SeriesGretsch Electromatic Collection

Made in KOREA, AOM bridge with rosewood base, HARPE.type tailpiece, quality and responsive Gretsch pots, black matte finish, very original, quality filtertron top black pickups, grover tuners. In short, well-equipped for an Electromatic.... USE Very nice neck, access to the upper frets is inevitably limited, due to the '70s Gretsch design. Imposing guitar with an awesome look and an overall volume pot, I love it!! SOUND I play blues, '70s rock, jazz sometimes... I can get an excellent blues and jazz sound with the neck pickup, it's not too fat, but really bassy, with presence and well-defined, very good! I often play with a fat crunch, ZZtop, Gov't mule, AC/DC style, and it's really good at it. It's a pity access to the upper frets is limited, but it's okay to play solo at home.... Playing a G after the 12th fret becomes a technical feat, although achievable... But it's warm.... Anyway, I think it was Bo Diddley who said that playing beyond the 12th fret is vulgar :D! OVERALL OPINION I've had it for about 1 month and had never had Gretsch before. I've had 3 Gibson LPs, 2 Gibson SGs, 5 Strats of all types, 1 Heritage H140, a Lepape, etc..... To cut it short, it's my Gretsch and I'm very satisfied with it!!! I love its retro look, its color, its sound character. I love how it was conceived as a compromise between the Pro and Electromatic models, and, even better, it's available to lefties!! In short, it's a very good guitar, typical Gretsch, and it sounds incredibly good thanks in part to the hardware... For once, it really makes me want to get a high-end Gretsch model!!!

The Gretsch Electromatic series offers budget guitars that carry all the sense of class that the flagship guitars are known for. The G5120 is a take on the larger, hollow body electric guitars the brand is predominantly known for. The guitars body, sides, and neck are made up of laminated maple, while the fingerboard is rosewood. The electronics consist of two proprietary Gretsch humbucking pickups wired to a 3 way toggle, and controlled via a set of volumes and a master control near the bridge and a master volume positioned above the pickguard, as on the 6120 models. The Orange finish is beautifully done. UTILIZATION The G5120's tuning stability is excellent, and allows for more than sparing use of the bigsby licensed tremolo. Gretsch's take on a thin neck has never carried much favor with me, so the wider neck of the G5120 felt very welcome compared the the other electromatics I've played. Albeit wide, the neck allowed for quick access up and down the fretboard and the cutaway did not encumber movement at all. The pickups are TV Jones styled and are underpowered to provide excellent, tasteful, vintage tones. SOUNDS I played the G5120 through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. I used the first stage of the carl martin plexitone out front and only the reverb of the amp. The guitar paired very well with the fender to create many different useable sounds. The typical demo of this guitar will typically feature a rockabilly tune or something mildly bluesy, this guitar is capable of much more than that. The cleaner sound of this guitar makes it fit nicely into the mix of a two-guitar band. I use this guitar on a couple of tracks live and it really adds something unique to the clean and low gain passages in those songs. Using the plexitone, I was able to get percussive rock riffs and screaming double stops. The guitar is not nearly as nimble as my SG, but it can hold it's own when it comes to classic rock vibes. OVERALL OPINION The Gretsch Electromatic 5120 is an well priced solution for musicians who want the mojo of a hollow body guitar. It handles gain fairly well, and is plenty more versatile than one might expect.

The Gretsch G5235T Electromatic Pro Jet is a budget guitar with great sound and features. The guitar features a carved maple top, mahogany body and neck, and a rosewood fingerboard. A pair of Gretsch mini share a single volume and tone pot and a 3 way switch. The "T" in the name denotes the highlight of the guitar, it's Bigsby B50 tremolo tailpiece. The black finish looks much better in person than in the stock photos on most retailer's websites. The thumbnail inlays for the fret markers add an interesting aesthetic twist to an otherwise plain design. UTILIZATION The Gretsch is a smooth guitar. It can cover a lot of genres very easily and the pickups never seem underpowered. The neck shape is slim, but not too much so. I feel very comfortable navigating up and down the fretboard quickly. The tuning stability is surprisingly good for a Bigsby equipped guitar, especially one in such a budget price bracket. SOUNDS I played the G5235T Pro Jet through a Fastback 18 head. Fastback 2x12 cab. No pedals. The guitar responds much like a Gibson Les Paul, but smaller and a little less refined. I tested both the Gretsch and a Les paul Traditional plus top model side by side. To my surprise, the gretsch produced a fuller sound with a slightly higher output. The guitar sounded at home both in all genres of music, handling clean and gain sounds with an even balance. The bigsby would occasionally throw the guitar out of tune when used excessively. Once the novelty wore off, I found little need for the tremolo and used it sparingly. This greatly improved the time between re-tunings. I'd feel perfectly comfortable using this guitar in a live setting. OVERALL OPINION The Gretsch Pro Jet line has been recently updated. The G5235T is still available in stores but I do not expect the model to last much longer in production. You can find them for around $350 on the used market and at this price, you'll be hard pressed to find a better single cut guitar.

I bought the guitar new in 2003 at guitar center for about 450 dollars a year and a half ago. The guitar was beautiful it had a mahognany body with a nice glossy overall finish with die cast tuners , rosewood fingerboard.It had an adjustable tune-o-matic bridge which was cool.The overall look of the guitar made me fall in love with it. The sound quality wasn't as good as i expected it to be. I play punk and alternative rock and it's hard to get that dark overdrived sound with it. It's to happy and country sounding. the look of the guitar was better rather the sound. First of all The humbuckers had a very muddy sound with the distortion and i use it on a marshall avt20.This guitar is basically for rhythm . I tryed playing solos on it but once you get past the 12th fret it buzzes .Also There was a short in the guitar a week after i bought it. One of the humbuckers didn't workhalf the time .The humbuckers sounded ok with it clean. The guitar was really heavy and had a bolt on neck that's 8 pounds . It was just cheaply assembled the strap nut became loose and everytime i tryed to play it with a strap the nut would just fall off .When i got one of the nuts fixed the other one started having problems. The screw was stripped .Also the rubber that held the suspension of tuning pegs came off and became so loose i couldn't tighten that tuning peg .With the bolt on neck i had some problems the neck. It had got bent from playing alot of punk shows .I had to get it synchronized and the bridge adjusted .It also gets out of tune very easily within 3 minutes of playing. It doesn't sound good at all with distortion.With All of the shows i played i had so many problems with it that i ended up playing my friends squier stratocaster and i liked it a lot better than the gretsch It's definetly not worth the price . It's not a reliable guitar at all and there are a lot better cheaper guitars that are better than this one .It's like owning an old classic jaguar but having your'e breaks going out on you and getting the suspension fixed new muffler and all that other stuff. It just tiring to constantly maintain it. I'm not saying gretsch's are bad guitars, there one of the best manufacturesnext to fender and gibson . Just don't buy any under The electromatic series . This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I had been looking for 'retro' Guitars and found this one at a Daddy's store in MA. I picked it up with a high quality moulded hardshell case for $155. Obviously, the sparkle finish make it look quite unigue, but I also liked the retro styling of the pickups and knobs. But it was the sound that hooked me. I used to play a Les Paul then switched to a Strat. This guitar has the bottom and fullness of the Paul but the sparkle and twang of a Strat. I thought perhaps I was not hearing it correctly so I played it through headphones. Then I compared it to an Epi Strat. That was much thinner. I thought perhaps the copy was not up to quality of a real Strat so I then compared it to a $1200 Strat. The Electromatic still sounded quite different. I then tried an Epi Paul and it sounded muffled compared to the Electromatic. I tried a Real Leas Paul and it sounded a bit better but still much more muffled than the Electromatic. I'm not sure if it is the strings, pickups or body on this guitar, but something (or all three) makes it quite unique and a very nice addition to my Strat. It is like having a Strat with more low end and a more midrange snap. Hard to play in tune. I have large/strong hands and fingers and I find myself bending the nexk as I play which makes the pitch rise. Likewise, the frets and action are high so if I apply anything more than a light fretting presure, the strings go out of tune. Very frustrating! I'll try setting the action lower and if that does not help, perhaps get it refretted. Not sure if there is a way to strenthen the neck/body connection at all so it will not flex. For what I paid, the value is very high. Well constructed and good quality components for the money for what I can see so far. Tunners may be a bit weak though. If you want something between a Paul and Strat, check this one out. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Gresch is a guitar company that has a distinct home in sound that no other instrument can really mimic or copy. I know that sender now on scratch but their guitar sounds could not be any further or distance apart. Many other guitars look like something that would go along the lines of a Gibson product line but their tone varies quite differently. Most of their guitars are semi hollow bodies or straight up hollow body guitars. So they have this open area type sound that is either a sound that you like all the way or you do not like at all. UTILIZATION Electromatic Series single cutaway, semi-hollowbody Arched laminated maple top Mahogany back Set mahogany neck Rosewood fretboard 22 frets 1-11/16" nut width Adjusto-Matic bridge Adjusto-Matic bridge with G-cutout tailpiece Chromeplated hardware Gloss urethane finish Chrome vintage-style machine heads SOUNDS This guitar definitely has a vintage tone to it and it really appeals to those rockabilly type effects pedals or reverb driven guitar sounds. It has two humbucker s installed in this guitar quite unusual and they only really fit the correct style guitars. It is a mahogany bass guitar see you're getting get a warm woody tone as well as the fret board is made of rosewood. This guitar has a cool sound to it but it's not a sound that is going to be something for me as a main part of my music. It could be a good addition to my guitar catalog but not something that's going to be a main guitar stay. OVERALL OPINION At new you could find his guitars for right around $500 which is a pretty good price for this guitar. I do believe they are made in Korea or Japan so you know the build quality is going to be pretty good. Overall this is a cool guitar for the money and I suggest anyone trying out. It isn't my favorite guitar that I have ever played but it does have a nice unique sound and a cool look for the vintage tones. If you are into the vintage vibe and sound than this is a cool guitar. Otherwise I would bypass this guitar.

Body Shape: Jet™ Body Style: Chambered Single Cutaway Body: Basswood, Gloss Urethane Finish, Arched Maple Top Pickguard: White Pearloid w/ Gretsch® Logo Body Binding: 1-Ply White Neck: Maple, Gloss Urethane Finish Neck Binding: 1-Ply White Frets: 22, Medium Jumbo Position Inlays: Pearloid Hump-Block Inlays Fingerboard: Rosewood Finger Board Radius: 12" Radius (305 mm) Nut: Synthetic Bone Nut Width: 1.6875" (43 mm) Scale Length: 24.6" (62.5 cm) Pickups: "Black Top" Filter'Tron™ Bridge Pickup "Black Top" Filter'Tron™ Neck Pickup Pickup Switching: 3-Position Toggle: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups, Position 3. Neck Pickup Controls: Volume 1. (Neck Pickup), Volume 2. (Bridge Pickup), Master Volume, Master Tone Bridge: Anchored Adjusto-Matic™ Bridge Hardware: Chrome Tuning Keys: Vintage Style Knobs: "G" Arrow Knobs Strings: D'Addario® XL110 Regular Light, NPS (.010-.046 Gauges) Unique Features: Two-Tone Body Color Scheme, “Black Top” Filter’Tron™ pickups UTILIZATION This is my favorite new Gretsch guitar to come out in a long time. The body has a great balance on a strap or on the knee, so it is very comfortable to hold. Playability is like most Gretsch guitars - great! The fretwork is among the nicest I've seen in a sub-$1000 guitar. Gretsch has put a lot of thought into the design of this guitar, from the classy binding and inlays, to the wonderful FilterTron pickups, to even minute details like the knobs, switch cap, and strap buttons. There is another model that's $100 more that has a Bigsby tremolo unit on it, but my local store didn't have that. SOUNDS Wow! That's really the first word to come to mind when thinking about the tone of this guitar. The articulation is full force, bringing a depth of clarity unmatched by most guitars of any price range! Gretsch guitars seem to have a sonic timbre I really enjoy in the attack of the note, and this Jet model accentuates it even further than other Gretsches. The chambered body adds dimension to the sound, but still allows one to tame any feedback that arises. OVERALL OPINION This is just an all around great guitar, bar none. From the finish to the sound to the playability, this Pro Jet is a dream to play. It could handle any style except possibly the most extreme metal genres, and it is a guitar people notice. I recommend anyone to try this guitar out.

The Gretsch 2626 Sparkle Jet is a semi-hollow body electric guitar that has a single F hole. I don't know too much background information on this guitar as I was only introduced to it since we have one at the studio where I work. The guitar has two 'Gretsch-Bucker' humbucker pick ups, and has single cutaway body design. The neck is made from rosewood, while the body is hardwood. It's got a laminated sparkle body, hence the name... UTILIZATION Playing the Gretsch 2626 Sparkle Jet is really a pleasure. It's not at all hard to play up and down the neck as it's got a nice and thin neck. As far as controls go, it's got a master volume knob to go along with volume control for the neck and bridge pick ups. There's also a tone knob and a pick up selector switch to toggle between the two of them or blend them together. Not too hard to get a nice sound from this, or at least to get to the core of what this guitar sounds like. SOUNDS While it doesn't sound as cool as it looks, the Gretsch 2626 Sparkle Jet is capable of getting a nice array of different sounds. In my personal use I've found it best for rhythm guitar parts rather than lead tones. While it's certainly suitable for both, since we have so many different guitars at the studio I tend to use the ones that are best at what they do in those scenarios. I like that there's a good amount of control between the two pick ups, but it's not a huge game changer in this situation in terms of versatility. OVERALL OPINION The Gretsch 2626 Sparkle Jet is overall a pretty cool guitar. It's not my favorite out there, but it's a nice change of pace and certainly has a look and sound of it's own. The sparkle finish will grab a good amount of people, but I do wish it sounded as good as it looks. I'm not really sure the price on this, but I wouldn't pay a great amount for it. Gretsch has better guitars than this, but it's certainly a cool one in it's own right.