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The 'Phily Green' paint job pays homage to G Love's hometown

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Garrett Dutton – aka G Love of Special Sauce fame – is all about laconic grooves, old-time tones and a bluesy-soul style. And now the lucky so-and-so has a smart new Gretsch to play it with.

Based on the Electromatic Series Corvette (£499), the G Love funks it up with a 'Phily-Green' paintjob – he's from Philadelphia, see – and competition stripe like those iconic cars and guitars of mid-1960s America.

It's well put together – including a decent fret job and set-up – and finished with a big, three-ply white pickguard.

Gretsch just loves hardware, but here things are kept functional with a licensed Bigsby wobble-bar, tune-o-matic-style bridge and useful knurled screw-in strap buttons for added security.

The interesting bit, however, is to do with magnets, bobbins and wire – say hello to TV Jones Power'Tron pickups…

In use

With a relatively thin mahogany body, mahogany neck and all of its 21 frets somewhere east of the cutaways the guitar returns that kind of direct, mid-prominent, woody bark that you might associate with a Gibson SG.

There's not much in the way of low-end bloom and the Bigsby brings an element of twang to the party. With lesser pickups, this could easily be a fairly spiky-sounding guitar, but the excellent TV Jones Power'Tron pickups are slightly warmer and hotter than, for example, the company's Classic and Classic Plus models.

As a result they give the G Love a quality core which is dynamic, responsive and deserving of top amplification.

Hints of LP Junior, hints of Tele and, with a big ol' tremolo and some wang bar, a whole heap of Gretsch – it sounds ace with light to medium gain – though it'll go heavier and darker too.

Summary

This tricked-up Corvette suits G Love's effortless cool just fine and the TV Jones pickups make sure it's not merely an exercise in aesthetics.

Yet £779 – bearing in mind the Chinese build and Electromatic status – may well leave you feeling equally cool around the wallet area. If you're tossing up between a Tele and a Les Paul or SG, you ought to try one.