Gretsch Players Edition & Reissue Edition Guitars

review
GRETSCH PLAYERS EDITION & REISSUE EDITION GUITARS
92
Guitarist May 2016
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. It’s
a straightforward, modern player for the
journeyman guitarist who doesn’t want to
upstage the singer – never a good idea if you
want to keep your gig!
There are a lot of similarities with
Fender’s Telecaster and the sound we hear
from the 6120: a quite steely bridge, soft
mellow neck and a percussive mix that, as
soon as you drop into a basic Chet Atkins-
like picking pattern, produces a rubbery
thwack to the basses with a hollowed
textured bite from the high strings –
glorious and hugely evocative. While it’s
true that Mr A might not have liked these
DeArmonds, the entire sonic stew moves
through the decades, just like a Tele – it
ain’t just for country!
That mix, for example, is a superb soul
voice and the dynamic range of the
instrument… well, it’s why many of us are
so drawn to hollowbodies and semis. The
aesthetic might not be right, but you can
easily cover your jazz deps with this, too,
although the neck has a slightly soft-nosed
attack on the upper strings and real high-
fret access isn’t that easy. But, in anyone’s
book, it’s just a quality voice with a
slightly short old-school sustain and that
hollowbody snap. Aside from the mix-
pickup position, hum may be problematic
on the solo pickups – they are single coils,
after all.
The bigger body of the White Falcon is
noticeable seated, slightly less so strapped
on, but it feels a little more solid and
chunky. The perception of its sound is that
Mr Atkins might
not have liked
these DeArmonds,
but the entire
sonic stew moves
through the
decades, just like a
Tele – it ain’t just for
country, after all!
9
The Rivals
Outside of Gretsch’s lower-spec
Electromatic and Streamliner ranges,
there are plenty of Bigsby-loaded
semis and solidbodies designed with
‘twang’ in mind. Guild’s Newark Street
range has the thinline hollowbody
Starfi re III (£799) and the full-bodied
CE-100D Capri (£796) with pinned
bridges, Bigsbys and Guild’s LB-1
‘Little Bucker’ mini humbuckers.
Godin’s Montreal Premiere P90 comes
with or without Bigsby (£1,399 and
£1,299), dual soapbar single coils and
spruce ‘breathe-through’ centre block.
D’Angelico’s stylish range includes
the single-cut EX-175 (approx. £1,300)
with dual Kent Armstrong ’buckers
and Bigsby. From the solidbody side,
even brands such as PRS offer the S2
Starla (£1,179) with Bigsby and dual
Filter’Tron-like Starla ’buckers
GIT406.rev_gretsch.indd 92 16/03/2016 08:09