Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy Flat Top

275 Customer ratings

4.5 / 5

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192 Reviews

Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy Flat Top
$177
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Available in several months
Available in several months

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LJ
For anyone considering the Jim Dandy - Please Read - Few Minor Issues... Overall good!
Lee Jim 23.04.2020
Well I opened the guitar and first impressions were, 'wow'!
As I tuned it up, it became clear to me that there would be some minor issues that needed addressing. (Which is pretty much standard for any new guitar, they all need adjusting to your style & liking at first)

- Firstly - The guitar (Body only) is very slightly warped, but that does not effect the tone or playablility. You can only tell when looking really close.

- Secondly - The bridge saddle was high so I had to sand it down a tad.

- Thirdly - The Bridge slightly bellies out under medium/heavy string tension. Not badly, but I was a bit worried at first. This made the action even higher than I would have liked. Bellying Significantly decreased after installing lighter gauge strings.

- Fourth - Two or three frets needed filing down. Easy job. 5 Minutes.

- Build quality? For a Gretsch within this price range, I'd have to say overall good. The neck is also very slighly warped. After adjusting the truss rod it was made better, again. Only visible when looking for it and doesn't affect the sound, tone or playability.

It must be said. That I am, at best, an intermediate when it comes to adjusting anything on a guitar.
So don't let any of this put you off the Jim Dandy!
A few small adjustments to personalise your guitar to your play style & liking is often needed when buying a new guitar.
The Jim Dandy is beautiful. It sings the blues better than anything I have heard or played.
The sustain is something I did not expect for a guitar of this price.

No guitar, whether you pay £100 or £1000 is going to be perfect, look close enough and you will find an imperfection.

Also, something worthy of noting, when I ordered this guitar, I did a lot of shopping around, not only did Thomann have the best price, but it arrived fast!
The guitar looks better when you see it with your own eyes. Miles better in person than it looks on any picture or video I have seen of it.

Overall - A beautiful guitar, with imperfections but the imperfections only make it more unique in my opinion.
Comfortable to play, plays and sounds beautiful. String bends sound almost too pleasing, adds a bit of class and a vintage look to any room you keep it in.

Buy one! You won't regret it.

P.S. Please don't use heavy strings on this guitar.
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M
Great, portable, easy player with a tone all its own!
MyLittleEye 01.10.2021
It's hard to pin down what makes this guitar so special.
I'd particularly recommend the Jim Dandy as a first guitar to any beginner since it's so compact and easy to handle and play. As a small scale parlour guitar it's relatively quiet compared to the bulky dreadnought but that's fine for a self conscious beginner who'd rather just play by themselves - on the other hand the guitar does open up when played assertively and has a strident 'boxy' tone that's (in a good way) reminiscent of vintage blues recordings; this Gretsch was modelled on the old Sears catalog mail order guitars commonly available in the early 20th century.
With this in mind the guitar lends itself well to finger style playing. The fact that the neck meets the body at the 12th fret gives the guitar its compact form and at the same time places the bridge in the optimal centre of the soundboard. This gives the guitar a fuller sound than one might expect from an instrument of this size.

This is the smallest, cheapest and most portable guitar I own. Because of that it is the one that gets left out around the house or thrown in the car and taken to friends houses, festivals, camping etc.

My Jim Dandy likes to get passed around and even players with 'nicer' guitars are reluctant to give it back. I do intend, one day to upgrade to a higher end 'premium' instrument. However, the unique vintage tone, playability and portability of the Jim Dandy ensures that it will always have a prominent place in my collection.
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J
Good classic blues sound
JoseNunes 19.02.2022
I wanted a practical guitar to carry on easilly and found a great surprise for what I expected. The sound is great, It has a great bluesy spririt like an old jazz guitar.

Very confortable to play and it looks very nice on living room.
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G
What a great little guitar!
GrahamD 02.05.2020
I received this in super quick time and packaged so well from Thomann - this company is now my ‘go to’ for music purchases.
The Jim Dandy is a fine sounding little guitar. I bought it for blues and finger style and straight out of the box it is my favourite guitar to pick up and play around the house. It is a fantastic purchase for the money. The fret board edges are not finished as well as a more expensive guitar but this has not affected playability. It is set up nice an low in the action and has that authentic old blues sound I really like. The 24” scale length makes for a comfortable and fun playing experience.
If you are considering this purchase I don’t think you will be disappointed.
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S
great little guitar.
Steven4745 13.01.2014
got my jim dandy with the usual thomann efficiency,well packaged, I didn't have to wait too long for it either.
I don't care where it's made or what magical wood it's not made from, there's a lovely crisp sound from this little guitar- it's light as a feather and features a truss rod so it can be setup if you know what you want. downsides are it's not massively loud (it chimes like a bell but gets drowned out in the bass frequencies) in a session with some dreadnoughts I needed to really pick at it to make it heard. It's a great guitar otherwise, good value for a name brand. really playable. The intonation is also very good.I'm not enchanted by the matt finish but it's a change from the usual blonde with black plate and thats fine for me.I rubbed it down with some abrasive and now it's better to touch.
if strumming is your thing then look for a bigger bodied guitar with more bass tones.. for fingerstyle, slide etc this is the one for you.. my one will be used for performance without any hesitation..it's definitely not a toy.I'll be contemplating getting another to keep permanently in open D.
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j
There is no reason to not play it all the time
julius__ 20.04.2020
I mostly play bass and was looking for a guitar to play on the couch, therefore it should be easy to play, smaller than jumbo and fun.

Pros:
+ The Jim & Dandy came well set up, I only adjusted the neck slightly to get a low action, still there is no buzzing.
+ Tuners work very well, I almost never have to touch them.
+ Finish is also nice, really nothing to complain on my guitar.
+ Since it's a small guitar, it never get's in the way and it is also never to loud so I often play while watching something. It's also very light.
+ Played in a finger picking style, the guitar has some kind of Delta Blues sound.

Cons:
- Depending on the plek the guitar can sound kinda cheap/plasticy. I think nylon pleks sound the best but even better is to play with your hands.
- In the first week I got black fingertips from the strings that came with the guitar.
- The 'G' on the pickguard looks a bit like the 'G' of a big search engine.
- I play a lot more guitar now and feel bad about my bass guitars.

Overall this is a fun little guitar, of course it lacks the big tone of guitars with bigger bodies but it plays nice, it's size is perfect to play it on the couch, you don't annoy neighbours, it looks cool, sounds bluesy and all of that in a budget.
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L
Lynn444 13.11.2020
Distinctive parlour sound, good looking and fun!
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MN
Great guitar for the price
Mr. Nieva 12.01.2018
I am a Gretsch fan and I love the concept behind this G9500. It has a really cool bluegrassy vintage sound wich fits perfectly with the look of the instrument. Tuners are ok, they're not brilliant. But remember it's a less than 200¤ guitar, so I can't really complain. The finish is really cool, tiny imperfections if you look at it really close and carefully.
Works really cool if you play slide and/or open tunings.
I'll probably build a pick up in it because I really enjoy the sound and I'd like to use it live. That's the only thing I'm missing from this guitar, an electric output.
Besides that, great guitar for the price. Cool instrument with a lot of personality for less than 200¤
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C
Lovely
Clb1970 27.05.2020
I really like the size and weight.
I usually play Tenor and Baritone ukuleles and this wasn't that much bigger or heavier
Marked down on sound only as it's a little restricted or boxy sounding completely as you'd expect for its size.
Lovely guitar for the price
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Begs to be played
Rottinger 19.11.2021
This little beauty is wonderful, it constantly grabs your attention because of how good looking it is and when you play it, you just can't put it down!

Great guitar for a beginner or as a guitar to have lying around at home to pick up and play.
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Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy Flat Top