Captured the elusive Gretsch 1222

Pilgrim · July 17, 2011, 08:26:03 AM

Quote from: Droombolus on July 17, 2011, 01:05:09 AM
Funny to see that, even in the few years it has been made, they've changed both the way in which the neck is bolted as well as the fin on the back of the neck ....... This is a pic of my ex 1222......

That photo prompted me to realize that the finish on back of the neck is natural on the newly received 1222, black on the 2202. I'm not sure why, but there it is.

I kinda like the bolt-on look without the neck plate.

dadagoboi · July 17, 2011, 10:17:43 AM

Quote from: Pilgrim on July 17, 2011, 08:26:03 AM
That photo prompted me to realize that the finish on back of the neck is natural on the newly received 1222, black on the 2202. I'm not sure why, but there it is.

I kinda like the bolt-on look without the neck plate.

Clear finish is cheaper and allows use of the same neck on different color basses. No neck plate is a nice touch.

IMO and experience almost every time a production change is made to an existing product the motivating factor is cost. Neck plates are way overpriced for what they are, a chromed stamped steel rectangle. Allparts cheapest lists for $9 and around the best price on Ebay is $5. The individual neck washers are probably easier to stamp and bulk finish.

Daniel_J · July 18, 2011, 07:20:26 AM

I don't know if you noticed but, from the pictures, I can see that the single pup has only 19 frets, as the double pup is 20 frets.

Pilgrim · July 18, 2011, 08:57:07 AM

Quote from: Daniel_J on July 18, 2011, 07:20:26 AM
I don't know if you noticed but, from the pictures, I can see that the single pup has only 19 frets, as the double pup is 20 frets.

Interesting! Two different necks at work there. Since I'm mainly a 5th fret and below player, it won't bother me.

daan · July 21, 2011, 09:30:54 PM

Hey look it's a thread here I can actually contribute something to... I had one of these basses a few years ago

I got mine at a local GC in the late 90s when they were new, mine was the "black sunburst" finish although they had some all black ones when I was there. (Maybe some were darker than others, yours looks really light compared to mine) ANyway I really liked how it sounded and played, but the neck on it warped terribly in about a year. LIke the frets sprouted right out of the neck, I adjusted the TR pretty much as far as it would go and it would still buzz everywhere. I did take it to a real repair guy who couldn't fix it and advised me to return it but of course it was way out of the warranty period. (and yes I kept it in correct humidity, it gets dry here in the winter but it was in my music room the whole time I owned it). I ended up scrapping out all the hardware to get my Hofner playing again. The pups sound better in that than they did in the Gretsch IMO.

EDIT to add, just keep track of the neck, I don't know if the Chinese ones are made any better than the Korean ones. And a friend of mine had one of the one pickup ones and it turned out to be plywood. The finish looked the same as my 2-pup one before he took the belt sander to it.

Dave W · July 21, 2011, 11:12:38 PM

AFAIK all the Korean ones were always plywood. Don't know about the Chinese ones.

Pilgrim · July 22, 2011, 02:44:14 PM

The pickup is one of the best features of that bass. It balances nicely, and I find it attractive, but it's really as simple as the old slab Telebass models and has the pickguard screwed on in the same fashion. Fortunately, so far the neck has been stable.

I have one of those pickups in a Bronco bass and it's the best thing that ever happened to a Bronco!

We have had radically higher than normal humidity here in Northern Colorado and I'm noticing some minor buzzing and stuff on bass necks here, but since the humidity will probably drop back to normal within 30 days I haven't tweaked anything.