We all know Gretsch guitars. They’re the rock ’n’ roll guitar, the country guitar, Chet Atkins, George Harrison and John Lennon, Brian Setzer and yer man Billy Duffy from the Cult, Richard Fortus, too. They’ve been around since Methuselah was a boy. But what about this new Gretsch, the Electromatic Premier Jet?
This is a very fresh style for Gretsch, albeit one dressed in the familiar shape of its storied semi-hollow/chambered singlecut electric guitar, and in finishes that are archetypically on-brand for the brand – Clairvoyant (a deeply alluring blue), Onyx Storm (err, metallic black), Robusto Burst (a coffee-coloured vintage burst), and Vintage Pearl (hmm, vintage pearl).
This might be the Gretsch that gets deployed as a metal guitar – or at least it’s the one for the fuzz pedal aficionados of the world, the gain freaks. Just look at the electronics and the electric guitar pickup choices made by the Gretsch R&D team.
Article continues belowThe Electromatic Premier Jet has a pair of Sphera Twin Six humbuckers at the neck and bridge positions, a partnership that Gretsch describes as “perfect marriage of brilliance and brute force”. These are designed around Alnico VI magnets, with a dozen adjustable individual pole-pieces on each pickup, so you can fine tune your sound. Both are wax-potted to cut down on squeal and microphonics and all that. The neck pickup is wired with with clear poly sol coated wire, the bridge with plain enamel coated wire.
The control loom they’re wired to adds further intrigue. So on the one hand you’ve got these two high-output humbuckers, and then you’ve got an onboard Lumen Filter, activated via a push/pull pot. This allows you to cut out some low-end flab without losing any output, tightening up your sound.
As Gretsch suggests, it makes for “an even tighter, snappier response that excels at both percussive high-gain tones and crystalline clean tones”.
Percussive high-gain? Is this the Gretsch that djents?
Well leave the question as to whether this is the Gretsch that chugs out there, and state, for the record, that this looks like a blues guitar, no question. Gutsy and versatile? Most likely.
As the demo video suggests – and we have heard these live in action – these Twin Six humbuckers eat up the gain. We also have a “no-load” tone controls and a treble bleed circuit on the master volume. Sweet.
But this Jet is also quite radically different from an ergonomic perspective. It has the chambered body, mahogany, topped with solid maple, the glued-in mahogany neck, but we’ve got a sculpted heel, a forearm contour, and a body carve to make it sit more comfortably.
The 24.88” scale length is in keeping with Gretsch’s standard measurements. But there’s a nod to contemporary high-performance guitar making with the compound radius fingerboard, a piece of ebony inlaid with pearloid Neo-Classic Thumbnails, and shaped into a 10” to 14” radius. This rewards chord playing in the lower registers, say, frets 1 to 7 inclusive, and then flattens out to make lead playing more comfortable in the upper registers, the so-called dusty end of the ‘board, where the aforementioned heel will help.
Jason Barnes, vice president, Gretsch, says the Electromatic Premier Jet “elevates the playing experience even further with incredible sonic punch and definition, effortless playability and of course, signature Gretsch style”, and not without justification.
This is a very different Jet. Again, there are more modern upgrades, such as the Luminlay side-dot markers, a glow-in-the-dark flourish we see on Gretsch’s sister brands in the Fender portfolio, EVH Gear, Charvel, and Jackson.
The Performance “C” neck profile sounds intriguing, with its “tapered shoulders” promising a more mainstream feel than more traditional Gretsch builds.
There is a Graph Tech NuBone nut, die-cast locking tuners, and a LockDown locking adjustable wraparound tailpiece.
“This ensures optimal operation and superior transfer of string energy for bigger, fuller tone with more percussive attack and longer sustain,” says Gretsch. Locking is a recurring them. The strap buttons are locking, too, so your guitar strap won’t fail you.
So yeah, meet the new Jet, not the same as the old Jet. But it still has that shape and the heritage kudos that goes with that name on the headstock. It’s priced £709/$799/€829 and is available now.
See Gretsch for more details.
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