Gretsch G5622 Electromatic Center Block Double-Cut.The 12 best hollow and semi-hollow electric guitars to buy in 2023 at a glance It's my favorite 'mid range' guitar.The main purpose of the centre-block is to suppress feedback: when playing at high volume and/or gain levels with a hollowbody design, the body will vibrate sympathetically with your amplified sound and you’ll find it hard to control feedback.Ī semi-hollow design’s centre-block mitigates these sympathetic vibrations so, in practice, a semi is better suited to the player who wants to play with heavy overdrive, distortion or fuzz without struggling to mute their instrument every time they take a hand off the fretboard. The Gretsch neck and feel is a little better than the Epi but that's the only area that I'd grade it better. Because it's an EPI vs a Gibson, it doesn't have action as low but still very playable. The 339 plays and feels more like the SG due to the controls. Both the Gretsch and 339 provide alternate sounds I can't get on my strat and sg.

I also have a Fender American Strat and Gibson SG. This last one doesn't really impact the 5422 because I think it's smaller than the 5120. Finally, the 339 is smaller and is just generally easier to play. I have access to all the frets up the fretboard whereas the Gretsch limits playing anything above 17 due to where the neck connects to the body.

Another reason is the general playability of the 339.

If I were to reconfigure my amp and pedals just for when I play that guitar, I might be able to find a good sound, but I don't do that. I don't know how to describe it, they just sound dead. So why is that? One reason is the pickups in the Gretsch just aren't very lively. I also have several high end Gibsons and know what quality guitars should play and sound like.įirst I'll give you my bottom line: I play the 339 often and it's one of my main guitars. I have a Gretsch Electromatic 5120 and an Epiphone 339 Ultra so I can give you a pretty good comparison of the two.

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