Tech: Gretsch mandolin

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 09:40 AM

The worst mandolin I have for changing strings is a National RM-1 and the best way to do it is to use a blob of Bluetack and a capo - I assume this would also work with a Gretch.

Most mandolin tailpieces have their faults - try getting the strings "off" a Collings Mandola! Anyone thinking about better tailpieces should investigate the "James". Problem is they cost almost as much as most people are prepared to pay for a mandolin

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 09:00 AM

Gibson still makes mandolins but apparently not in great numbers at this point.

From a 12th Fret ad for an F-5L Fern:

"These mandolins are a welcome sight, not just because they are great instruments but also because they mean that Gibson's Nashville production lines are recovering from the devastating floods of 2010."

12th Fret Gibsons

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST,Bignige
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 08:47 AM

Not sure if it is generally known but Gibson don't make Mandolins anymore, other than the odd one to special order. The flood back in 2010, more or less wiped them out. Wood store, machinery all ruined. So if you have a Gibson I suggest you hold on to it, it may well start going up in price due to the scarcity factor

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: banjoman
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 05:19 AM

Changing the Tailpiece is not a difficult job provided that you may have to fit a non Gretsch which may need a bit of fettling to fit and need new screw holes.
Try anchoring the new strings with a bit of Gaffer Tape and then capo at about fifth fret.
Persevere as its sounds like yo have got a fine instrument

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 05:15 AM

Have you considered getting a luthier to change the tailpiece?

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: Cappuccino
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 05:09 AM

Thank you all.    Marcia, I was 'seduced' by the mandolin first because of the name, which still has a reputation here for guitars, but then because the tone was clearly way superior to anything else in the shop. Yes, I'd love a Gibson or a Martin – but on my pension that is just not going to happen! The Gretsch mandolins are apparently made in China, or, I now understand 'were', because I'm told the factory there has closed down.

The problem with the Gretsch tailpiece is, I now find, a 'known problem'.   On a mandolin discussion forum, I find one user saying "The tailpiece on the Gretsch mandolins was designed by Satan to taunt mankind. It is by far the worst tailpiece on the planet."   I am not alone!

On previous cheaper mandolins I have had, the top of the tailpiece clicks off to let you get at the hook. (Didn't Fender electric guitars use to have something similar?)   The Gretsch one doesn't - you have eight tiny, badly-positioned and small hooks set inconveniently right next to the strap holder, under a fixed cover.   You have to hook the string in place, then bend the string through something in excess of ninety degrees, and feed the rest of the string under this cover… you have clearance of perhaps two or three millimetres, and you can't see where it's going, so of course it either ends up passing under another string, or the loop slips off the hook.   

At this point it is helpful to have four hands, although the capo technique has been referred to (and one chap used a magnet to keep the string in place).

Other users say they have almost thrown the thing out of the window, or they simply live with old strings until changing one becomes essential. I think I shall clamp the blasted thing in place on a workbench next time I do this… which may not be for many years.

Many thanks, all the best from rural Norfolk, UK
- Cappuccino

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 02:39 AM

... and by too many user reports all over guitar forums and youtube, this century...!!!


My one and only Gibson [2015] needed to be fixed under warranty as the electrics were faulty, and the guitar not fit for purpose, brand new out of the box...

But my main point is that many 'cheaper' mandos are more than acceptable standard these days.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 02:00 AM

Punkfolkrocker, I've got 2 Gibsons a 1917 A model and a modern F9 which is Gibsons budget model, both are superb mandolins and neither was overpriced !

You have to be extremely unlucky to get a bad Gibson unless you were daft enough to buy one built in the 1970s

Dave H

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Aug 17 - 12:52 AM

The technique gillymoor mentioned (using a capo as a clamp after attaching the string at the tailpiece) works for most instruments with tailpieces. I use it for banjos and archtop and resonator guitars as well as mandolins.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 08:28 PM

I don't know if that mandolin is particularly difficult but I keep tension on the string with my right hand while winding it with my left.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 08:23 PM

Gretsch, like other brands, sell reasonable quality fairly affordable country / roots / folk instruments.
Probably most originating from the same Far Eastern factories.
Though Gretsch mandos may not be amongst the cheapest of their similar quality kind...

'High-quality instruments' Brand Name snobs can be mislead and seduced probably more than any other musicians...

For instance Gibson have acquired a well deserved reputation for being far too overpriced whilst neglecting acceptable quality control.

Modern Chinese copies of Gibson instruments can be as good, if not better, at a fraction of the price.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST,Marcia Palmater
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 08:09 PM

Don't know why anyone would be "seduced" by a Gretsch mandolin! I wouldn't have one in the house. Vega, Martin, Gibson -- those are high-quality instruments.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: gillymor
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 07:06 PM

When changing mando strings I install one at a time and after hooking a string around the nub I hold it tight with my left hand and clamp it down at about the 12th fret with a capo, attach the string to the string post, put at least enough tension on it to hold it tight and then move on to the next one.

Subject: RE: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: GUEST,bignige
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 06:20 PM

It is problem, I found the best way is sellotape on the metal tag until its fully tensioned, then remove.

Subject: Tech: Gretsch mandolin
From: Cappuccino
Date: 22 Aug 17 - 04:39 PM

In a music shop here in Norwich (UK) I recently found a Gretsch New Yorker mandolin. I confess to being first seduced by the name, but the thing played very nicely in the shop, so I bought it. I've just settled down to change a set of strings, and have been appalled to find that the tailpiece is so badly designed that it has taken me over an hour to change six of the eight strings (I gave up before trying the last two). This is the kind of tailpiece where a loop on the end of the string fits over a little stub or 'hook'; you then feed the string under a sort of tailpiece cover and then up to the fingerboard. Those little hooks are awful – you can't keep the string on them, and time after time I found I was halfway through winding it at one end and it slipped off the other! I am now seriously thinking of getting a guitar technician to take the tailpiece off and replace it with another one; I've had cheaper mandolins with far better ones. Before I do so, has anyone had similar problems with this mandolin, and if so, how did you get round it?

Thanks.

Cappuccino, Norfolk UK.