gretsch (pickups) 5120/612X

[smolder]

I picked up a 5120 today at the chicago guitar show - very cool playing guitar... the pick ups are nice but they lack a bit of clarity. Frankly, they almost sound like they were voiced for Pete's 'who's next' tone... which is pretty cool.

What I am curious about is the pickup upgrade path and what folks who have been down this road would recommend. Is it just the pickups? Which pickups or upgrades? Or, is there more to it... tuners, caps, pots, etc? Fender seems to be doing a great job of delivering a very high quality instrument with MIM or MIK manufacturing. Thanks in advance.

[SGNick]

A lot of people plunge for the TVJones. I myself and saving for the standard Gretsch Filtertrons, they require a bit of surgery, but you can make it work!

[Drew816]

The pickups in the 5120's are meant to sound more like normal humbuckers than Filtertrons IMHO. They're not 'horrible' but there not that great either and there's a bzillion other guitars out there already with standard style humbuckers so...

TV Jones builds drop in replacements that will fit the 512x series, I forget the mount type but check his website out and you'll find what you're looking for. Then you have to pick what flavor of TV's you want, Classics for the traditional Filtertron tone, Powertrons which still have a bit of twang but are back into standard humbucker territory (add these to a Jet and you've got a Les Paul Killer for sure!!), etc, etc.

Contact Joel at Shanghai for a great price on TV Jone's pickups, not affiliated just priced elsewhere and no to recommend.

Of course once you do all these upgrades to your 512x series you might be thinking "...why didn't I just get a used Proline Anniversary, Tenny or the like??" Been asked many times before and it depends on how much you want to spend and how badly you want that Gretsch tone; IF you want get a Proline, save up and drop in TV's when you can and save yourself the upgrade path. If not, look for a 512x series that somebody has already done all the upgrades too in the used market and save a bunch, they're always out there...

Good luck and enjoy!

[Drew816]

SGNick brings up a good point, the stock HS Filtertrons in the modern prolines are pretty good pickups out of the box; one of the reasons to get a Proline in the first place and IF you feel the need to go to TV's you can, but the stockers aren't bad. AND you can find them on the used market for cheap, they're really a bit of an underrated pickup IMHO. A less TWANG than TVs, a little more normal humbucker sounding but closer than the stockers in the 512x series let alone the pre-Fender era Gretsch Proline guitars (early to mid 2003 and before), those pickups are just cruddy in my experience (let alone the electronics in those guitars, what a joke!).

Happy Playing and Gretsch's RAWK!!

[mad dog]

My 5120 came to me used with the stock pickups already replaced by a set of HS Filtertrons. Excellent pickups. I would not swap these.
MD

[smolder]

Thanks guys. I have a really nice les paul so I'm not looking for that tone. What drove me to this guitar is the whole Pete Townsend Who's Next thing and I had been thinking about a epiphone dot (didn't have a semi). This is a scratch and dent I found for very cheap right out of the box, so I don't have much in it. The pickups sound a bit like they are voiced for Pete's tone. You are right though... the TVJones upgrade will cost me close to what the guitar did.