Gretsch G5422TG Electromatic WS

I needed relevant instrument for r'n'r and rockabilly project but more versatile to use it also for blues and jazz. G5422T seemed to be in the middle of the road for everything. I had G5420T in the past but sold it as it felt too inappropriate for the repertoire I had in these days. It was Korean made then. It was very good quality. I was a bit suspicious this time as it is made in China but... all for nothing - absolute top quality craftsmanship out of the box! Would not believe if it wasn't myself. Only thing I replaced was adjustomatic bridge with rocking bar bridge and only because it was my preference, not because of any malfunction.
It my first buy without a smallest need to improve anything or go to luthier for setup. Great guitar! Recommended for 100%!

This rate is not considering price, where was it made or anything else. This is simply a great instrument! It looks beautiful, the neck fits me well, paint and metal parts look well made.
Setup was low but with fret buzz , that was my only complaint. It was easily fixed because truss rod was a little too tight. Puckups nedded adjusting to even out levels. Little sanding of rough edges of the nut and the guitar was perfectly set up.
The most important: the sound is amazing! We plugged it in 70's Deluxe Reverb so there was no hiding there. Clean, overdriven or fuzzed, it sounds amazing. Especially impresive is neck pickup that retains clarity better that any neck humbucker I've ever played.
That arch inside the body does the job as guitar is more resistant to feedback than other hollow body guitars and the feedback is controlable.
Amazing instrument, I'm very impressed!
If you buy it, Thomann's case for it is better than original Gretsch (poorly finished, tolex not glued...)

Gretsch packed it well in a cardboard box with styrofoam, so it survived UPS.
Cosmetically perfect, fully bound body and neck (including headstock), shiny in a way that doesn't look cheap, attention to small details. Impeccable!
The 'C' shaped neck is neither too fat nor too thin, it just feels right to me. The back is slippery, I won't need to lightly sand it as I usually do. The shorter scale means frets get kinda tight up the neck, something I'll have to get used to.
Setup great out of the box, just tuned it and played. Low action with no buzz, nut is well cut, TOM bridge has rounded slots and not v-shaped, Bigsby stays in tune.
Plugged in to my Pignose 7100 (best practice amp ever), the pickups sound great, very bright but not piercing (very un-PAF), well balanced between neck and bridge. Even the original strings are decent. The control layout will take some time to get used to, and the potis seem more for minor adjustments than swelling, but are not on/off cheapos, they just work differently.
This will be the first guitar I bring on stage stone stock. This one definitely punches above it's weight. Like a mint 69 Cadillac, just throw some dice on the mirror and gun it.