Gretsch G5034TFT Rancher Bigsby

I bought this guitar mainly because I wanted to have a guitar with a Bigsby and from this point of view this guitar hasnt disappointed. Plugged in to an amplifier, the guitar's got a very nice sound and the bigsby adds something, that's for sure.

However, were I to be looking at buying this guitar again knowing what I know now, I would probably have chosen another guitar, either another (more expensive) Gretsch semi-acoustic, and not worried about the acoustic side of it, or perhaps another brand altogether with a Bigsby on it.

The plusses; nice sound, the Bigsby effect.

The minuses; action is a bit high, also the narrow width of the fingerboard (43mm) makes it less playable for me than other guitars such as the Gibson Parlour, which is absolutely fantastic guitar. Because of the Bigsby, nothing can really be done about the action, once you've reached the bottom of the thread on the bridge.

In general, this is a nice guitar but I will mostly only use it for very specific purposes. Not a guitar I would play all the time.