remarkably credible job of emulating most of those mentioned, particularly the AC30TB and Dumble Clean. For a helluva lot less money.

If Gretsch made a Rat Rod with the lower bout diameter of a G5655 or G2655 (13-1/2" to 14", instead of the Rat Rod's 16"), 2-1/4" thick, and fully hollowbody without a resonance robbing center block, that's what I'd pick. But since they don't I am contenting myself with an Epiphone Casino Coupe...

ACTUALLY, based on my own flat black Rat Rod, that oft-quoted '2.5"' figure is erroneous!! The ACTUAL thickness at the edge is 2.25", e.g. 2-1/4 ", NOT 2-1/2". Thus making the Rat Rod much more akin to a modernized reissue of the '67-72 Gretsch Blackhawk, which was a fully hollowbody 2" thick...

I would think, though I have no personal experience with this, that the (rather more expensive) single cutaway 5655TG will be louder unamplified because there is one more hollow chamber available to "pump out" the sound. I did find that removal of the pickguard on my 2655 seemed to increase the...

I wonder what your custom lefty monkey on a stick pickup would sound like if you slid it down next to the bridge, instead of the default neck position (wondering because I have found that I prefer the sound from a bridge pickup to that from a neck pickup most of the time). My dad had an original...

I like my Digitech Mosaic 12-string emulator.

I haven't read the first 2 pages, so if it has already been mentioned, forgive. My Vox VT40X hybrid amplifier has 2 modeled amplifiers that deliver very nice clean tones. They are, in order, "User-A", and Vox AC30TB. The User-A setting, which is user-modifiable, by default from the factory...

I would like to see an Electromatic 12 and/or 6 string JR size full Hollowbody using the same thickness and construction as the G5410T, e.g. ~13-1/2"-14" lower bout diameter, 2-1/4" thick at the sides. THAT would be AWESOME !!! Could not care less what color it came in, I would buy it. Single or...

radd said: The Rat Rods appeared to have a very intense but short life at the top. '67-ish Black Hawk 6100/6101, with the weird semi-functional "tuning fork bridge", which I fell in love with in a music store as a young teenager but was never able to convince my dad to acquire, other life...

I'd give the 5410T (Rat Rod, etc.) a go INSTEAD of the 5420T--it is 1/2 inch THINNER with a bridge post (dowel) similar in concept to a bass violin; unamplified resonance is superb. I haven't played it with a really loud amplifier, but it seems similar to my PRS SE Standard Hollowbody, though...

Vox VT40X Hybrid Modeling Amplifier, using either the "Vox AC30TB" setting, or the default "User-A" setting (which is equivalent to a Dumble Clean Amplifier sound).

I own a G2655, and a G5410T. The Rat Rod is the best sounding.

1967 Blackhawk

For me, it was the '67 Blackhawk, or its more affordable modern re-imagining, the flat Black Rat Rod. I realize that is a bastardization of the conceptualizational history of the Rat Rod, so sue me! The Blackhawk was the first Gretsch I ever saw, and fell in love with. In January 2021 I made my...

Old, live at 6000 feet, probably cranky; I learned on my dad's 1940's Gibson archtop, played for 40 years off and on (mostly off) on a Conn nylon-stringed acoustic that was too wide for my small hands and which I eventually sold about 12 years ago for about what I paid for it originally. I've...

Those with the 3rd the last number being a 5 indicate a lower bout diameter of 13-1/2" to 14". Nearly all other Gretsch's are 16" or 17". Examples: 2655, 5655, 5657 (indicates a special run for some large music company), etc.

My semi-hollowbody double-cutaway G2655 non-T with 13-1/2" lower bout diameter weighs about 6-1/3 lbs. I would think the very similar single cutaway G5655T would not be much more. My recently acquired flat black fully hollowbody G5410T Rat Rod is surprisingly lightweight as well, though I...