The final choice of 2 Epiphone Broadway / Gretsch G5420 lefty

[Lucy]

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[bananafist]

Hi Lucy, not sure where in UK you are based (I',m in Cornwall,) but Guitar Guitar have several stores and quite a few LH Gretschs, Hagstroms, Epiphones and others upto Gibson ES 335s. Very few L5s about (as you probably know) and no LH ones that I'm aware of. Richards Guitars of Stratford-on-Avon carry a lot of stock and he often has (or will get in) LH guitars. Guitar Village in Farnham, Surrey are worth a visit if within reach. Good luck with the search.

[pingu]

Stay Lefty

Try one of these if possible
Ibanez AF55L-TF – Thomann UK

[vintagelove]

You’ll eventually regret either purchase. The flipped guitar will eventually get on your nerves with the knob and cable position. The gretch isn’t really a "jazz guitar". Might as well get a LP if you’re gonna do that.

Keep saving for a used Peerless, or an Eastman. Also the budget Ibanez suggestion above is worth considering.

[Lucy]

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[Lucy]

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[bananafist]

When you get to Devon, there are Mansons and Project Music in Exeter - worth checking out. Project Music are main Eastman dealers, and have quite a bit of stock. Cornwall is pretty much a dead loss as far as shops go, but there is a Gretsch reissue New Yorker on FB marketplace for £380 currently. Quite a few used Gretschs too.

[Lucy]

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[garybaldy]

Stay Lefty

Try one of these if possible
Ibanez AF55L-TF – Thomann UK

Great choice

[Lucy]

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[Lucy]

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[Lucy]

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[Lucy]

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[Lucy]

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[Filmosound 621]

thanks for your enthusiasm.

happy Gretsch journey to you then.

[AllanAllen]

I have a Broadway. I play it every day and I love it. I had a Korean Joe Pass and Casino. There is no difference is build quality that I can notice. I’ve played many Gibson arch tops and never thought they were 10x better to justify the cost.

I try to focus my efforts into playing what I have instead of searching for a white whale. So some of the minutia of Chinese vs Korean factories is probably lost on me.

P. S. Check out Bill Jennings he was a lefty to, played flipped arch tops as well.

[supersoul]

I have a Gretsch Jet Club G5421, made in China, and I think it's a great guitar. It sounds good and plays well.

Congratulations on your Gretsch!

[Stefan Eff]

The 5420 is a very good guitar and easy to mod if you want to bring it into the 6120 league. Yes, there is a quality difference between korean and chinese made guitars. And forget about terms like „Jazzguitar“.

[Lucy]

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[Filmosound 621]

get Thomastiks, they are worth the little extra expense.

[Lucy]

Thanks Filmo will do

[ruger9]

If over time you feel like you are nor getting a warm enough or mellow enough sound out of the all-maple Gretsch with trestle bracing, I highly recommend you do a few pickup swaps. I don't recall if the 5420's pickups are Filtertron-sized, or Gibson humbucker-sized? For Filtertron-sized pickups:

Guitar Pickups and Bass Pickups for your electric guitar or bass.

TV Jones is the king of filtertron-sized pickups. He has a wide range, and makes a T-90 (his version of a P90) that would be great for jazz tones.

[Lucy]

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[Filmosound 621]

^^ way sweet guitar, I have only admired these from a distance so far.

be sure to buy the "right" size of strings, as in not too thin.

maybe a start with JazzSwing #12 is fine ?

they might sound "funky" at first , don't let that scare you off, they should well tame

the brightness of that guitar.

[Hub]

Nice guitar.
Left hand players have real difficulty to find left hand jazz guitar.
my advice is to be patient and you will find a very good axe, and not inverted a right hand model, excepted for symetric (without buttom) model.
I'm a lefty player and had very good (and rare axes).
And to reply on the last post, a broadway is very intersting guitar but I didn't find interested on Joe pass.

ps: I'm almost certain that Wes sound is more due to Thumb than L5