Gretsch BRIAN SETZER SMOKE G6120T-BSSMK review

[@craig.encinitas]

Thanks for making this video. I just picked up a 2018 Setzer 6120 in flame maple. Nice to see and hear the differences in each version.

[@beerbilly]

oh cool! #gretschmafia

[@pg123ab]

Great video and analysis. Thank you very much and great playing!

[@davidsisto7694]

Great review and love the finish on it.

[@beerbilly]

thanks David

[@deanmccreadieguitarist]

Very interesting video, love these guitars. Thanks 👍👍👍

[@petermckernanmusic757]

thanks for the video and insight

[@gregoryz6545]

Thanks for the demo tavo

[@beerbilly]

you bet Greg! cheers

[@michelbuelens]

Love the brass pups on the ssu next to you ;)

[@beerbilly]

a little on the wild side but the guitar is already that crazy 90s orange cough syrup stain

[@surfshack2]

Thanks. Great info. I'm looking to buy a Smoke and the previous owner put Setzer Sigs in it and Tru-Arc bridge. I'm interested and i think i'm goin to buy it. I like the sound of the Setzer Sig pups in your video here. They sound great.

[@lloydloar1]

I'd hold off and get the Ray Butts Filtertrons. They're great pickups. Plus the ABR-1 really works well on the Smoke.

[@surfshack2]

@@lloydloar1 Thanks for the reply. I didn't buy the smoke, I held off for the time being. I have a 5422 and i think i'll hold onto it and put the Ray Butts Filtertrons in that guitar and see if i like it. I'll do that before i spend more money on a smoke.

[@brandonholguin2872]

Tavo, beautiful guitars and great tone! Looking forward to picking up one your "Atomic Brain" pedals. Currently sourcing part$ to modify my Epiphone Broadway Jazz Box into a Rockabilly machine.

[@beerbilly]

get that bigsby b-6 first!

[@brandonholguin2872]

@@beerbilly Just got one the other day, in gold! I placed an order for a Tru-Arc SerpenTune bridge in Aluminum with a Rosewood Base with gold hardware. I have already purchased a Graph Tech, Tusq XL Nut, Grover Locking Tuners. I will be ordering a Custom 50's Wiring Harness from Tone Man Guitar, Bourns Pro Audio with audio taper potentiometers. Vintage aged Russian Paper-In-Oil (PIO) caps. K42Y-2 (The Green Ones) .033uf bridge / .015uf neck. Vintage Gavitt wax cloth push back and braided 22 awg wire. Switchcraft switches and finally Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Alnico V Staple P90 pickups in both the neck and bridge. I follow you on Facebook and just want to say Many Blessings on You and Yours.

[@beerbilly]

@@brandonholguin2872 thanks! looks like you chase the tone dragons too :)

[@chrispope4869]

I love this review of the 59 smoke I’m so inspired to get one now and also your mystery brain. . . . I’m using a rumble seat at present, . . . The sole U.K. distributed for analogue Ellen pedals is in Exeter at Jose pedals , . . . My thing is busking using two yahamhavthr 30’s and 2x Bose s1 pro’s powering the pedals through anger Astro power board, . . . I am dying to include the mystery brain my set up and either the pescatarian and the junior barn yard pedal too 😉😊🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

[@beerbilly]

Hi Chris, ya the rumble seat is a different beast altogether. My Mysterybrain is simply an RE-301 space echo, in a simple toneful format using photocell vibrato for tape warble/vibrato. thanks for the good words! I wish I had distribution but never got to that level of production, still all very hands on here at my shop.

[@joemizz11]

Great Job TV.

[@beerbilly]

thank you

[@JohnnyFriendly]

If I were to install a pair of Ray Butts into a 6120-1959 Vintage Select, would I pretty much have the same guitar as the Smoke or is there more to it than that? (I'm talking about the essence of the guitar not minor discrepancies such zero fret, bridge differences etc)

[@beerbilly]

not at all unfortunately. This instrument has a thin top, w a thin nitro-lacquer finish and the entire neck has serious attention to the fretwork AND the bi-radius shape of the neck. That said, changing the stock pickups of your guitar for the Ray Butts will definitely give you an instrument that is pretty much the vintage early gretsch guitar sound. my caveat is that I find my 99' SSU, that has a tone post w no 50s trestle bracing, and its fretboard set down into the body (unlike the flying fretboard of the smoke) along w its thicker top and rather heavy poly finish, sounds BEST w the setzer signatures. It brings out the best qualities of the instrument in a vintage way, where as the classics just made that guitar have better quality response to my playing and better tone, but in a modern way. ps.I DO have classic and supertron in my setzer 99' hotrod because I want a rock machine out of that guitar, just as I put classics in my gretsch panther which was a chimey game changer from the pallid stock pickups it came with.

[@ivan_emege]

That compound radii was made by TV Jones in its day, maybe the V shape too. That guitar, the original Smokin’, he put a seriously work on it. Listening to you I believe that neck must be a pleasure to play. Maybe is something like the Fender 57 Soft V-Shape, but thinner? I prefer the bold tone, the looks and the simple layout of the Steve Wariner’s Gretsch signature, but the neck and softly round body edges of the Setzer must be delicious. Greetings!

[@martymcfly841]

Hey Tavo is already aTrebel bleed in the master Volume? Great review!

[@beerbilly]

nope

[@mainoffenders4662]

I was under the impression Setzers sslvo was a faithful reproduction of his 59 with a 2.75" deep body. Is this not the case then?? Great presentation by the way!

[@TwangAndDrip]

Very nice guitar. What set of strings do you have on it? 10's? Flats or rounds?

[@beerbilly]

11g D'addario nickel rounds

[@TwangAndDrip]

@@beerbilly thanks, man. Amazing sound!!

[@BushidoPhoto]

I have a newer Setzer with the signature pickups and a broken and then repaired headstock. This is Wenzel by the way. Great video!

[@beerbilly]

oh my gawd, that must have been heart wrenching! :) I thought that only happened to Gibsons haha

[@TropicalLatitude]

Nice Engelhardt

[@seanwakeling2405]

What would be your pick out of this and a White Falcon 59 select?

[@beerbilly]

too much of an apples and oranges thing since the Falcons are 25.5" scale (fender scale), have a lower bout that is 1" wider, the body is 1/4" deeper and the nut is 1.6875 w a solid 12" radius. These are big guitars! The Smoke has a compound 9.5" radius that transitions up to 12" and the nut is 1.685 the feel is quite different, and the body is 2.5 deep w a 16" lower bout. Both are fantastic guitars but I'm 5'7" w skinny hands (the only skinny part of me) so the Lake Placid FSR Falcon and Setzer Phoenix (falcon) I owned were beautiful and inspirational instruments but I felt like they were playing me, not me playing them :) The second Gretsch comes out with a standard 6120 size white Falcon in the states, I will finance one immediately!! Hey Gretsch, how bout a Nocturne "everyman" model. :)

[@seanwakeling2405]

@@beerbilly Thank you for your reply, the other model I like is the RHH 6120.

[@beerbilly]

@@seanwakeling2405 my only struggle w the RHH I owned was the wide headstock which placed the tuners at an angle from the nut slots. tuning was a beyotch. I'm sure though had I spent the money on a Tusq XL nut and luthier cutting better slots it would have alleviated the problem but at the time I needed to pay bills..as it always goes. BUT!! What makes that RHH incredible was that for some reason, my early model had a tone post instead of trestle bracing which is more in line w his other gretsch he used prior to the sig model. Most of his sound on albums is his gibson w p90s and the tonepost gretsch guitars (like my 99' SSU) had that xtra growl.. so that becomes a factor I guess ?? :)

[@seanwakeling2405]

@@beerbilly So in your opinion is the Brian Setzer model you tested one of the best Rockabilly guitars?

[@beerbilly]

@@seanwakeling2405 Vintage Rockabilly, Neo Rockabilly or Psychobilly? :) There isnt a better production gretsch made because its so close to a custom shop. I recently had a black SSU and while its one of Gretsch's better builds, the Smoke model is just unbelievable.. all it needs to have is a setup for 11g strings, but thats me. Bigsby's need 11g strings to return to pitch properly.. 10s are fine if you are setzer and you keep handing your guitar to a tech on the sideline for another guitar :)

[@dtaboso]

For me ears, I prefer tv jones classic , more sound paf and original Gretsch, signature Brian Serzer have more output and sautured de amp , more distorsion , it si my opinion, maybe with a gretsch hot rod ared good this pickups but in 6120 smoke I prefer tv jones classic. It is my opinion.🙏

[@beerbilly]

what kind of amp are you using? that matters

[@whimpypatrol5503]

Is this an ad? The blond amps in the background does add credibility. Is that screen telling me they are made in Japan versus China or Korea?

[@beerbilly]

my screen I found in an antiques story. I produce the nocturne blondeshell amps, and Gretsch will tell you that their pro line is built in Terada Japan. cheers, tv

[@xeverettx2564]

Great demo brother. I’m so worried that these younger generations are gonna let Gretsch die because it’s n “old guy boomer guitar.” Hopefully not because of guys like you and me are doing our best to pass it on. Many thanx!!!

[@szymonurbaniak1657]

too much talk and too little presentation of the sound of the guitar. you play great but talk too much

[@beerbilly]

Its called a "Review" for the very reason that its not intended to be a "Demonstration", so if you clicked to watch someone playing all the time, of course you would be disappointed.