Gretsch Electromatic Junior Jet review

50s classic, 50s price

  • £199
  • $400
Gretsch has stayed pretty faithful to the original construction.

MusicRadar Verdict

We're with The Beatles on this one. Do we love the Pro Jet? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Pros

  • +

    Looks super cool.

Cons

  • -

    Pickups need a bit more bite.

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The Electromatic range is designed to put killer looking guitars into the hands of players that wouldn't normally be able to afford a Gretsch guitar.

The range includes a 6120-style semi-acoustic, for budget conscious rockabilly fans, and a sparkly double-neck guitar.

The Pro Jet takes its inspiration from one of the coolest guitars ever made, the Duo Jet. Launched in the 50s; the Duo Jet has become an ultra-desirable classic thanks to George Harrison of The Beatles who played one on the band's brilliant debut album Please Please Me. Original Duo Jets will cost you both arms and legs and even a Japanese re-issue will relieve you of over a grand.

Considering the price it's amazing to find that Gretsch has stayed pretty faithful to the construction of the original Duo Jet. The mahogany and maple body is just like the real deal and the Pro Jet has a glued neck, which is great to see at this low price level.

The only area we can see room for improvement is in the pickups. They do their job well, but we want a guitar that looks this cool to blow us away when we plug in. The Pro Jet is more chunky Les Paul tone than the 50s rockabilly bite we expected.

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