Gretsch New Yorker

[zalder]

I just started playing the mandolin, and I bought a Gretsch New Yorker. Any good? Any ways to make it better?

[phiddlepicker]

Good setup from a good luthier.

Good Strings.

Good Pick

Whiskey

mmmmmmm....whiskey

[Marty Jacobson]

For the price, those are really not too shabby. I played one back to back with several imported F styles costing many times more, all with OK setups. I greatly preferred the tone of the Gretsch to all the very "clangy" sounding $500-1000 F-styles I compared it to. The best thing you can do is just play the frets off of it. Tone will improve dramatically as you get comfortable with it.
And the whiskey trick works pretty well, too. :-)

[zalder]

All good tips ;) I fell in love with picks made of Tusq, which sound unreal (at least to my amateur ears). And string-wise, nothing but phosphor bronze :D

[Spruce]

I just started playing the mandolin, and I bought a Gretsch New Yorker. Any good?

New, or old??

[Caleb]

I think they're cool mandolins. With a good setup, any mandolin that holds tune and plays easily will do the job.

[zalder]

New, though with reduced price due to a pretty beat up pickguard.

[zalder]

The thing that caught my ear was the sustain, it rings for almost twice as long as the cheaper Washburns.

[multidon]

I played the line up at the Guitar center recently. Of course they do absolutely no set up on their mandolins so it's hard to judge. But I really didn't care for the laminated models. However they have a deluxe model that is all solid mahogany that I kind of liked. Sort of an old timey sound. I also liked the look of the imitation cloud tailpiece. Although not the real deal an nice homage I thought. If you did not buy if from a place that includes professional set up I would say that's the key. Other than that you could have done a lot worse.

[barney 59]

I played one and thought it was a pretty good mandolin ---particularly based on the very affordable price. I really like the fact that they really did do a really good knock off of their own now vintage and pretty good looking mandolin. As a starter mandolin I think it is just fine. The recommendations of a good set up is good advise.

[multidon]

The more I think about these the better I like them at least the solid mahogany one. I mean no it isnt a bluegrass monster nor does it pretend to be. It very much is what it is and it is priced accordingly. All the other entry levels are kind of "me too". I mean who else is even making a mandolin like this in the funky old timey Kay/Stella/Harmony mold? I see it as an option for old time outdoor festivals camping beach and such. I would alsp like to point out that when you buy one from Elderly they give it the same expert set up they givr rverything else. NFI.

[naomiimoan]

The more I think about these the better I like them at least the solid mahogany one. I mean no it isnt a bluegrass monster nor does it pretend to be. It very much is what it is and it is priced accordingly. All the other entry levels are kind of "me too". I mean who else is even making a mandolin like this in the funky old timey Kay/Stella/Harmony mold? I see it as an option for old time outdoor festivals camping beach and such. I would alsp like to point out that when you buy one from Elderly they give it the same expert set up they givr rverything else. NFI.

hi- first timer here. I just purchased one from elderly and they don't set it up at all (a bit disappointed)... according to the sales rep their "55 point" inspection/setup only applies to guitars/basses over $300. If i knew this beforehand i would have purchased it locally.

[naomiimoan]

sorry, actually got it from sweetwater not elderly... wish i would have thought of elderly

[eastman_315]

sorry, actually got it from sweetwater not elderly... wish i would have thought of elderlyAh, there you go. I would think Elderly would do better than that. They've always been great with my orders. Someday I'll get up there. One of the "grail" music stores for me.

Take care,

Frank

[Eric C.]

Ah, there you go. I would think Elderly would do better than that. They've always been great with my orders. Someday I'll get up there. One of the "grail" music stores for me.

Take care,

Frank

We went last fall and had a blast. We're going up again this fall, making it a yearly thing. Really is a cool place.

[kkmm]

Tried the Gretch all solid mahogamy at local GC and found it is a good one to my taste. Very easy to play and the sound is great for my ears too. The look is superb too. The most attractive part is the price tag 240$ at GC (and everywhere else).
I just can't find a good reason for spend this amount for another new toy without my wife giving me a weird look as I already have too many mandos, ukuleles, guitars in my house. I have to sell off a few before I can buy this one and the KM-505, I know I love both of these and they are for me to buy. Why two mandos ? MAS: I guess.

[the_polish_mandolinist]

I bought the Gretsch new yorker back in january as my very first mandolin. i have since upgraded, but what a good mandolin to get started on. cant get a new solid top mando for that price anywhere else. I got the deluxe model (with pickup) for the same price as the other model. I now have a Loar 600 that i bought used at a good price, but i still play the gretsch some of the time

[bmac]

I just started playing the mandolin, and I bought a Gretsch New Yorker. Any good? Any ways to make it better?

Probably not significantly better..... My suggestion would be to start saving your money and when you have honed your skills to the point where you are confident and have some direction (probably in a year or so) then make a decision on which mando would better serve your needs. Most serious players go through several mandos before settling on onefor a lifeTime of use.

[jmaclean]

Hi everyone, new to the café. Happy to be here.

I decided to share a video of my Gretsch New Yorker G9310. This is the sort of video I was looking for (and couldn’t find) before I bought it, so maybe it’ll help somebody. I just put on some new D’Addario medium nickel wound strings a couple days ago, and am using a Dunlop primetone 1.5mm pick.

This is my first and only mandolin, and the concensus online seems to be it’s an excellent starter/beater. I play in local bluegrass and oldtime jams, and can tell you it isn’t the loudest instrument but it often receives compliments on its tone. All solid mahogany, rosewood bridge and fingerboard, grover sta-tite tuners that work fine. Only weird thing I found was the nut is about 1/2mm off center favoring the bass side, surely a minute factory error. But I don’t know enough to be sure it’s causing any problems, it feels and sounds fine to me.

It’s been out of production for a while but they pop up used from time to time, so if you find one and are on the fence, I recommend it! Hope this helps somebody.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcACOKYEg7w

[PH-Mando]

Sounds very nice. You can always replace the nut, but if it doesn't affect your playing don't worry about it. Enjoy your mando.

[cayuga red]

Agreed. It’s a great sounding mandolin.

[pops1]

If it's a problem you could simply knock the nut loose and slide it 1/2mm over and reglue it. I wouldn't bother if it's not a problem on the E strings.