Gretsch G5222 EMTC D. Jet BT V-St

APRIL 2020 TOTAL GUITAR
THE TG TEST
101
M
aybe it’s because Gretsch came of age at
a time when rock ’n’ roll was the big bang
moment for youth culture that it will always
be a heritage brand. Maybe it’s simply a case
of the classics never going out of style.
But for all the revisions it has made to its
line-up over the years since the Gretsch
plant in Brooklyn, New York was a mid-50s
epicentre of cool, there’s something unchanged about its guitars,
as though they were unearthed in Grandpa’s attic. Take this
month’s Jets. We’ll start with the baritones, the G5260 and
G5260T, the T for tremolo. These have a 29.75-inch scale to
accommodate low tunings such as baritone (B E A D F# B) or
A standard (A D G C E A) without the strings going fl oppy, yet it
looks and feels uncannily like a super-sized Duo Jet. Then there’s
the G522 Double Jet, Double Jet as in double-cut, that’s fi nished in
a deep red Walnut Stain. The Electromatic versions of today might
have subtle changes in build – they are built in China, there are
newly-designed pickups – but the fundamentals remain
unchanged, with a chambered mahogany body off ering that
lightweight Gretsch experience. Whether in baritone tunings
or at concert pitch, these are all designed to twang. It’s just
a question of which register you want to park yourself in.
Let’s take a look and see which one is right for you.
TGR330.gear_test.indd 101 27/02/2020 13:39