The Guitar Magazine – September 2019

G

retsch’s historic home was in Brooklyn, New

York but it has long-since left NYC and like

most large-volume guitar manufacturers,

the company now has production facilities

all over the world. Streamliner models are made

in Indonesia, Electromatics in Korea and the high-

end models are built in the Terada factory in Japan.

At the very top of the tree are the mouthwatering

Masterbuilt Custom Shop models made by Stephen

Stern and his team in Corona, California.

When it comes to getting the best twang for your

buck, it’s not necessarily about spending as much cash

as you can. Modifications and hot-rodding have been

part of Gretsch culture for years: the Electromatic

models – and more recently the Streamliners – are

popular platforms for upgrades.

To help find the right Gretsch hollowbody for

you, we’ve chosen three similarly spec’d production

guitars to put under the microscope. The affordable

end of the catalogue is represented here by a Rivera

Blue G2420T Streamliner (£485).

Next up is a G5420T (£989), from the

Electromatic Series, with an iconic Orange Stain

finish and chrome-plated hardware. Finally, we make

the substantial leap to the G6120T Players Edition

Nashville (£2,609), with its mellower orange finish

and gold-plated hardware.

SERIES SPECIFICS

Although all three lines have been around for

a while, there have been some recent changes.

The Streamliner series was launched in 2016 and

upgraded at the beginning of 2019. A new range of

colours was introduced, along with aged multi-ply

binding, tortoiseshell pickguards, hump block inlays

for the hollow bodies and larger f-holes.

The original Tim Shaw designed Broad’Tron

pickups have been updated to create the Broad’Tron

BT-2S, with reconfigured windings to improve clarity

while increasing output and punch. Early-50s-style

clear plastic knobs are fitted, along with Grover-style

die-cast tuners.

The Electromatic name has deep roots in Gretsch

history, but has been used as a series designation since

2004. The current iteration was launched during
      the summer of 2016, with a sleeker look and the
      Electromatic logo moved from the headstock to the
      pickguard. The headstock was changed to the smaller,
      late-50s outline, with aged binding added. Our review
      model has chrome hardware and open-geared tuners.

REVIEWS

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