Gretsch Players Edition & Reissue Edition Guitars

91
May 2016 Guitarist
review GRETSCH PLAYERS EDITION & REISSUE EDITION GUITARS
What’s Inside?
You thought your Gretsch was all
hollow, right? Wrong. We investigate…
The term ‘hollowbody’ is one of those catch-all phrases
used to describe a guitar’s construction, but outside of
the ‘jazz-style’ hollowbodies, guitars created before that
new rock ’n’ roll thing came along, most have some sort
of internal bracing. Why?
There are variety of reasons, sustain and feedback
rejection being paramount. Like the fl at-top steel-string,
the hollowbody archtop was designed before pickups and
amplifi cation transformed the instrument from a mainly
rhythm instrument to a lead voice.
The large body, with its violin-inspired arched top and back,
has – to generalise – quite a short sustain, with a mid-focus
to the sound that helped it cut through ensemble settings.
With the advent of pickups and amplifi ers enabling the player
to add these to his or her instrument, that sound was not
only made louder, but the ‘jazz’ or ‘plectrum guitar’ became
defi ned – as it still is today.
As the 1950s progressed, plenty of brands – Gretsch
included – were experimenting with internal bracing and
support. This initially took the form of dual braces and a post
running from front to back, to damp the top and back but
at the same time add some sustain. Of course, when Gibson
combined its solidbody with its archtop heritage and created
the ES-335, you’d have thought most others would follow.
Plenty did, but not Gretsch. Despite requests from its key
artist, Chet Atkins, the company refused to make a thinline
with a centre block.
The so-called Trestle bracing appeared in the later 50s.
This was a dual-bar system, which added mass and stiffness
to the top, while two legs on each of the braces connected
top to back close to the neck pickup and the bridge. That’s
the style used on our reviewed White Falcon, and you can see
these supports are quite sizeable.
‘ML’ bracing, as used on the Players Edition guitars, is
named after Fender/Gretsch veteran Mike Lewis, and is a
much later addition to the Gretsch canon. Basically, this
takes the Trestle concept, but removes the neck-placed feet,
leaving quite a rigid top support, plus the dual feet by the
bridge, to connect top to back.
8
7
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 half-
moon or ‘thumbnail’
inlays were part of
Gretsch’s ‘Neo-
Classic’ fi ngerboard,
which used bound
ebony, as opposed to
rosewood. Compare
these with the inlays
on the Anniversary
and Tennessee Rose
(picture 14)
VIDEO DEMO http://bit.ly/guitaristextra
GIT406.rev_gretsch.indd 91 16/03/2016 08:09