Gretsch G2215-P90 Streamliner Junior Jet Club
first play
26
GUITARIST JULY 2021
GRETSCH G2215-P90 STREAMLINER JUNIOR JET CLUB
GRETSCH G2215-P90
STREAMLINER JUNIOR
JET CLUB
PRICE: £370
ORIGIN: Indonesia
TYPE: Single-cutaway slab-body solidbody electric
BODY: Nato
NECK: Nato, ‘Thin U’ profile, bolt-on
SCALE LENGTH: 629mm (24.75”)
NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic/43.3mm
FINGERBOARD: Bound laurel, pearloid ‘Neo-Classic
Thumbnail’ inlays, 305mm (12”) radius
FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
HARDWARE: Anchored Compensated Wrap-Around
Bridge/tailpiece, die-cast tuners – chrome-plated
STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm
ELECTRICS: Gretsch Broad’Tron BT-2S humbucker
(bridge), P90 Soap Bar single coil (neck), 3-way
toggle pickup selector switch, master volume and
tone controls
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.53/7.76
OPTIONS: Colour only
RANGE OPTIONS: The G2210 Streamliner Junior
Jet Club, with dual Broad’Tron humbuckers,
unbound body and single-ply tortoise pickguard, is
available in four colours and costs £320
LEFT-HANDERS: No. The only lefty Streamliner
is the G2622LH Center Block Double-Cut with
V-Stoptail and BT-2S humbuckers
FINISHES: Single Barrel Stain (as reviewed),
Mint Metallic, Sahara Metallic – all gloss
Fender Musical Instruments EMEA
01342 331700
www.gretschguitars.com
9
sound, but the bridge pickup, obviously
brighter, is thinner and a little quieter, too,
with an almost generic ‘humbucker’ sound.
It might not shout ‘Gretsch’, but it’s a
perfectly good rootsy rock voice that laps up
crunch and even heavier gained styles.
If you’re not averse to using the volume
and tone, you’ll find quite a bit more here.
The volume taper seems a little abrupt, but
it noticeably thins out the sound – in a good
way – and certainly gives a more typical
Gretsch-y character. The tone has a subtle
effect, too, again thinning things out before
it gets typically woofy, fully anti-clockwise.
The apparent vintage wiring is doing its
thing here with subtle interaction between
the two controls for those of us who like
some slight tone shifts and how they affect
the front-end of your amp.
Finally, after lowering the neck pickup
as described, that output discrepancy is
removed and some ‘Gretsch’ is restored.
Not only does the P-90 sound a little more
single coil, less hot and bass heavy, the mix is
rather good – bouncy and balanced.
Verdict
We’re constantly surprised by the quality
of ‘start-up’ guitars such as this. Gretsch
was right there at the birth of rock ’n’ roll
and often – like other heritage companies
– seems to get pigeonholed and stuck in
time with that slicked-back-hair rockabilly
style. But there’s quite a Jekyll and Hyde
character here.
As supplied with that pickup imbalance,
the over-big-sounding neck pickup rather
dwarfs the more classic-sounding bridge
pickup, and it comes across as a bit of a
roots-rock bruiser. But the rather unusual
circuit means that if you’re happy to use
the volume and tone, you can clean things
up a little and evoke more of that 50s/60s
vibe. Remounting the neck pickup so we
can lower it moves the guitar into a more
conventional hum/P-90 style and restores
some Gretsch, not least with the pretty cool
pickup mix.
It’s a lot of guitar, with plenty of potential:
a grab-and-go axe that won’t break the
bank. Game on!
Gretsch, like other heritage companies,
seems to get pigeonholed… But there’s
quite a Jekyll and Hyde character here
Although this is a pretty
standard bolt-on, it’s a
rarity for Gretsch. The
neck pocket in the body
is angled to rake the neck
back and create the correct
height for that Gibson-
style wrapover bridge
PROS Simple, tidy build; very much a Gretsch
‘Junior’ with excellent weight, feel and playability;
unusual but e ective control layout and a pretty
big sound!
CONS Not your archetypal Gretsch voice – but
it’s hard to knock at this price; bags of modding
potential here, too
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaris textra
GIT473.rev_gretsch.indd 26GIT473.rev_gretsch.indd 26 13/05/2021 09:2713/05/2021 09:27