Gretsch G9240 Alligator Biscuit

Nice vintage styled resonator guitar based on the Regal-type of instruments made in the 1930's, with the "cokebottle" headstock. For the price, it's a hard to beat instrument with a very nice sound and decent playability straight out of the box (very sturdy box & foam "shell" as well), maybe a bit "dull" sounding, but nothing that can't be fixed by replacing the cone with a proper handspun one.

I ordered it for noodling around in various tunings, so well functioning tuners are quite critical, as is a properly cut nut. And I can testify that this guitar comes equipped with some of the best tuners that can be found in this price range, making (re)tuning a breeze: they're swift, accurate and keep their pitch perfectly.

Apart from that it's a nicely finished instrument, without any major defects or issues, with a comfortable, mild V-shaped chunky neck. There is some stain-bleed in the binding, but that's purely cosmetic, and was easily polished away with some dissolvant. The selling point for me (apart from the price that is) was that it's a fairly small, "parlour-sized" instrument which means it sits very comfortably on your lap. Don't let the size fool you though, it's a full-blown and full-sounding instrument, which can measure itself with more expensive instruments. I can recommend it!

I have had it for 5 days now and I already played it for 30 hours or so. Nicely setup - good for fingerpicking but a little too low action for the slide - it is not bad at all. Built quality seems good, although I have some doubts. Nice sounding and nice looking guitar, but there are some things that are not as they should be. First - the nut. It is a bleached bone nut and that is good, but it is really sharp on the fretboard side, after 3-4 hours of playing it started to hurt my finger. It will need sanding and polishing of the nut. Also, the frets are pretty sharp on the outer edges, not really as they should be. They are also rough so it is not easy to bend strings - they will need sanding on the edges and polishing. The fifth fret is a little hight - poorly installed - but I can live with that for now.

It seems that the cone hole in the body is not aligned with the neck. Since these are CNC mashined I wonder how can this happen. The cone is not in the center - there is a gap on one side (6-7mm) and no room on the other side, I even see some minor warping of the cone edge, but it should not affect the sound. They had to push the aluminum cone tight on one side to align the strings and the biscuit with the neck. I hope I will not have dimensions issues when I try to install a replacement cone after some time, if I do - some sanding may be required - again.
Finish has some minor flaws, but I don t mind that.
Tuners seem to be good, no issues there
I know it is a fairly cheap resonator, but it could be better for the money.
Hopefuly, after some work and a little setup it will be a road worthy instrument.

just received the alligator , interesting res . I first purchased a HoneyDipper but couldn't get used to the balance and the fact it was a little too "honeydipper " , then purchased the Boxcar which was much more playable and a great mellow tone , great value but wanted a step up in quality which led me to the Alligator . wow ,this dog bites , has what I was looking for in the honeydipper , killer tone and play-ability . the only downside was it came set very low ,great for finger style but sketchy for a SonHouse approach . I shimmed the nut with a piece of credit card , little more relief in the neck ( was set-up flat ) and now it motors . Gretsch offers the last reasonable step before pulling a trigger on a National , imo . tremendous value for the $$ . I have been playing one guitar or another since 1964 . Gretsch is gold and so is Thomann , they are absolutely the greatest guys to deal with , to be trusted 100% and just a pleasure to do business with , cannot praise these guys enough . spend your $$ here , safe bet .