GRETSCH G5220 ELECTROMATIC

T
hat historic context makes
even more sense when you
starting playing the G5260.
There is something
pleasingly rubbery about
that the tubby sound of that low B
string. With a little slapback echo
and spring reverb, and picking near
the bridge, you can coax a twang out
of it that does the name on the
headstock proud.
The G5260 looks stretched out,
its top at where the G5220’s is
noticeably arched, and for a moment
you might ask yourself if you need
arms like Mr Tickle to cover the
ngerboard. Perhaps the biggest trick
the G5260 pulls is in shrinking once
you start playing it, that it feels
manageable.
In a sense, this G5260 splits the
dierence between the 60s vibe and
the baritone’s latter-day uses. The
proprietary mini-humbuckers are not
going to arm-wrestle an EMG into
submission but they have a growl that
invites incaution with the fuzz pedal.
Always a good option. Played clean, it
goes from being Morricone-adjacent
on the bridge pickup to piano-esque
and detailed at the neck. Baritone
guitars might be most widely
recognised as a specialist instrument
but this challenges that.
Who is this for? How long have you
got. You can play all kinds of styles
on this. Modern metal and shred is
a stretch; everything else is fair game.
Woolly mammoth, fuzzed-out
Melvins tones, grunge, punk, all
translate well. Jazz chords are given
a sonorous authority when performed
on a baritone. Okay, blues sounds
kinda weird but assimilated into the
vocabulary of rock ’n’ roll and big
ring classic rock the baritone makes
sense. There is just enough power and
oomph – not to mention clarity – to
make it work. And like its standard-
scale sibling, the G5260 is nicely put
together, a guitar whose price tag
might require a double take.
GRETSCH G5260
ELECTROMATIC JET BARITONE
£609
The low-end is nigh
OCTOBER 2022 TOTAL GUITAR
THE TG TEST
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