REVIEW: Gretsch G9350 Park Avenue
To make a long story short – several weeks ago I was struck with another bout of MAS. This time I had four very specific conditions in mind for my next acquisition:.
1. I wanted an oval hole, F-style mandolin. (I'm an oval-hole guy, I like the look of F-2/F-4 mandolins, and I already had a spare F-style case laying around . . . so why not bring them all together?)
2. I wanted a 'knock-around' mandolin – something I would feel comfortable throwing in the back of my car, and taking with me anywhere and everywhere that I went, without fear of ruining a 'good' instrument.
3. The mandolin had to play well and have decent tone.
4. Since it was going to be a 'knock-around' mandolin, I really didn't want to spend 'too much' money . . . the less, the better . . . .
After some research, I decided to take a chance on a brand new Gretsch G9350 Park Avenue. The mandolin arrived yesterday, and I have played almost non-stop for 27 hours since then; (you will see why, below).
With all of this in mind, I thought that I would share some of my initial thoughts about the 9350 - especially since there seems to be very little first-hand information about the instrument on the internet:
Construction/Aesthetics: Upon reasonable inspection of the mandolin, I can find no significant problems with the 'fit' part of 'Fit and Finish'; (with the only possible exception being an easily fixable pickguard that occasionally rattles on certain low notes and/or open chords). To my unprofessional eye, all of the seams, joints, etc., seem to be tight and clean . . . unfortunately however, the 'finish' part of the duo of terms seems to leave much to be desired. The mandolin is advertised as having a semi-gloss finish (which it does in some places) but to me it feels much more like a bare 'satin' finish. Again, I am not a professional at such things, but to my untrained eye, the best way that I can describe the the finish on this mandolin (in many places) is 'somewhat rough' and even a bit 'hazy'. I don't necessarily think that what I have is an instrument with a bad sanding job that causes the roughness - but what it feels like to me (and kind of looks like too) is that somebody possibly applied the color and finish to the body of the instrument, without fully wiping all of the excess saw dust off of the mandolin . . . and if there is supposed to be a 'semi-gloss finish' on this instrument – then I guess the guy in the spray booth was on his last nearly-empty can of gloss when he worked on this mandolin, because the 'gloss' is spotty at best. (Luckily, the finish on the neck is smooth and does not impede playability, in the least.) Again, please don't take this description as cold, hard fact, just an untrained observation.
As far as aesthetics go, this is a nice looking mandolin. I am partial to instruments with lots of binding, and this one fits the bill – double-bound body, bound neck and bound headstock. Add to all of this a nice, tight traditional-looking scroll, and a very well done vintage antique sunburst color, and the mandolin is certainly pleasing to the eye.
Neck: Given the overwhelming lack on available information on this mandolin, I had no idea what to expect about neck size, thickness, etc. I guess that if I had to condense it down to just a couple words, I would say 'slim and narrow'. . . . however, don't let this 'slim and narrow' description scare anybody into thinking that the neck is like a Popsicle stick and best suited for kids - from the very second that I stared playing this mandolin, I found the neck to be, in no way, 'constrictive' - even with my somewhat stubby fingers.
Action/Playability: After a very disappointing and seemingly non-existent set-up from a the seller (who is a HIGHLY-respected Cafe' sponsor), and spending a couple of hours getting the mandolin set to my own personal taste, (I generally play with a very light touch); I would rate the action on this instrument as 'very good'. It should suffice to simply say that I have played many similarly priced mandolins over the years that played far worse than this one. Overall it has smooth, comfortable action that does not fight against me when I play it.
Tone/Volume: (Disclaimer: I have been laid-up in bed for the past week, after having had some minor surgery, and have not been able to venture to the local music store to buy some new strings for this mandolin – something which I am almost positive will make a reasonably significant difference in the tone and volume of this instrument . . . so with this fact in mind, you can easily see where some of my comments below may be only speculative, at best.)
Considering the 'needs new strings' disclaimer above, I am happy to report that the overall volume and tone on this mandolin are very well balanced from string-to-string, all the way up and down the fretboard, without any distracting 'tubbiness' on the low end, or excessive sharpness on the high end. With the right set of strings in place I think I have substantial reason to believe that I will find a mandolin with a nice balance of both warmth and clarity . . . unfortunately, only time and physical healing of my body will tell. As far as volume goes, there is very little possibility of this mandolin cutting through the sound of multiple instruments at a large impromptu jam session - but by the same token, I don't see it getting completely lost or buried in the mix of instruments either. For my private and personal playing purposes, it seems to be an excellent choice for a mandolin to play around the house – an instrument with decent personal volume. that will not cause too much disturbance to those around me.
Electronics: As an additional feature, the 9350 comes equipped with a Fishman M300 Nashville piezo-ceramic pickup, for simple plug-in-and-go amplification. As of yet, I have not been able to give the pickup a proper test, with the exception of briefly plugging it into an amplifier, just to make sure that it works . . . which it does. All-in-all, on board Fishman electronics has to be considered a nice positive – especially for a mandolin at this price point.
Overall Impression: For what I wanted this mandolin to do (see the four bullet-points listed at the beginning of the review), the instrument will work just fine . . . my only wish is that it would have cost me about a hundred dollars less than the nearly $600 price tag – then it would have been a really sweet deal. In short – I think this is a mid-high level Chinese made mandolin that I would not hesitate to recommend giving a test ride, if you happen to be in the market for this kind of thing.
Report Card Grade: I think a B- would be fair.
I hope this review helps.
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