Gretsch Roots Series G9240 Alligator™ Biscuit Roundneck Acoustic Resonator Guitar

I love this resonator so far.A few things to know right off the bat about resonators, there are 3 different types of resonators; tri-cone, spider and biscuit. The G9240 as noted in the description, is a biscuit. But you want to know the difference in what your getting and why there's a difference:- Tri-Cone - Nice and bluesy but with a little less attack and the tone tends to have a little more coloring. These tend to be more expensive- Spider - These tend to be a little more mellow and closer to a guitar sound than what you would normally look for in a resonator. Great for country and bluegrass. It is described as more nasally.- Biscuit - The biscuit is more the classic resonator sound and more akin to a Delta Blues sound. These tend to be a little more stripped down sound, which is desirable for a stripped down blues vibe.About the purchase:The resonator came quickly and well packed. I chose my vendor specifically as the Chicago Music Exchange (CME). I've physically been to their store a few times (and it is truly the most amazing store...go to their site, it's insane). Given what I knew about CME, I knew the instrument was going to be shipped in good condition, set up and inspected. CME did not disappoint. It was flawless. The only downside, the packaging, they do a great job of packaging. Problem, I'm still finding those stupid peanuts floating around the house! Small price to pay. The instrument came quickly. Also, CME does the courtesy to let the buyer know (with a sticker) not to open the box right away but let it sit for a day in the shipping box. Good advice, let it acclimate first.Guitar Appearance - It's as pretty as the pictures. The deep burst finish is very striking, the actual finish is not glossy and the resonator cover is a matte finish which is really cool. Add the Mother-of-Pearl, headstock...a good looking instrument. The back of the headstock has a 'Made in China' screened on it which is a tiny buzzkill (not that we didn't know this but it is not the most graceful screen of a 'made in...'). Since no one looks at the back of the headstock, who cares.Sound - It sounds exactly like you want a biscuit resonator to sound; loudish, jangly and delta bluesy. Like most resonators, the more attack you have in your picking, the more the 'resonatory-ness' you get. This is a good thing. It reacts to your picking attack. You can dig out a more mellow vibe with a little more finger picking and then go full on juke joint/barrelhouse with a solid pick attack.Playability - With a quality CME set up, it played well right out of the box. The action was very comfortable for me. It was not too high. I did not want high action. Some folks do for slide-style resonator playing. This was not my desire. I would have done a square neck/lap version for that. This round neck was comfortable to play straight away and still good for slide playing. The neck is somewhat beefy. Not uncomfortably so and I think it is probably a good thing for the overall tone.Build - I haven't found any issue with the build yet. I've only had it for a few days. I've been playing guitar for 30+ years and owned my share of great instruments. Since I was dipping my toes in to resonators, I did not want to go full National Steel right away. Still, if you've owned enough guitars, you know stuff is good or bad right away. So far, so good. Something to be mindful of, there is a strap button at the butt-end of the body but there is no others strap button. To use a strap (which I do on all guitars, even seated), you have to have another button installed or get one of those 'folk guitar' straps that you use the button on the butt-end but have to tie on to the headstock. I am going to have a button installed on the heal of the neck joint.Summary:It does exactly what you want a resonator to do and it does it well. That about sums it up. I don't regret my purchase.

Epic, dirty little axe. Perfect for blues. Delta tone for days. Only tiny imperfection I could find was a couple of paint specks on the neck binding. Sanded right off. I looked at every sub-$1k resonator on the market...very happy I got this girl.

This dobro sounds just right ,I didnt want another "same" sounding acoustic so I opted for the Bisquet resonator and im happy I did. I bought a blemished model for 1/3 off the price,another good move :)

Was poorly set up and would cost too much to fix. That's why it was returned. It would have been ok if it was playable for an inexpensive resonator guitar.

Please...how can anyone judge when the image is wrong. Please correct this. It's a fine guitar, but this isn't it.

Great New traditional resonatorI am very impressed with the Gretsch G9240 resonator. I know of no traditional wood bodied biscuit cone resonators on the market under $1,000 except this one. The Johnson, Oscar Schmidt, and Dean wood bodied resonators are competitively priced with the G9240 and they may be fine, but they are all more contemporary thin body depth electric resonators and have more narrow 14 fret necks. The G9240 is traditional all the way with a wide neck and 12 frets to the body, great open Grover sta-tite tuners that work exceptionally well and stay in tune. I've had the guitar over a year now. The hand spun "Ampli-sonic" cone seems to resonate forever. The eastern European shop that makes the cones sure knows what they're doing. I can still hear sustain from the cone after 25 seconds! Furthermore, for my preferences, the set-up on the guitar I received is excellent for combining fretting and slide; 1/8" height at the bass E string at the 12th fret and 3/32" at the high E string at the 12th fret. Also, the nut is bone and the saddle appears to be ebony on top of maple, not just stained maple. The finish is a very tasteful matte and I could find no flaws. The neck is dead straight, the fretboard has a nice crown and the fret ends were all dressed very well. I had anticipated having to have the guitar professionally set-up, but for me there was no need. The strings that came installed were D'Addario EJ16, but I traded out the 1st and 2nd string for heavier .014 and .017 plain strings; just personal preference. (I am now using EJ17, but I like both sets very much on this guitar.) If you change strings, you may want to check the new strings for fit before purchasing. I found that the wrapping at the ball end of a plain Ernie Ball string was too large to go through the hole in the tailpiece (but the tailpiece holes could easily be drilled larger if you wanted to go to the trouble.) Anyway, I am very pleased. I'm sure this guitar will not have quite the fit and finish and investment potential of a National, but when MSRP on the low-end El Trovador is $3,200, this guitar is 90% there.

awesome guitar, especially for the price. have a spider bridge too - biscuit is a completely different tone - love em both - biscuit is the more subtle old school front porch country blues tone. action set up just fine - if you think it's too low, work on your slide hand.

Had to replace the resonator cone after I wrecked it using .016-.056 resonator strings. Stick with stock D'Addario EJ16 .012-.053 (light) and it sounds great. Nice blues slide guitar, great value.

J'ai choisi cette guitare en me basant sur ce que les gens en disent sur le web (youtube inclus) et après avoir entendu un autre résonateur Gretsch en concert. Je ne suis pas déçu même si c'est ma 1e guitare.L'étiquette "handmade in China" fait (sou)rire un peu, mais semble appropriée car il y a quelques défauts de finition (valant 1 étoile de moins) qui trahissent une fabrication à la main: le cordier qui n'est pas parfaitement centré et un défaut dans le vernis. Malgré ça le luthier à qui j'ai confié l'instrument pour vérification du réglage n'a presque rien trouvé à corriger et confirme qu'il s'agit d'un instrument avec un très bon rapport qualité/prix, assez loin d'une entrée de gamme.Elle est très sonore avec un beau son qui sait être métallique et perçant quand il le faut. Un peu maintenant sur la mienne car j'ai fait faire un sillet (échangeable) pour monter des cordes en nylon. C'était une expérience mais le résultat est plus que réussi. (A noter que d'Addario vend des jeux où les 3 cordes basses sont en nylon filé, cordes développées au départ pour Chet Atkins.)En plus, elle est décorative :)