New Gretsch Summer 2020 Guitars - Ace

StruanRobertson

https://www.peachguitars.com/brands/gretsch-summer-2020/

Really like the look of the Jet Jrs, especially in mint - and for only £300 (thanks to some discounting from Peach)

Should be pretty decent as is, but longer term they could be fun to upgrade the pickups and mess about with.

Dammit, I'm going to have to buy one.

dindude

Look very nice those jrs 

TheMarlin

I do not understand why Gretsch are putting tension bar Bigsbys on Pro Line guitars. 

Bewilders me.

Jets have been made with the B30 Bigsby since the 1950’s. Why change to an inferior system. 

stickyfiddle

TheMarlin said:

I do not understand why Gretsch are putting tension bar Bigsbys on Pro Line guitars. 

Bewilders me.

Jets have been made with the B30 Bigsby since the 1950’s. Why change to an inferior system. 

Same here. I assume it's because they want the centre-block guitars to be a bit more "Gibsony" but in this case it also makes them worse.

StruanRobertson

Pulled the trigger on the Mint Jet JR.

The brown head stock looks cool. I think they only have stock images available on all sites, below is from Andertons as the Mint one has now disappeared from the Peach website -maybe they only had one available for pre-order?

Great way to start a Thursday morning!

Seziertisch

TheMarlin said:

I do not understand why Gretsch are putting tension bar Bigsbys on Pro Line guitars. 

Bewilders me.

Jets have been made with the B30 Bigsby since the 1950’s. Why change to an inferior system. 

I think it’s because the angle of the neck is different from traditional Gretsch, and is in fact closer to that of a Gibson. 

For better or worse, that probably makes the guitar more appealing to players more used to playing Gibsons. 

Hattigol

They're lovely but I had this conversation yesterday - I do think that Gretsch need a shake-up. I would love to see something surprising from them. Is an actual new model too much to ask? Something different?

Much as I like what they do, I'd love to see them try out some new body shapes. When I look at Duesenbergs, I think they are the guitar designs that Gretsch should have moved into making (whilst keeping the traditional models on too). Keep the lineage from the 50s designs but update them.

Rickenbacker are the same. Do either of these firms have Product Development teams and if so, what do they do - get together once a year, say 'what colour this year, guys?', then go home?

breakstuff

StruanRobertson said:

Pulled the trigger on the Mint Jet JR.

The brown head stock looks cool. I think they only have stock images available on all sites, below is from Andertons as the Mint one has now disappeared from the Peach website -maybe they only had one available for pre-order?

Great way to start a Thursday morning!

That is one seriously nice looking guitar. I can see one of these coming my way too. 

TheMarlin

Hattigol said:

They're lovely but I had this conversation yesterday - I do think that Gretsch need a shake-up. I would love to see something surprising from them. Is an actual new model too much to ask? Something different?

Much as I like what they do, I'd love to see them try out some new body shapes. When I look at Duesenbergs, I think they are the guitar designs that Gretsch should have moved into making (whilst keeping the traditional models on too). Keep the lineage from the 50s designs but update them.

Rickenbacker are the same. Do either of these firms have Product Development teams and if so, what do they do - get together once a year, say 'what colour this year, guys?' then go home?

Couldn’t agree more.  The Panther went down very well with Gretsch fans, it covered that 335 need, while still covering Gretsch territory.  Shame they took it off sale, then launched a load of blandly- boring- gretsch-a-likes with a bloody awful Bigsby  

I would never buy a Pro Line Gretsch with a tension bar Bigsby.  Not going to happen. Ever. 

Happy to buy an Electromatic with one, I expect an Electromatic to need some work to get it to play properly. And, I expect that I’ll have to modify the Bigdby to make it usable.  But not on a Pro Line.   

Dusenberg make excellent beautifully finished guitars that play superbly out of the box. They need nothing doing, stage ready. They have developer their own tension bar tremolo to work as well as a Bigsby B6 or B3 (the best Bigsby has to offer). 

Unfortunately, Gretsch have not been so diligent.    They way they set them up, the Bigsby becomes stiff, non-compliant, and aids mostly in ruining tuning stability.   You can mod them, take it apart, add £60 worth of replacement parts, and another £10 on a softer spring with superb results. But when you’re spending nearly £3k on a guitar, is that acceptable?

ThePrettyDamned

TheMarlin said:

Hattigol said:

They're lovely but I had this conversation yesterday - I do think that Gretsch need a shake-up. I would love to see something surprising from them. Is an actual new model too much to ask? Something different?

Much as I like what they do, I'd love to see them try out some new body shapes. When I look at Duesenbergs, I think they are the guitar designs that Gretsch should have moved into making (whilst keeping the traditional models on too). Keep the lineage from the 50s designs but update them.

Rickenbacker are the same. Do either of these firms have Product Development teams and if so, what do they do - get together once a year, say 'what colour this year, guys?' then go home?

Couldn’t agree more.  The Panther went down very well with Gretsch fans, it covered that 335 need, while still covering Gretsch territory.  Shame they took it off sale, then launched a load of blandly- boring- gretsch-a-likes with a bloody awful Bigsby  

I would never buy a Pro Line Gretsch with a tension bar Bigsby.  Not going to happen. Ever. 

Happy to buy an Electromatic with one, I expect an Electromatic to need some work to get it to play properly. And, I expect that I’ll have to modify the Bigdby to make it usable.  But not on a Pro Line.   

Dusenberg make excellent beautifully finished guitars that play superbly out of the box. They need nothing doing, stage ready. They have developer their own tension bar tremolo to work as well as a Bigsby B6 or B3 (the best Bigsby has to offer). 

Unfortunately, Gretsch have not been so diligent.    They way they set them up, the Bigsby becomes stiff, non-compliant, and aids mostly in ruining tuning stability.   You can mod them, take it apart, add £60 worth of replacement parts, and another £10 on a softer spring with superb results. But when you’re spending nearly £3k on a guitar, is that acceptable?

Interesting all the sigs seem to have what you want... 

stickyfiddle

All I want is a 335-thickness Nashville/Falcon/Club with a centre block and a proper bigsby. I'm still heavily tempted by the current CB Nashville (6620T) or Black Falcon (6636T) atm. Heavy chance of news of promotion and a bonus next week, so getting itchy. But then Danocaster is also back in business these days...