Gretsch BillyBo Jupiter Thunderbird
The one-piece mahogany neck is
fashioned to a hallmark Gretsch shape,
with fairly mainstream depth of
20.6mm at the fi rst and 22.4mm at the
12th that feels a little thinner due to
the slight ‘V’-shaped profi le. Certainly
the fi nish quality is high, likewise the
cream binding that is cleanly scraped
and nicely rolled into the fi ngerboard.
The heel is quite chunky and access to
the top is not quite as good as the
outline shape might suggest. The
’board itself is a nice dense brown
rosewood with those distinctive
thumbnail pearl markers and black
dots on the cream binding so you
shouldn’t get lost. Mind you, the fret
gauge is pretty small by modern
standards – 1.85mm wide x 1.27mm
high – but it’s tidily installed and, with
a little playing, burnishes up nicely.
Gretsch’s various bridges can be
notorious for adjustment and, well,
moving, in true vintage fashion, as the
wooden ‘foot’ isn’t fi xed. Bo’s original
featured a Gretsch Space Control
bridge with its six saddle wheels. “Well,
they can be a bit cantankerous to play,
for sure,” muses Gibbons. “Originally
they weren’t even fi xed to the top of
the instrument, they fl oated and were
removable. And that was a problem as
far as intonation was concerned. The
wheels only go left to right, they don’t
go backwards and forwards. Which I
guess is why they made the bridge
fl oating instead of glued. But that was
one modifi cation we decided to make.
As soon as we found the sweet spot
where the guitar was properly
intonated, we fi xed the bridge. Also,
the production model comes equipped
with a tune-o-matic.”
And while some of Brian Setzer’s
models use locking Sperzel tuners (and
pinned bridges) here we have a set of
GRETSCH ‘BILLY-BO’ JUPITER THUNDERBIRD £2,099
ELECTRICS
CD TRACKS 6 & 7
106 DECEMBER 2005
GRETSCH ‘BILLY-BO’ TEST RESULTS
Build quality
Playability
Sound
Value for money
■ WE LIKED There’s always room for
historic anomalies like this; muscular tone
with Gretsch twang
■ WE DISLIKED The ‘ouch’ factor when it
comes to the price
GRETSCH G6199
‘BILLY-BO’ JUPITER
THUNDERBIRD
PRICE: £2,099 (inc
case)
ORIGIN: Japan
TYPE: Custom-shaped
semi-solid electric
BODY: Chambered
mahogany with ‘ultra-
thin’ laminate maple top
NECK: One-piece
mahogany, glued-in
SCALE LENGTH:
626mm (24.6-inch)
NUT/WIDTH: White
synthetic/43.1mm
FINGERBOARD: Bound
rosewood, mother-of-
pearl neo-classic
‘thumb-nail’ inlays
FRETS: 22, medium/
small
HARDWARE: Pinned
‘Adjusto-matic’ bridge,
Gretsch G-cutout
tailpiece, Schaller
Straploks, Grover
individual open-gear
V98C Sta-Tite tuners – all
chrome plated
STRING SPACING,
BRIDGE: 50.5mm
ELECTRICS: Two TV
Jones Power’Tron
humbuckers, three-way
toggle pickup selector
switch, master volume,
master tone, bridge
pickup volume, neck
pickup volume
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.4/7.5
OPTIONS: None
RANGE OPTIONS: If
odd-shaped electrics
fl oat your boat, check out
the G6138 Bo Diddley
(see Rivals). There’s an
Electromatic version too
at £329, and the Mini
Diddley with 543mm
scale and single pickup
at £249
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Firebird Red
(gloss urethane)
Fender GBI
01342 331700
www.gretschguitars.com
The classic
headstock features
chrome Grover
Sta-Tite tuners
GIT271.rev_gretsch 106GIT271.rev_gretsch 106 11/11/05 11:06:07 am11/11/05 11:06:07 am