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If, like us, you regularly peruse the Gretsch guitars catalogue you'll be struck by the sheer number of Jet guitars that seem to be available and, although they do have very different names – Silver, Sparkle, Duo, Power and so on – each has its roots way back in 1954, when the company first issued these smaller so-called solidbodies.

We say 'so-called solidbodies' as Jets are in fact semi-solid, and 52 years ago the bodies were manufactured from mahogany with tops demonstrating laminates comprising any mixture of spruce, maple, mahogany and even pine and a plastic material called Nitron, originally used in the manufacture of Gretsch drums.

The Jets were originally released to compete with the new Les Paul model that had been unleashed by Gibson less than two years previously, and models such as the Duo Jet (with a black finish), the Sparkle Jet (with a cool silver sparkle top) and the Round-Up (featuring the classic Gretsch Western trim) certainly caught the eye.

Also in the original batch were baritone and tenor ukulele Duo Jets and prices ranged from $230 to a princely $300.

The most famous Jet user has to be a certain George Harrison, who, legend has it, bought his first real guitar in 1960 from an ad placed in the Liverpool Echo.

The black Duo Jet supposedly cost him £75 and was used throughout The Beatles' early Hamburg days, through tours of Europe and the US in 1964, and during those iconic recording sessions. And let's face it, if it was good enough for him...

1955 saw the introduction of the Jet Firebird, a guitar that bristled with the same features as the Duo Jet aside from a black Lucite scratchplate and an eye-catching Oriental red finish.

Described in fifties company literature as 'flashing brilliance for the progressive guitarist', the Firebird was certainly one of the flashiest guitars from any manufacturer at that time, and even now this brand new twist on the classic design is as cool as it ever was.

Modified

Gretsch doesn't pretend that this model is intended to be a late-fifties reissue, but rather a modified version with, as they put it, 'extra snarl'.

This bite comes courtesy of a pair of TV Jones Power'Tron pickups that continue that company's reverential re-invention of pickups designed by Gretsch. If you'd prefer this guitar with more traditional single-coils, one loaded with Gretsch DynaSonics goes for £1,929.

Original Jet Firebirds were fitted with standard Filter'Trons, but the TV Jones Power'Trons feature a pair of over-tall central bobbins that allow for additional winding of standard-gauge wire: that should help to account for the 'snarl'...

Controls here are also unchanged, comprising a volume for each pickup plus a master sited on the lower horn. There are also two three-way toggles, one for selecting pickups and the other acting as a master tone.

The latter uses a pair of internal capacitors to roll increasing levels of treble from whatever pickup selection you've chosen: the central position gives the natural, unadulterated tone, with up offering the maximum treble reduction.