Gretsch "Center Block" series

JayGee

Just been reading about these in the latest issue of Guitarist to plop through my letterbox.

I'm kind of torn between "Great idea, why didn't they do it years ago..." and "What's the point of that then?"

Part of me's saying "Oooh! Shiny.... and I can play it really, really loud and dirty without worrying about uncontrollable feedback!" and part of me (the part which has been regularly gigging a Peerless Gigmaster SC with a punk/new wave covers band) is saying that having your guitar turn into a wild and crazy beast which rattles and vibrates under your hands and against your body like a living thing as you play, turns the entire room into part of your instrument, and can produce slightly unpredictable but wonderful noises at the slightest provocation is the whole damned point of playing a guitar like that...

Anyone else got any thoughts on these beasts?

RocknRollDave

The black ones look sexy as hell and they make my lowly G5120 look like the budget version it is.

impmann

Expensive.

Cool.

But.

Expensive.

Phil_aka_Pip

I thought I'd like the double cut without the bling, and minus the bigsby ... but only after I'd bought all the other doublecut semis on my virtual GASlist.

JayGee

All true, all fair comment on pretty much anything Gretsch have ever made. I was really pondering on the 335-esque construction and whether it takes away too much of the essential Gretschitude though...

rpr

HOLY THREAD RESURRECTION-

Noticed that Gretsch have started making centre block models in their Electromatic range

 http://www.andertons.co.uk/electric-guitars/cid556/electric-guitars.asp#1380907870910page-3

JayGee

rpr said:

HOLY THREAD RESURRECTION-

Noticed that Gretsch have started making centre block models in their Electromatic range

 http://www.andertons.co.uk/electric-guitars/cid556/electric-guitars.asp#1380907870910page-3

Aieeeeee!

That could get me into all kinds of trouble...

thermionic

£650-800 for a Chinese guitar (case extra) seems rather expensive? I'm sure Electromatics were a shade over £300 only a few years ago, competing with the likes of the Epi Dot.

monquixote

They used to say that about Jap Gretsches back in the day. 

I think they are essentially a Gretsch for people who don't want a Gretsch and thus are silly. 

stickyfiddle

Can't blame them for wanting a piece of the 335 market. It'll probably get them into a few more pro rock guitarists' hands, which in turn will help them sell more of everything. 

Fenders new owners are obviously testing the market with all sorts of new stuff like this. Definitely a good thing, even if I don't like all of the guitars.

rpr

thermionic said:

£650-800 for a Chinese guitar (case extra) seems rather expensive? I'm sure Electromatics were a shade over £300 only a few years ago, competing with the likes of the Epi Dot.

The larger semis are Korean, the DuoJets et al are Chinese.

I had a shot of a few earlier this year, when they revamped the range with better pickups. They do sound a lot better, but there were some issues. Of the two big semis, the back pickup didn,t work on one and the other had really badly finished frets very scratchy- for guitars going on £800, it's a bit out of order I feel. The Chinese Duo Jet was the best QC, but didn't sound, comparatively  that great. I think it need the larger semi,body to get the best of out the pickups.