Recording King or Gretsch?

[Jonpaul]

I'm having a hard time deciding between the Gretsch Ampli Sonic Honey Dipper or the Recording King Style-O guitar. I have been playing blues with my Guild D17-M (1984-issue) and enjoy it, but wanted to have a brass-body guitar to use for open tuning with a slide. Both guitars appear good, but I can't find a dealer in my area that has either to try. Your experience is very appreciated. Thanks, Jonpaul

[leftyguitarman]

I have no experience with the Recording King, but I did get to play the Gretsch a few weeks back and I really liked it. Very loud, very clear sounding and it had a really nice V neck on it. The frets could've used a little work, but nothing too extreme. Where are you located? If by the small chance you're near Seattle, American Music in Seattle has the Gretsches in stock.

[OldWailer]

I don't know about the Gretsch--but I had a RK tricone for a while--I didn't like it much--the sound was pretty good--the neck very thick and slow--and the neck entered the body at the 11th fret!

I would really recommend trying first on metal guitars--this might be heresy on this board--but I find that they are not for everyone--I just love to hear them played by somebody like Bottleneck John--but I don't like playing them much--I found out the hard way that I prefer wood body reso guitars for slide. . .

[Jonpaul]

I took a chance and ordered a Gretsch about a week ago and it arrived this afternoon. I like the guitar; to bad it has to go back. The front of the guitar near the resonator has pit marks and what looks like hairs embedded into the surface, and a place furthur up near the "F" hole has another hair embedded that is in the shape of a questionmark. I bought the guitar through Amazon (one of their outside sellers, that could not be contacted today; but I did contact Amazon) I hope I don't have any problem. I would rather buy in person, that way I can inspect the product; unfortunately, I live East of Phoenix, Arizona. All of the dealers that I contacted said they could order it for me, but would not stock either item.

[leftyguitarman]

Sorry to hear that it wasn't what you wanted!

And you're a Phoenician? How's the weather? I just moved out of Phoenix about 9 months ago. Spent about three and a half years up north in Anthem.

[bottleneckjohn]

That Honey Dipper is just awesome to look at, haven't played one though..
And the wood body Gretsch model looks stunning too, just like my mid-30's Regal Dobro. They are identical apart from the headstock, mine is slotted, looks far better than the solid ones, imo..

Good luck finding your reso, JonPaul!!


Ps. Republic might be releasing some new models soon, not sure but maybe...

[Jonpaul]

Sorry to hear that it wasn't what you wanted!

And you're a Phoenician? How's the weather? I just moved out of Phoenix about 9 months ago. Spent about three and a half years up north in Anthem.

It is hot. Been over 100 every day. I tried to get away from the heat in July and went North through Arizona and Utah and Idaho headed for Glacier National park in Montana. On the way back I went through Wyoming and stopped at Yellowstone, then on to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park, then onto Colorado Springs and South through New Mexico; headed back to Arizona. I hit hot 100-degree weather every place. Ironic, when I got into the Show Low area of Arizona, it was cool.

[Jonpaul]

That Honey Dipper is just awesome to look at, haven't played one though..
And the wood body Gretsch model looks stunning too, just like my mid-30's Regal Dobro. They are identical apart from the headstock, mine is slotted, looks far better than the solid ones, imo..

Good luck finding your reso, JonPaul!!


Ps. Republic might be releasing some new models soon, not sure but maybe...

I had considered the Republic "Delta Rocket," but when it was time to buy and I contacted (Frank ?), He said he didn't have any and didn't know if he would carry them again. - -Jonpaul

[bottleneckjohn]

The Delta Rocket was a limited run, around 30 I've heard..
But they might pop up sometimes on eBay, I know that Lenny over at Vintage Nationals have one for sale!

To my ears the DR is one of the best sounding and playing singlecone reso's ever, I really LOVE mine, even more now that it's a 12 string, haha!!!

[Jonpaul]

The Delta Rocket was a limited run, around 30 I've heard..
But they might pop up sometimes on eBay, I know that Lenny over at Vintage Nationals have one for sale!

To my ears the DR is one of the best sounding and playing singlecone reso's ever, I really LOVE mine, even more now that it's a 12 string, haha!!!

Thanks for the info; I checked with "Vintage Nationals" and they say that no more are in stock. - - Jonpaul

[ricbleu]

I took a chance and ordered a Gretsch about a week ago and it arrived this afternoon. I like the guitar; to bad it has to go back. The front of the guitar near the resonator has pit marks and what looks like hairs embedded into the surface, and a place furthur up near the "F" hole has another hair embedded that is in the shape of a questionmark. I bought the guitar through Amazon (one of their outside sellers, that could not be contacted today; but I did contact Amazon) I hope I don't have any problem. I would rather buy in person, that way I can inspect the product; unfortunately, I live East of Phoenix, Arizona. All of the dealers that I contacted said they could order it for me, but would not stock either item.

It's so disappointing when that happens. And here we are in the 21st century with a vast amount of retail transactions being completed online, there ought to be some QC that is done last thing before the goods are packed for shipping. It's true that you can't evaluate tone from most online sources but word of mouth such as forums like this one can act as a "testing ground". It's this forum which led me to choose Republic for my reso and the Larrivee forum (along with others, since to criticise a Larri on that forum is to commit blasphemy) which convinced me to buy my L03R. When experiences occur such as Jonpaul has described ie where blemishes or faults are so apparent, does the vendor pay all shipping costs involved including returns? If not, they should and it might improve pre-shipping QC inspection. Peace

[kiwiblues]

As you can see from my previous thread an outfit called Maxaxeguitars I have been recently burnt.
These guys really pulled a swifty on me by selling me a factory second as a first then begged me to remove my negative feedback on Ebay.
When I started negotiating, they reported it as extortion and got the negative feedback wiped by Ebay and the case closed.
I am of course appealing, but I have a nasty feeling nothing is going to happen.
I wanted a discount as I'd already payed $120 tax on it and was happy to keep the guitar if they saw me right.
BEWARE!!
This crowd also have their own website where they say all these wonderful things about customer service.
Unfortunately I didn't do my due diligence on them first!!

[ricbleu]

If you don't mind me prying, what was the problem, Kiwi? And was it something you could fix yourself. Gee in writing that last sentence I can feel my blood pressure rising. Why should you have to fix ANYTHING on a new product (unless you are upgrading hardware)? There was nothing wrong with a percentage of your payment, so why should there be anything wrong with the goods? In that regard, Frank at Republic seems a shining light, having a blem category. Likewise Jim at Trinity - straight as an arrow. But what was the problems there, kiwi? Sounds like something quite significant. Peace

[kiwiblues]

As far as I can see it has a non standard neck which is OK by me because I didn't really like the V neck on the one I had that got damaged in the earthquake. There were also some finish problems in the laquer coating, but the main thing that I found was a faint "used" stamp on the back of the headstock.
Other sellers make it clear that these are seconds and it is unscrupulous to not do this.
The thing that really annoyed me was that Ebay didn't seem to give a damn!

If you don't mind me prying, what was the problem, Kiwi? And was it something you could fix yourself. Gee in writing that last sentence I can feel my blood pressure rising. Why should you have to fix ANYTHING on a new product (unless you are upgrading hardware)? There was nothing wrong with a percentage of your payment, so why should there be anything wrong with the goods? In that regard, Frank at Republic seems a shining light, having a blem category. Likewise Jim at Trinity - straight as an arrow. But what was the problems there, kiwi? Sounds like something quite significant. Peace

[Jonpaul]

I took a chance and ordered a Gretsch about a week ago and it arrived this afternoon. I like the guitar; to bad it has to go back. The front of the guitar near the resonator has pit marks and what looks like hairs embedded into the surface, and a place furthur up near the "F" hole has another hair embedded that is in the shape of a questionmark. I bought the guitar through Amazon (one of their outside sellers, that could not be contacted today; but I did contact Amazon) I hope I don't have any problem. I would rather buy in person, that way I can inspect the product; unfortunately, I live East of Phoenix, Arizona. All of the dealers that I contacted said they could order it for me, but would not stock either item.

Gear Tree was the provider of the Gretsch guitar and I reached them (Matt) by phone on 8-6-2012. I explained the problem and Matt e-mailed me a UPS return label and said that after they get the returned guitar and inspect it, I will get a full refund. I tracked the return through UPS and found that Gear Tree received it on 8-10-2012. So far, I havent heard back from Gear Tree. Update: 8-14-2012, Gear tree initiated a full refund.