review Gretsch Players Edition & reissue Edition guitars Unchained Melody 86 Guitarist May 2016 GIT406.rev_gretsch.
Gretsch Players Edition & reissue Edition guitars review While Gretsch added its ultra-affordable Streamliner range at the tail end of 2015, its second assault for this year comes in the form of a re-jigged Professional Series for both vintage buffs and serious gigging players. Which are you? Words Dave Burrluck Photography Neil Godwin & Joseph Branston May 2016 Guitarist GIT406.rev_gretsch.
review Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars £1,899 – £3,199 CONTACT Fender GBI PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.gretschguitars.com What you need to Know 1 More Gretsch guitars? What’s different here? Indeed. For this year, Gretsch has split its Professional Series into two distinct strands: ‘Reissue Edition’ and ‘Players Edition’.
VIDEO DEMO review http://bit.ly/guitaristextra 1 2 1 & 3. Chet Atkins never liked the cattle and cactus inlays of his original signature guitar. They had both been removed by the late 50s 3 2. The DeArmond-made DynaSonic single coils were replaced in 1958 with humbucking Filter’Trons. Guild started fitting them to its electric hollowbodies soon afterwards 4. One of the many subtle concessions to the modern age, this Bigsby bridge would have originally been intonated for a wound third string 4 5 5.
review Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars Hardware is gleamingly gold-plated, with the exception of the compensated aluminium bridge on its pinned base.
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars 7. The so-called Space Control bridge was designed by Jimmie Webster and was simpler than the previous Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge, although it doesn’t offer individual intonation, just variable string spacing 8. The classic halfmoon or ‘thumbnail’ inlays were part of Gretsch’s ‘NeoClassic’ fingerboard, which used bound ebony, as opposed to rosewood.
review Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars Stain finish and clean white fingerboard binding that matches the body’s binding. The chrome/nickel hardware is mirrored by the silver back-sprayed pickguard.
VIDEO DEMO review http://bit.ly/guitaristextra 10 11 9. The Anniversary nameplate refers to the 1958 75th Anniversary of Gretsch – the company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch 12 10. A distinctly modern feature of the Player’s Edition guitars is these rear-locking tuners. Along with the lubricated nut and ‘string thru’ Bigsbys, they enable simpler re-stringing 13 11.
review Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars 15 16 17 15. The famous G-brand body logo had already appeared on the Gretsch Round-Up in 1954, which also featured the ‘cattle and cactus’ theme. Yup, it was aimed at country players! 16. Designed by Ray Butts to primarily cure the hum from the DynaSonic single coil, the development of the Filter’Tron came at the same time as Seth Lover’s humbucking design for Gibson 17.
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Gretsch Players edition & reissue edition guitars Gretsch g6120t-55ge reissue CHet atKins Gretsch g6136t-59ge reissue 1959 FalCon PRICE: £2,599 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single-cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Laminated maple back, top and sides w/ parallel tone bars MAX WIDTH: 400mm RIM DEPTH: 70mm NECK: Maple, standard ‘U’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 625mm (24.6”) NUT/WIDTH: Aluminium/42.
