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The Gretsch Tennessee Rose is a real beauty. A hollow body with single coil pickups, this guitar can sparkle but also has some "get down and dirty" grit when you want it. Gretsch got it right with this recreation of the famous 60's era model that George Harrison played throughout 1964-65 on songs like Day Tripper, Help, Ticket To Ride, etc. I bought a brand new model made in 2016. It came with authentication papers and a good little manual and an excellent case. The tone of the guitar was better than I expected. The pickups are unexpectedly versatile... more powerful than stock strat single coils, similar in presence to P90's with a bit more pop, I found I could wander from the traditional Beatle tones to jazzy, blues, and crunchy rock with that "real" tone that comes with a vintage design instrument. Gretsch's tone control setup is interesting... they replace tone pots with a switch that gives you three tone settings. In the middle the switch gives you a clear path from the volume pot to the amp, with no tone pot, this gives you the most sparkle that you can get... this is that clear, bright, shimmering classic Beatles tone. Move the switch down and you select a capacitor in the circuit that touches off the high frequencies just a bit. This one was perfect for adding overdrive and creating a great bluesy tone. Move the tone control to the top and you get a narrow, squished jazzy tone, similar to turning a tone pot close to the max. I got to really like this tone set up. Another thing I really like about the Rose is it's size and playability. It "snuggles" right in against your chest and belly, it's light and has a very effective shape. Reaching and working the Bigsby is easy, it's properly sensitive and sounds fantastic. The neck is a familiar shape, it plays well. The maple neck with rosewood fretboard is well made and sounds as it should. The frets are modern size and play nicely. My guitar came with the truss rod loose, which I prefer, it was easy for me to set up and after a few twists I had the right amount of neck relief to set the strings at the low height I prefer. It has absolutely no fret buzz. I was also surprised at how this guitar sounds in the mix. I was able to get loud and crunchy without the guitar feeding back... staying at least four feet away from my 100 watt Marshall TSL. Now... you can't set this thing to play insane distortion, but that's not what it was designed for... but I can say I was able to get more practical overdrive working with this guitar than I expected, and it sounded quite good. My friends were impressed and I was obliged to hand it around a few times when I "debuted" it with our group of hobby players. I'm quite impressed with the Rose, and finding it hard to set down. The quality of the build is fantastic, and frankly, the guitar looks really good, it turns heads when you play it in front of people. I had more than one person ask me if this was a "Beatle" guitar... yes it was... and now it's that and more! Check it out and see what you think!Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
I was looking for a little different sound from a Gretsch as I have two others. This Tennessee Rose was just what I was looking for. The single coil HILO Tron pickups are glassy clean. The action on this guitar is perfect. It may be my favorite guitar. The 16 inch body is more comfortable to hold than the 17 inch Country Gentleman, which is huge. The neck is flat and wide, making chords a breeze. The dark rosy body is a beauty and worthy of its name. Quality of fit, finish, plating, attention to detail make this a fantastic instrument that will last a lifetime.
This guitar is a real beauty. It looks so great, plays so good and smoothly. It's just like a gorgious woman. A pleasure to enjoy. I would recommand it to any collector.