Axkoa said:
...Where the fretboard meets the body is pretty off putting.
Not quite sure what you mean, neck meets the body at the 17th fret which is pretty common. Maybe the neck angle looks strange compared to a Tele. It's common for a Gretsch bridge to be set almost an inch above the body in order to accommodate the steep neck angle. Notice how high those Filtertrons are set! Check out the neck angle on this Duo Jet.....