Took a trip to Guitar Center earlier today and had to a chance to test drive two of these bad boys. One in black, the other in that beautiful orange stain. Consensus? AMAZING! The hype is well deserved. The guitar is solidly constructed. The tuners seem to be an issue with some, but they proved stable in the extended jam session I took. (If you abuse the Bigsby, your guitar will go out of tune! It isn't the tuners, it's a law of the greater guitar universe.) Use the Bigsby for surf or rockabilly warbles, and you'll be just fine. The neck played like a dream, low action, begs to be played fast. The Gretschbuckers get a bad name, but they sounded great to my ears. Nice pure rockabilly/classic 50's rock n roll tones. Ah, tone to die for, and it handles distortion surprisingly well. Yep, I'm sold. I'll be picking mine up next week. If you love that beautiful Grestchy clean tone but still want some versatility in your axe, pick this guitar up immediately.

For the price, this is one rockin' guitar. Every guitar I've ordered to date from Musician's Friend has shown up in pristine condition, and this one was no exception. The sound is great and it is very easy to play. It is also a beautiful to look at. The Bigsby works well and the guitar stays in tune when using it.

In the negative column, the body is laminate, which to my understanding means they use a thin layer of decent wood on top, and use a layer(s) of cheaper wood underneath. For the price, I felt this was a decent trade off. Also, they skimped on some touches, like covered tuners. Anything screwed in seems to need tightening fairly often. The jack where you plug in the cable also seems a bit fragile. Also, please note that this guitar has a floating bridge, so you may have slight intonation issues unless you want to take the time to get it right. This guitar shamelessy does NOT come with a case!

I don't want to sound to negative because all in all, I love this guitar and would buy it again in a heart beat - it get's a really, really good sound for my needs. My main concern is how long it will last given the budget construction, but time will tell. Until then, I'm having a blast with it!

If you are interested in getting into a Hollow Body at a reasonable price, this is the one to go for.

I have played acoustic for years and decided I wanted to get into some blues and try a new shoe on. I played lots of the competition and this is the best for quality, sound and style in my books.

The Ibanez that I played was rough to play and the fret ends were sharp. Not the Gretch! I love the fast action and the Bigsby. Note though, this guitar has a very large jumbo body. Its not heavy, but if you are used to a Les or something small it might not be your style. Ibanez and others makes many smaller hollows.

I play a BD-2 through a fender deluxe and it sounds great! Really able to control the bit with how you play. I have found that even with lots of use of the Bigsby it doesn't go out of tune.

Overall it is the best value for serious players and beginners that don't have the coin to play a a thousand plus cost hollow body! After purchasing, some friends who have Ibanez hollows have regretted their purchases and envied mine.

Like many, I first read the reviews here and everyone raved about this guitar. This made me nervous. I was surprised when I finally played one at a local guitar store. Wow, it PLAYS amazing. I first used the beater floor model with rusted strings. I then got it restrung and wow, it was crazy nice. You can dig in without fatigue and yet still play really quickly. It is a great, great neck. I bought it instantly. When I got it home, I got to hear it through my own rig and, again, it was amazing. Really, really strong pickups. Great range. Really gets nasty, but pull back and you have a killer jazz tone. I love it. Did I mention gorgeous? I have the orange and it just knocks em dead. I bought it to a gig and people nearly fell over. It's beautiful. Thanks Gretsch.

I plunked around with this at a local guitar shop and fell in love instantly. It took a little while to get used to the sheer size (I'm used to electrics and very thin hollow bodies) but after that it was very easy to play. I love the fact that it has a bigsby, which every gretsch pretty much has.

It could be a little cheaper, being the low line base model, but i can understand why the price is the way it is. It is built like a tank and looks great.

The basic tv jones pick-ups get the job done and sounded exactly like something off of a brian setzer album.

bottom line, buy this guitar! I am as soon as i can scrounge up the money.