I got a Gretsch G5120 last week, orange of course, and here's a quick picture:
I really like this guitar and have been playing all of my very limited Duane Eddy repertoire on it. It isn't quite as brash and bright as I'd like--it will do Chet Atkins/jazzy tones very well, gets close to Duane Eddy twang, but won't get into that sizzly early Beatles brightness. In other words, there may be a pickup change in its future--I've seen some really neat instructions for installing actual Filtertrons in 5120s and I might give that a try at some point.
It
is going to get a new pickguard and I have some Gretsch decals that I'm going to put on the back of the clear guard and then paint over---I'm going to try a white "Electromatic Gretsch" on a black guard and a gold "Gretsch" and Gretsch steer head on a gold guard and see what I like best.
The workmanship of this guitar is quite good: the internal construction is neat and clean and everything I can see is cleanly cut and without glue spills or slop; the binding is neat and tidy; the finish is smooth and fairly thin; the neck is kind of a medium depth and there's not a trace of fret sprout.
What this guitar desperately needs, though, is a properly cut bone nut as it tends to go out of tune quite easily with even moderate Bigsby use. There's also a bit of buzz at times from the Tune-o-matic-type bridge and that's a possibility for replacement down the line. It might also get a longer/stiffer spring in the Bigsby. These aren't big faults (and I think that any decent guitar deserves a bone nut), but might put off someone who just wants and off-the-shelf guitar that doesn't need any work, but that's what the pro-line Gretsches are for, I suppose.
These Korean Gretsches are really nice guitars for the money. If you're interested in the price, I paid $650 with a Gretsch hard case for this one.
Cassady