If you are looking absolute, unmistakable gretsch tone, this is not the guitar to get it with.

it even handles distortion really well, and sounds big and powerful with lots of gain. i can get big gibson jazz tonez, to tele twang, and everything in between. lots of gorgeous aesthetics that are normally only found on much pricier guitars.

I own an orange epiphone swingster, and that guitar is just magic to me.

From 'new', the cheapest Swingster is £529, and the cheapest Gretsch is £618 ($836 and $977 respectively). If anyone has any experience in playing either guitars, or any advice which would potentially be 'better', I'd love to hear it. I know the old adage is 'play both and see which one you prefer', but unfortunately due to where I live (fairly rural part of Britain nowhere near a large city) that is impossible, and forums such have these have been a key factor in deciding which gear to shell my hard earned pennies out on, so I appreciate any help I can get again. I want something that can do ballsy, grungey rock (pushing it for a hollowbody perhaps, but think John Frusciante), reverb-drenched 'indie' sounds, and still has enough flexibility for it to both influence and be influenced by my unique 'style'. But not only does the updated Electromatic have the White Falcon look, it also seems to be a 'better' guitar than the 5120/2. The appeal of the Swingster was the tonal range: the series/parallel switching that I'd read about. Which perhaps makes moving on to an hollowbody strange, but I'm at something of a musical crossroads. Both guitars are new introductions: the Swingster about a year ago, and the 5422 a few months, if I am correct? I usually buy my guitars on the second hand market, in the past favouring cheap, 90s, 'lo-fi' friendly gutiars with wide tonal possibilites. After coming to the conclusion to buy the Swingster over a Gretsch 5120 or 5122, I found out about the 5422. I know I'm posting in a fairly obviously partisan site, but who better to ask than those who know the electromatics best?īasically, I am stuck between the Epiphone Swingster Royale and the Gretsch G5422TDCG.īoth are white falcon-esque guitars in aesthetics, and that's something that, I'm afraid, I'm a sucker for: I am shallow.

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