Gretsch G5260T - Breaking it down

[friedlbug]

I’ve had this bass for a couple of weeks now. For any doubters, it absolutely is a bass, assuming you set it up as one. 30” scale, but easily uses 34” scale strings with the extra length to the Bigsby. I have it strung with a mix of bass strings and guitar strings because I had them new laying around, but the Fender Bass VI 24-100 pack would work fine. Those are very close to the gauges I have on this. I wouldn’t put the thin-gauge sets on this that are normally associated with the Fender Bass VI.

I read that the Bass VI has had a resurgence due to the Beatles movie, and this model, specifically, because it’s used in the bands Loathe and Sleep Token, but I didn’t buy it for that. I’ve just played bass almost entirely finger-style (and guitar with a pick) for years and wanted something with guitar-string-spacing to get better at playing bass with a pick.

Right off the bat, you can unbox this bass, restring it with 24-100 strings, adjust the truss rod, tune E-e, and be good to go if you want to. It’s fine, even good, as is. I have some observations that I’ll post in the upcoming replies that will dig in a little further, though, to explore this model further.

 

[friedlbug]

First up, the pickups / electronics. This bass uses Gretsch mini humbuckers. This link includes some info, including a member who had various other pickups installed: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/updated-gretsch-baritone-bass-vi.1444228

My 5260 had a neck pickup that was mounted too deep into the body and didn’t have enough spring to the adjustments to even it out with the bridge pickup. I unscrewed it, removed the small piece of foam on the treble side, and added a pickup adjustment spring from a jazz bass pickup, cut in half, with half on each screw. I put them on cut-side-down, so they didn’t come up through the screw holes in the dog ears of the pickup cover.

Before and after the pickup height adjustment, the pickups sounded too piano-like to me with volume and tone at max. If I back the volume down about 1/4, it sounds more like a P bass, and with the tone all the way down, it sounds good (though not thumpy like tone 0 normally does).

Many will say this tone is because of the guitar pickups, but I think it’s actually the choice of pots and capacitor, as well as a treble bleed. There are plenty of bass fundamentals to the tone, just a lot of high mids and treble, too. I suspect it’s wired with 500k pots, and have read there is a treble bleed cap in the wiring, too, likely for the baritone tone.

If the tone knob had more of an effect, I’d likely leave the wiring alone and use the bass with volume around 7. Since I’d like more tone knob range, I’m going to rewire with 250k pots and eliminate the treble bleed in an upcoming post.

 

[friedlbug]

About the bigsby: it doesn’t return to 0 for the lowest strings, when used, and I don’t know why anyone would assume it would. The windings of the E, and likely A, strings, are large enough the the saddles catch them. Obviously they aren’t going to just slide across. I don’t know that I really want to put flat wound strings on this bass, so I might file round string profiles into the saddles, polish them, and adjust the bridge. Either that, or just use the bigsby as a “string length converter” and be happy I can use standard-length strings, due to the extra length to the tailpiece.

 

[kineticdg]

Reading with interest as I'm doing a similar experiment with the 30" Aria Pro baritone guitar (although without the knowledge & skill you clearly possess). I'm using the Fender Super 250 Bass VI strings and they have a great growl to them. Thanks for sharing your notes & progress!

 

[Snake101st]

I also have mine set up E-e! Granted, I'm doing things more like Loathe with it for fun than trying to use it like a bass/VI.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Perhaps there's a roller bridge that's a drop-in replacement for the tune-o-matic style. Might help with keeping the whammy bar under control. Cool deal! Enjoy!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[msb]

I first bought the Squier VI , and was quite surprised to find myself frequently goofing around on it , and so when a Gretsch baritone became available I decided “why not”.
Mine is quite heavy. I tune it A-A , but when I first researched the Gretsch I read that it was originally designed to be tuned E-E. I’m keeping it A-A for now.
After initially buying the Squier I had an urge to add some reverb , and some tremolo, so I picked up a TreVerb pedal. And then someone suggested some gain would be nice … and in no time had spent more on a pedalboard than I did on the bass.
Funny how that turns out …

 

[Murad]

I also have mine set up E-e! Granted, I'm doing things more like Loathe with it for fun than trying to use it like a bass/VI.

Hey! How have you done it, I have a stop tail version and my fender 24-100 wont fit, neither stop tail not tuner (taper problem). Can you please share your wisdom sir?

 

[Snake101st]

I think I used these strings, where the heaviest is 90 vs the 100 you're shooting for - that difference may be the issue and more filing may need to be done to get there:

Ernie Ball 6-String Short Scale Bass Slinky Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings, 20w-90 Gauge (P02837) https://a.co/d/fh2h1jQ

I brought it to a guitar tech and had the work done, they had to do quite a bit with the nut

 

[Murad]

I think I used these strings, where the heaviest is 90 vs the 100 you're shooting for - that difference may be the issue and more filing may need to be done to get there:

Ernie Ball 6-String Short Scale Bass Slinky Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings, 20w-90 Gauge (P02837) https://a.co/d/fh2h1jQ

I brought it to a guitar tech and had the work done, they had to do quite a bit with the nut

no issues with intonation for the low E? loathe guys use 105 strings

 

[Snake101st]

Yeah, I was worried about it, I think they also go lower than E so the heavier strings make sense

The intonation and feel seems ok to me

 

[Murad]

Yeah, I was worried about it, I think they also go lower than E so the heavier strings make sense

The intonation and feel seems ok to me

just curious how they pulled it off with such strings =)

 

[Snake101st]

Same, wish I could help, but without surgery on the bridge slots and possibly tuners, you may have to go to the lower gauge set I mentioned

Or maybe ask friedlbug, since they mentioned using the VI set that goes to 100 earlier in this thread?

 

[B-Mac]

View attachment 5128223
I’ve had this bass for a couple of weeks now. For any doubters, it absolutely is a bass, assuming you set it up as one. 30” scale, but easily uses 34” scale strings with the extra length to the Bigsby. I have it strung with a mix of bass strings and guitar strings because I had them new laying around, but the Fender Bass VI 24-100 pack would work fine. Those are very close to the gauges I have on this. I wouldn’t put the thin-gauge sets on this that are normally associated with the Fender Bass VI.

I read that the Bass VI has had a resurgence due to the Beatles movie, and this model, specifically, because it’s used in the bands Loathe and Sleep Token, but I didn’t buy it for that. I’ve just played bass almost entirely finger-style (and guitar with a pick) for years and wanted something with guitar-string-spacing to get better at playing bass with a pick.

Right off the bat, you can unbox this bass, restring it with 24-100 strings, adjust the truss rod, tune E-e, and be good to go if you want to. It’s fine, even good, as is. I have some observations that I’ll post in the upcoming replies that will dig in a little further, though, to explore this model further.

Been thinking of doing the same thing with one of these:

- Guitar Finish: Black Satin
- Country of Origin: South Korea
- Dexterity: Right Handed
- Construction: Set Neck
- Body Material: Mahogany
- Top Material: Mahogany
- Top Contour: Arched Top
- Binding: Single Ply Cream Body and Neck
- Neck Material: Mahogany
- Fretboard Material: Ebony
- Inlays: Pearl Icon
- Scale Length: 27" (686mm)
- Frets: 24 Jumbo
- Fretboard Radius: 12" (305mm)
- Neck Shape: C
- Nut: PPS (Polyphenylene Sulfide)
- Nut Width: 1 11/16" (43mm)
- Truss Rod: Dual Action
- Pickup Bridge: EMG 85
- Pickup Neck: EMG 81
- Controls: Vol/Vol/Tone/Tone/3-Way Toggle
- Design Feature: Glow In The Dark Side Dots
- Hardware Color: Black
- Bridge: Tune-O-Matic (Hardtail)
- Tuners: Grover
- Knobs: Dome Black
- Strings: D'Addario EXL158 (.013-.062)

 

[P. Aaron]

Looks cool.

Word on the street is that Tom Hamilton played a Fender Bass VI on Aerosmith's Back in the Saddle. The most kick-ass rock song ever made.

 

[friedlbug]

Hey! How have you done it, I have a stop tail version and my fender 24-100 wont fit, neither stop tail not tuner (taper problem). Can you please share your wisdom sir?

Sorry folks, life has gotten in the way and I haven’t had a chance to rewire this one yet, but I have changed strings to use the heavier Fender Bass VI set - Super 250 24-100. My bass is the Bigsby version, so no trouble with the stop bar or the length of the windings, but I could see how you’d have problems with the stop bar version. Only way I could see you dealing with that would be to drill out the stop bar and unwind the strings a little.
Here’s mine with regular Super 250s: