wished i lived in canada to be your shop dummy, but these you tube videos are the next best thing. you have no idea how much i appreciate you posting these videos, i have learned so much!
I own one of these gorgeous works of art and the best string gauge I have ever found for this guitar is the D'Addario XL 11-49 with a wound 3rd...it sounds incredible! :) Nice video btw!
I restring a Bigsby equipped guitar using a capo. I put the ball end on the pin, pull it taught, and then capo it while I wind the tuner. Works really well and makes restringing a Bigsby not much harder than any other guitar. I also use this trick on my Danelectro that has an open slot for the string ball end at the bridge.
I have the exact same guitar; 6136T-LTV. I use .010-.044 Pyramid Monel Classics(round core). Absolutely no tuning issues at all. I would highly suggest replacing that POS Asian made Tune-o-matic with either a Tru-Arc bar bridge or a Compton Compensated bridge as it will vastly increase the sustain and tonality of the guitar and usually the intonation is spot on with them. Those Bridge bases are pinned to the top so it will not move once strings are on. There's a string winder that Dean Markley offers that fit the bigger Grover Imperial buttons. It's called the "TurboTune". Great Guitars these new higher end Gretsches! Built better than the Brooklyn era ones for the most part.
regarding changing the strings, at 7:40 where you set the eraser under the Bigsby, a tip I used is to use those spongey earbuds, as they can be squeezed down to slip under the bar, then they expand back up to hold the string end in place.
For what it's worth, I restring my Bigsby equipped guitars as follows-- Put the ball end of the string in a pair of needle nose pliers next to the cutters.While gripping the string firmly, give it 1 1/2 turns around the pliers.This gives it a tight curve that makes it easy to slip onto the pin, without needing to wedge it from underneath. Then ,either tape the string to the top of the bar, or apply a minimal amount of tension while attaching it to the tuners.
Dave - great video. I switch my G5120 strings to Ernie Ball 10-52's, which is what I use on my Les Paul and wow, what a difference ! No fret buzz, lower strings (with straight neck adjustment), stays in tune perfectly and sounds 100% better. Thanks !
Sad but my falcon took a pretty bad spill about 3 weeks ago and the headstock literally cracked right off. It was in it's case too so I'm pretty baffled how it even happened but I guess Gretsch guitars aren't that strong even when protected by their case. My luthier is fixing it up but according to him I'll have permanent battle scaring where the headstock and neck meet. just my luck to get the guitar of my dreams and it breaks..on my birthday no less...
Hey, thanks for the eraser trick. Now I don't have to use my 3 extra hands. Why do you think there was no tension on the truss rod? Just a factory oversight? I'm going to check mine now!!!!
Thanks for the White Falcon closeups. I could stare at that guitar all day. Does Bigsby spring tension affect the minimum string guage? (import) Bigsby on my Electromatic has a higher tension spring. I got info. on lowering my Bigsby arm and found out about the tension difference. My guitar had a perfect setup, but the strings the store put on were obviously too light. It works well enough, but the guitar is begging for 11's.
Hi Davey, cool guitar man, congrats on your first student :), did you lower the saddle there after straightening the neck?,or did you do something else with the saddle? Cheers, Jesse
Oh man what a purdy guitar,you would think for the money they would come a little better setup from Gretsch.Reminds me of Billy Duffy's from The Cult.Your new assistant sounds very lovely I hope we'll get to see her in a future episode??
hey dave!!! what gage strings would you recommend for a White Falcon that doesn't have a bigsby tremolo? For example the model with the big G tailpiece.
The guitar was made for a heavier set of strings. Most real jazz boxes are made that way. When you take the strings off, you will see some back bow in the fretboard. On this guitar, there was no tension on the truss rod because the guy had put a set of 1046 strings on the geetar and then discovered that the neck had a back bow in it, because there was not enough tension to pull the neck forward. He tried to adjust it out, and completely loosened the truss rod, but could not get the back bow out of the neck. Put the right set of strings (1148, at least) on the guitar and everything is fine.
oh! ok. so putting heavy gage strings on these wont bend and crack the neck from the body? cos thats what happened to a fender mex strat that i put 12s on 🤨
Amusing as usual Dave ! I managed to get some education on the Bigsby trem system. .011 minimum guage strings eh ? Good to know. If I ever get a Gretsch it probably won't be a $3000 white falcon but I can still apply my new found knowledge to a cheaper model. Thanks !
Hey Dave, funny you mention the truss rod finishing around or just shy of the body in the Gretsch. Mine has a slight hump around the 15-16th frets and can't figure how to get it the hell outta there...a pain in the backend! Apart from that videos are the best on here! Cheers
Dave, I have a Gretsch Electromatic 12 string, the intonation is terrible. I have reversed all the saddles but the strings are all sharp. The bridge is pinned so a major job to remove it, any suggestions what to do?
Nice guitar man!!! You should have brought out your new bottle neck slide for the demo!!! ....Huh, Dave, ...speaking of demo's ...maybe your new student could start doing the demo's? LOL!!! Cheers!!! ;D
Can anyone help me with the following gretsch wiring? i would like to keep the pickup selector switch, the neck pickup volume control and the bridge volume control. I installed a master tone control for both the neck and bridge pickup, but i would like to use my second selector switch as a switch to the pickups signal bypassing the tone control... when engaged, pickups go thru the tone control, when disengaged the pickups signal goes directly to the amp...does anyone have an idea how to do this? thanks a lot!!!
Really amazing guitar,this and the White Penguin,my buddy wanted to trade his Godin Seagull of the year and pay the diffrence on one of theese (a 2000$ diffrence) Cheers!
Fun fact: Bigsbys are are so damn finicky. I used 13's on the thing thinking "it hates slinky strings so why the hell not put thick ones on", bad idea. It's just as easy to choke a falcon as it is to be too light. gotta find the median. 11's are definitely the best way to go, and any style of string EXCEPT flatwounds. Thanks for the video Dave! you were one of the guys that sold me on getting a falcon...and setting it up correctly. Cheers!
Folks, this guitar is not $4,000! Shop around. Go to Gretsch dealers. I got my White Falcon brand spanking new for just $2,400. And that wasn't twenty years ago...it was just two years ago. $2,400 for a brand new Gretsch White Falcon. They are within reach of all guitar players who know how to save some dough.
so I guess this is common occurrence for Gretsch HBs? I seen a lot of them with a hump in the neck . At the area where the neck joins the bridge till the end of fretboard. Some of em had the neck angle so shallow you would really have to shave down the bridge get any decent action
IF YOU WERE IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME WANGIN THAT BIGSBY LIKE THAT YOU WOULD GET PUNCHED IN THE FUCKIN THROAT!!!...PUT THAT THING DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF DAVE!
How can really expensive guitars come out set up so badly
7 ปีที่แล้ว
GOOD question! I bought a GIbson ES-390 in Memphis (at the factory) last year. Beautiful guitar, but I had to do quite a bit of adjusting to get it properly set-up. Don't say I should have had them do it- these are the same people who put it in the display room in that condition!
That bridge is garbage! I just replaced one on my G5420T Electromatic today (5/1/2018). I used an original Melita bridge. Although it says GRETSCH in the middle now ( between the D and G strings. it's still the same style. My guess is that they're out of business. That would explain the name change. It still says "Synchrosonic" on the sides. I also replaced the pickups with actual Filter'Trons. What a HUGE difference! NIGHT AND DAY!! I also replaced the bright thin plain G shit string with an Erine Ball wound G string. Now it has that true fifties hollowbody tone! The blacktop 'trons that come with it are alright, but they're too bright, TOO clean, too sterile - not a lot of punch, or true Gretsch tone for anything Filter'Tron like. I just don't care for them. It's hard to get the right tone without a lot of knob twiddling. They're good if you have the right amp. They're like single coils with a little more output. Not like a true Gretsch humbucker. The Synchrosonic pickup is single coil, but on steriods! I just wonder why they keep putting different pickups in each of these guitars when they change some aesthetic about it, then call it by another number with the same designation? Maybe some day I'll have the money.... The Falcon has been my dream since I was a kid! Any way. thanks for sharing this.
I've always despised tremolo bars. They always knock the instrument out of tune, and in my personal opinion are just toys to goof with. Hardtail is the only way to go.
It’s definitely the player absolutely beautiful tones and sounds are made with the Bigsby if you go out of tune 9 out of 10 times it’s the nut not the Bigsby be sure to use Big Bends nut sauce when you change strings and lube the nut slots maybe take the old string and use it like a file clean the slots the lube the bridge where it rides and you should be fine
For as much as those damn things cost they should be set up perfectly out of the shop. I have a Nashville I bought new in '97 and it had a few problems out of the box too. Gretsch's quality control is shit and it got even worse after Fender bought them.
wished i lived in canada to be your shop dummy, but these you tube videos are the next best thing. you have no idea how much i appreciate you posting these videos, i have learned so much!
The eraser is a good idea to hold strings in place while re-stringing, but the StringRay is faster, more convenient. Thanks for posting.
Buffalo Springfield comes to my mind instantly. Very nice!
I own one of these gorgeous works of art and the best string gauge I have ever found for this guitar is the D'Addario XL 11-49 with a wound 3rd...it sounds incredible! :) Nice video btw!
I restring a Bigsby equipped guitar using a capo. I put the ball end on the pin, pull it taught, and then capo it while I wind the tuner. Works really well and makes restringing a Bigsby not much harder than any other guitar. I also use this trick on my Danelectro that has an open slot for the string ball end at the bridge.
Genius
+bluewallinc Haha! I have my moments for sure. I was quite proud of myself for coming up with that sans TH-cam assistance or anything, Cheers!
I have the exact same guitar; 6136T-LTV. I use .010-.044 Pyramid Monel Classics(round core). Absolutely no tuning issues at all. I would highly suggest replacing that POS Asian made Tune-o-matic with either a Tru-Arc bar bridge or a Compton Compensated bridge as it will vastly increase the sustain and tonality of the guitar and usually the intonation is spot on with them. Those Bridge bases are pinned to the top so it will not move once strings are on. There's a string winder that Dean Markley offers that fit the bigger Grover Imperial buttons. It's called the "TurboTune". Great Guitars these new higher end Gretsches! Built better than the Brooklyn era ones for the most part.
just a gorgeous guitar...
Dave, I can't wait until your channel takes off in the amount of views.
Best of luck!
Bryce
regarding changing the strings, at 7:40 where you set the eraser under the Bigsby, a tip I used is to use those spongey earbuds, as they can be squeezed down to slip under the bar, then they expand back up to hold the string end in place.
For what it's worth, I restring my Bigsby equipped guitars as follows-- Put the ball end of the string in a pair of needle nose pliers next to the cutters.While gripping the string firmly, give it 1 1/2 turns around the pliers.This gives it a tight curve that makes it easy to slip onto the pin, without needing to wedge it from underneath. Then ,either tape the string to the top of the bar, or apply a minimal amount of tension while attaching it to the tuners.
Dave - great video. I switch my G5120 strings to Ernie Ball 10-52's, which is what I use on my Les Paul and wow, what a difference ! No fret buzz, lower strings (with straight neck adjustment), stays in tune perfectly and sounds 100% better. Thanks !
Camille's laughter, suggesting that some good times are coming on.. One more reason to stay tuned:)
Sad but my falcon took a pretty bad spill about 3 weeks ago and the headstock literally cracked right off. It was in it's case too so I'm pretty baffled how it even happened but I guess Gretsch guitars aren't that strong even when protected by their case. My luthier is fixing it up but according to him I'll have permanent battle scaring where the headstock and neck meet. just my luck to get the guitar of my dreams and it breaks..on my birthday no less...
Hey, thanks for the eraser trick. Now I don't have to use my 3 extra hands. Why do you think there was no tension on the truss rod? Just a factory oversight? I'm going to check mine now!!!!
Thanks for the White Falcon closeups. I could stare at that guitar all day.
Does Bigsby spring tension affect the minimum string guage?
(import) Bigsby on my Electromatic has a higher tension spring. I got info. on lowering my Bigsby arm and found out about the tension difference. My guitar had a perfect setup, but the strings the store put on were obviously too light. It works well enough, but the guitar is begging for 11's.
Hi Davey,
cool guitar man, congrats on your first student :), did you lower the saddle there after straightening the neck?,or did you do something else with the saddle?
Cheers,
Jesse
Oh man what a purdy guitar,you would think for the money they would come a little better setup from Gretsch.Reminds me of Billy Duffy's from The Cult.Your new assistant sounds very lovely I hope we'll get to see her in a future episode??
dave...do you mind if i ask you how many years have you been a guitar tech. ?
hey dave!!! what gage strings would you recommend for a White Falcon that doesn't have a bigsby tremolo? For example the model with the big G tailpiece.
Reminds me of that old Christmas song "I'm dreaming of a white falcon".
Hey dave, i was wondering if a 100 percent laquer covered bass guitar needs any moisture, or any 'special treatment' that i might not know of.
They come with tens. I use nines...not a problem with the bigsby.
The guitar was made for a heavier set of strings. Most real jazz boxes are made that way. When you take the strings off, you will see some back bow in the fretboard. On this guitar, there was no tension on the truss rod because the guy had put a set of 1046 strings on the geetar and then discovered that the neck had a back bow in it, because there was not enough tension to pull the neck forward. He tried to adjust it out, and completely loosened the truss rod, but could not get the back bow out of the neck. Put the right set of strings (1148, at least) on the guitar and everything is fine.
oh! ok. so putting heavy gage strings on these wont bend and crack the neck from the body? cos thats what happened to a fender mex strat that i put 12s on 🤨
@OtterpopSlaughterMop Canada's winters fuck guitars up so much. It's not because of shitty quality control in most cases
Amusing as usual Dave ! I managed to get some education on the Bigsby trem system. .011 minimum guage strings eh ? Good to know. If I ever get a Gretsch it probably won't be a $3000 white falcon but I can still apply my new found knowledge to a cheaper model. Thanks !
They put those strings together because that's the recommended order you replace the strings to spread the tension over the neck
Is it common in USA built ones or just the overseas build.
Hey Dave, funny you mention the truss rod finishing around or just shy of the body in the Gretsch. Mine has a slight hump around the 15-16th frets and can't figure how to get it the hell outta there...a pain in the backend!
Apart from that videos are the best on here! Cheers
You sir, are my hero.
nice set up glad you found some help.keep em coming
dave you need a quality amp to show off the sound of your guitar repairs and yes a little reverb would help
What kinda tele bass is that in the background?
Dave can u do me a solid and let me know if I can use boiled linseed for keeping my fretboard in order
Awesome. Thanks Dave!
Dave, I have a Gretsch Electromatic 12 string, the intonation is terrible. I have reversed all the saddles but the strings are all sharp. The bridge is pinned so a major job to remove it, any suggestions what to do?
some do, this one is pinned
cheers
@davey4557 that's probably because the neck didn't have tension on it whatsoever at the beginning...
Nice guitar man!!! You should have brought out your new bottle neck slide for the demo!!! ....Huh, Dave, ...speaking of demo's ...maybe your new student could start doing the demo's?
LOL!!! Cheers!!! ;D
Can anyone help me with the following gretsch wiring? i would like to keep the pickup selector switch, the neck pickup volume control and the bridge volume control. I installed a master tone control for both the neck and bridge pickup, but i would like to use my second selector switch as a switch to the pickups signal bypassing the tone control... when engaged, pickups go thru the tone control, when disengaged the pickups signal goes directly to the amp...does anyone have an idea how to do this? thanks a lot!!!
I half expected Duane Eddy to pop up and start playing that thing.
MY dream guitar!!!
every time I go into long and mcquade i pick one of those up, play it, and wish I had an extra 4 grand laying around. haha.
i gave a thumbs up after 90 seconds cos i love falcons and Dave makes me laugh
Your new assistant. . .
Are you actually going to show her face, or does the have two heads?????
This is my future guitar
Christ, that guitars a beauty. In my mind though, it still doesn't compare to a Les Paul
You can send that White Falcon down here to SUNNY CALIFORNIA!!!
Beauty white falcon
can you speed up the help a little Dave?
I know this is a 10 year old video, but I just wanted to mention that these come from the factory with 11s
thanks Davey.
Pinned Rosewood Base - bridge according to the Gretch specs
Really amazing guitar,this and the White Penguin,my buddy wanted to trade his Godin Seagull of the year and pay the diffrence on one of theese (a 2000$ diffrence) Cheers!
So a classical music education qualifies one to be a guitar repair tech?
It's so funny that a serious guitar like that would have such Junior string gauges.
End of last two videos I watched.. "I need a reverb.."
I hope you got a reverb.
Why would you let a beginner work on a Falcon? Blasphemy!!
Nice Guitar' They call that knob on the the cutaway a "Master Volume " LOL
This makes me want a Canadian guitar tech...
haha the condom on the pick guard 2:27 :P Love this guy
is she purty??
lot of people posting about having bigsby problems are stringing it under the bar instead of over it... no shit you have problems?
Fun fact: Bigsbys are are so damn finicky. I used 13's on the thing thinking "it hates slinky strings so why the hell not put thick ones on", bad idea. It's just as easy to choke a falcon as it is to be too light. gotta find the median. 11's are definitely the best way to go, and any style of string EXCEPT flatwounds. Thanks for the video Dave! you were one of the guys that sold me on getting a falcon...and setting it up correctly. Cheers!
Luke Doucet kinda guitar! :)
Those have got to be the most gorgeous guitars on the planet. If I had a guitar like that I'd be a pimp. Just because.
It was immune to your grouchery.
Folks, this guitar is not $4,000! Shop around. Go to Gretsch dealers. I got my White Falcon brand spanking new for just $2,400. And that wasn't twenty years ago...it was just two years ago. $2,400 for a brand new Gretsch White Falcon. They are within reach of all guitar players who know how to save some dough.
Great video! The falcon is so sexy and sounds sexcellent
nice guitar
so I guess this is common occurrence for Gretsch HBs? I seen a lot of them with a hump in the neck . At the area where the neck joins the bridge till the end of fretboard. Some of em had the neck angle so shallow you would really have to shave down the bridge get any decent action
Hi Camille
IF YOU WERE IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME WANGIN THAT BIGSBY LIKE THAT YOU WOULD GET PUNCHED IN THE FUCKIN THROAT!!!...PUT THAT THING DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF DAVE!
She sounded cute.
hahahah still got the condom on the pick guard, now i know what its called
How can really expensive guitars come out set up so badly
GOOD question! I bought a GIbson ES-390 in Memphis (at the factory) last year. Beautiful guitar, but I had to do quite a bit of adjusting to get it properly set-up. Don't say I should have had them do it- these are the same people who put it in the display room in that condition!
yep ,,,put some hutsauce on it!
@davey4557 ...hhmm...bought like me...i tor up a 68 fender mustang at 12...i fucked it bad...still have as a matter of fact...
A.) When did he say the guitar was brand new?
B.) You're judging a guitar that you haven't specifically played over the internet. Lol.
did anyone ever mention you look like Liam Neeson? Just sayin' :)
That bridge is garbage! I just replaced one on my G5420T Electromatic today (5/1/2018). I used an original Melita bridge. Although it says GRETSCH in the middle now ( between the D and G strings. it's still the same style. My guess is that they're out of business. That would explain the name change. It still says "Synchrosonic" on the sides. I also replaced the pickups with actual Filter'Trons. What a HUGE difference! NIGHT AND DAY!! I also replaced the bright thin plain G shit string with an Erine Ball wound G string. Now it has that true fifties hollowbody tone! The blacktop 'trons that come with it are alright, but they're too bright, TOO clean, too sterile - not a lot of punch, or true Gretsch tone for anything Filter'Tron like. I just don't care for them. It's hard to get the right tone without a lot of knob twiddling. They're good if you have the right amp. They're like single coils with a little more output. Not like a true Gretsch humbucker. The Synchrosonic pickup is single coil, but on steriods! I just wonder why they keep putting different pickups in each of these guitars when they change some aesthetic about it, then call it by another number with the same designation? Maybe some day I'll have the money.... The Falcon has been my dream since I was a kid! Any way. thanks for sharing this.
I think Melita makes coffee filters now.
Ultimate guitar. I want it! Who can give me 4000 $?
guess what dave did after this vid with his "student"
found it 2:46 lol
Why do people watch a video all the way to the end before deciding they don't like it and then complain??? Just turn off guys
I've always despised tremolo bars. They always knock the instrument out of tune, and in my personal opinion are just toys to goof with. Hardtail is the only way to go.
Maybe it's the user, not the used ??
The tremolo waving down and back is beautiful though.
You just have to be smarter than the bar!
Says Jimi Hendrix...
It’s definitely the player absolutely beautiful tones and sounds are made with the Bigsby if you go out of tune 9 out of 10 times it’s the nut not the Bigsby be sure to use Big Bends nut sauce when you change strings and lube the nut slots maybe take the old string and use it like a file clean the slots the lube the bridge where it rides and you should be fine
For as much as those damn things cost they should be set up perfectly out of the shop. I have a Nashville I bought new in '97 and it had a few problems out of the box too. Gretsch's quality control is shit and it got even worse after Fender bought them.
Mine is better lol
I thought all girls knew what a nut driver is used for.
A guitar that must have cost a fortune,brand new and it’s not properly set up from the factory? I don’t think I’ll be buying a Gretsch!
I agree with the comment that this guy is really annoying to watch for 12 minutes.
Well, too bad this video didn't last 12 minutes. Learn your abc and 123 first before joining the legion of legendary idiots online
A White Falcon with gold binding/h/w..and it aint set up right from the factory...Get a
Gibson then LOL!
this guy is WAY too annoying to watch for 12 minutes.
You're too annoying to read for 5 seconds....Dave is cool though :)