Today is a good day to be a Gretsch guitar fanatic with a little money to burn because the Nashville-based brand has just dropped a pair of limited edition high-end electric guitars in a Nightbird Emerald finish that is 100 per cent guaranteed to quicken the pulse.
We’re talking about the 1958 G6134TG-58 Custom Penguin and its bigger-bodied avian sibling, the G6136TG-58 Custom Falcon. Both come with gold hardware, a Bigsby B6GP vibrato, the Space Control bridge with pinned ebony base, Grover Imperials for that art deco vibe, and a pair of TV Jones Ray Butts Ful-Fidelity Filter-Tron electric guitar pickups.
Indeed, these birds of a feather share a lot of design DNA, both that which we can see (the finish, hardware, Neo-Classic thumbnail inlays, splotches of gold livery) and feel (the Standard U neck profiles, 22 medium jumbo frets).
Article continues belowAnother little detail that we really love on these contemporary Gretsch models is the accommodation of modern luxuries, such as the Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side dot markers. Who doesn’t want that?
For all their cosmetic and spiritual similarities (if you love one, surely you’ll love both), these are fundamentally quite different instruments.
The Falcon is a full hollow-bodied electric guitar, arched top and back, comprised of laminated maple with old-school 1959 trestle bracing under the hood. It measures 2.75” deep. The neck is maple and glued-in.
Gretsch classes the Penguin as a solid body but as with the Duo Jet this, too, has been chambered, taking a bit of weight out of its single-cut mahogany body.
That body is complemented – and protected – by a thick piece of gold plexi with the “ghosted” Gretsch logo and a Penguin. You’ll find the same on the Falcon, but with a different bird.
Now, the very mention of Gretsch makes us think vintage country guitar, OG rock ’n’ roll, and all the rock that came downstream of these ‘50s post-War pop-cultural phenomena. Gratifyingly, these speak to that era. Oh, to have a tweed Fender amp with a big splashy spring reverb tank and some slapback echo from a tape delay… That would be one serving suggestion.
But these are mightily versatile. What is interesting is Gretsch’s choice to leave the pickups unpotted. Without that baptismal dip in hot wax they might let off a little more squeal in certain high-volume circumstances, but, as Gretsch notes, it makes for a “more open, three-dimensional sound with truly unique sparkle and exceptional dynamics”.
These pickups are based on Ray Butts’ original schematics, and promise a tighter low end and a bit more top end – is that Gretsch’s way of saying they are a little scooped in the EQ?
Well, the only way to be sure would be to plug one and play it. But there are many other reasons to want to do that. Just look at ‘em.
You can look at them some more at Gretsch. These are priced £3,739/$3,699 for the Penguin, £4,399/$4,299 for the Falcon. Price, of course, includes a deluxe hardshell guitar case.
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