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Topic: Gretsch Electromatic |
David Rothon
From:
London, England
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Posted 2 Mar 2000 4:14 pm |
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A friend of mine who's not on the Net has just bought a 1962 Gretsch Electromatic 6-string lap steel and wants to know anything about it he can! Eg, are they any good? Are there many of them about? etc. He paid around £180 for it (in the region of $300, I guess) and wonders if it was a good buy. Any info gratefully received.
Friendly
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 2 Mar 2000 6:47 pm
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| David: The Gretsch lap steels from this period are all made by Valco, and are essentially Supros (or in the case of the high-end models, Nationals) in different garb. They're all good quality instruments, and some, especially the Jet series, are also very appealing visually. From what I've heard of English prices, 180 pounds sounds quite reasonable. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2000 2:27 am
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David, you or your friend could take a look at the Gretsch electromatic I have, on my little steel site here and see if it's similar to the one he's got. The one I have sounds pretty good, non-original pickup, though so I couldn't comment on that! Let me know if he has any questions I can help with. http://Steelsales.safeshopper.com
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Mark van Allen-"Blueground Undergrass" Mullen D-10, Fender Dual Professional, Dobro, Sierra 8 string
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John Borchard
From:
Athens, OH 45701
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Posted 3 Mar 2000 9:55 pm
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| David, I just purchased one at the Columbus Guitar Show. As Ian says, it's made by Valco. I've had a number of these guitars - Supro, Oahu, National - all made by Valco. They sound GREAT, IMHO. I've never paid more than $150 for one. This is the first Gretsch I've had, but it sounds identical to the others I own. One thing to watch out for: The strings pass between the pickup bobbin and its "cover". However, the cover is PART OF THE PICKUP. It rests on the magnets on either side of the pickup. What frequently happens is players will remove the cover to clean the guitar or because they want to be able to mute the strings more easily. In doing so, the magnets may get rotated which can greatly mess up the output and, thus, the sound of the pickup. If you notice that some of the strings sound dead, especially two inside or two outside strings, try rotating one of the magnets at a time until the strings sound more or less balanced (the difference will be noticeable). After this,you still may have to adjust the height of the pole pieces to get the balance just right. I've bought several of these guitars dirt cheap because people thought the pickups were fried when the magnets just needed to be rotated. Good luck! I'm sure your friend will love it. |
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