Cheap Guitar of the Week #18 - Gretsch G5421 Electromatic Jet Club Firebird
The more I look at this guitar, the more I want one.
The Gretsch Electromatic Jet Club Firebird is, simply put, a cool guitar.
This is one of those guitars that's easy to dismiss, but the more you look at it, the more you notice the details, and the more you want one.
First, it's a two-tone body. The back and sides are walnut-stained.
Second, yes it does have the "G" arrow knobs. This is a Gretsch thing where the knobs they use have a rather ornate look to them - even on a Jet priced this low.
Third, which most photos of this guitar do not show, it does have an arched top.
Fourth, bound body. Real easy to miss, but makes for a very nice look.
What about the sound?
That's the best part about this guitar.
The Gretsch dual-coil pickups that come on this are absolutely not "muddy," but rather bright and trebly in a real good way. I best describe the sound as a mix between a Jazzmaster and a P90. It's a very, very usable sound that works for everything from rock to country to stoner to shoegazer (if you know that that is) to just about everything you can think of. No, it does not do metal. However, I'd even recommend this to a metal player for when he needs a guitar to record clean parts.
For the "atmospheric" guitar players out there, one thing I know this Gretsch does better than most guitars is work with effects. Put a washy-style reverb or delay on this and it sings. Why? Because of the way the pickups sound.
For players who are into vintage, stoner rock and 1990s grunge tones, this guitar handles fuzz tone like you wouldn't believe. Even better than my Jazzmaster. You hook this Gretsch up to a Big Muff Pi and look out... crazy-big sound. Drop the 6 string to a D, let the power chords ring out and oh yeah, good stuff.
Looks much better in person
Stock photos do not convey the wow factor you get seeing one in person.
I'll put it another way. Strats are Strats, Teles are Teles and so on, but with Gretsch, it's different. Way different. Even their black guitars don't really show off how good they look in person. Why? I'm not exactly sure. There's just something about Gretsch design where the photo never really captures what the guitar truly looks like when you see it with your own eyes, similar to Rickenbacker guitars. No photo of a Ric accurately shows off how good a Ric looks in person either.
Worth it to get a cheap Gretsch?
Yes. I have played an import Gretsch before, the Electromatic Double Jet with Bigsby, and was very impressed with it. That's a guitar that runs a few hundred bucks more. If the Jet Club Firebird is even half the guitar the Double Jet is, oh yes, it's worth the buy, no question about it.
Getting Eric Clapton tone out of a DigiTech RP360
It's tutorial time.
Generally speaking, guitar players that are seeking to get "Clapton tone" are usually referring to something he calls "woman tone." This is a sound best described as having little to no treble with an overdrive that makes it sound like you're driving a speaker to its limit.
Fortunately, you don't need to drive a speaker to the point of it almost blowing up to get the woman tone sound. All you need is a DigiTech RP360, tweak two settings, and you pretty much have it.
Step 1. Having the "correct" guitar
The only thing you have to know here is that a Stratocaster is actually not the guitar you want. Why? Because most Strats do not have the rear (as in "bridge") pickup wired to a tone control.
The Stratocaster guitar by design does not have any tone control wired to the rear-only pickup setting. That's the way Leo Fender designed it. There is no Squier Stratocaster I know of with an SSS pickup layout that has a "bridge-only" tone control wired to it. There is no Fender Standard Stratocaster model I know of that has the bridge-only tone control. I do not know if the Fender American Standard Stratocaster has a bridge-only tone control or not.
A Telecaster, even for the cheapest Squier model, does have a tone control wired for bridge-only use. And unless it's a special model of some sort, all "standard" Fender Telecaster models have a bridge-only tone wired in.
Jazzmasters and Jaguars all have tone control for bridge-only use, unless it's some sort of special model like the Jim Root Jazzmaster that only has one master volume and nothing else.
For any non-Fender design, they all should have tone control on all pickups present. So if you want to give this a go with a Les Paul, SG or whatever you have, you can as long as the tone control works for both the front and rear pickups.
Step 2. Voice the guitar for woman tone
This is very easy. Volume up, tone down. Either select the front pickup or the rear pickup, put the volume all the way up, tone control all the way off.
Step 3. An understanding of voicing by modeling
The voicing here is all done by the RP360 and nothing else. No amplifier is involved whatsoever. This is nothing but a direct sound. All digital, no tubes, no analog.
Step 4. Modifying preset #1 Plexi-Drive
The modifications to this preset are as follows:
1. Change compressor to RED COMPRESSOR, and enable.
2. Change reverb to LEXICON STUDIO and set to a level of 65.
That's it. Yes, really. There's nothing more to it. After that, brush up on your Clapton riffs.
The RED COMPRESSOR is an emulation of the MXR Dyna Comp. The LEXICON STUDIO is an emulation of one of their many reverb effect units. Changing these two particular effects when modifying the Plexi-Drive preset make for a fairly convincing Clapton-style tone.
Vintage Guitar of the Week #1 - 1976 Fender Stratocaster Mocha
I've decided to try out a new thing here, Vintage Guitar of the Week. This is the first one...
...and it's a 1976 Fender Stratocaster Mocha.
When you see the price of it, the first question you'll probably have is (unless things change), "Why isn't it selling for more?" There are a few reasons for that.
First, it's a hardtail (technically a string-through-body). You'll see the ferrules on the back of the guitar. Some Strat players just don't care for hardtails. Ordinarily, I don't like hardtail Strats either, but it works on this particular guitar.
Second, it's a 3-bolt and not a 4-bolt plate where the neck connects to the body. Some Strat players believe that negatively affects the tone (it doesn't).
Third, most aren't 100% original. You'll find things like reproduction volume and tone knobs. If you just said, "So?", I had the same reaction. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Fourth, many have a few chips here and there.
If I had the money for one, I'd buy it in a second because it's a bargain as far as a vintage Fender electric is concerned. That, and there are three other things I really dig about it.
Many come with the original hardshell case, and I actually prefer those over the tweed cases because it has a very '70s vibe to it.
Mocha is one of the best "woody" colors for Strats, and you don't see it often. Strats of the '70s that show wood grain are usually "Natural", and I just don't care for those because it makes the guitar look like a coffee table. Note that I'm not talking about Telecaster Butterscotch here. I'm talking about Natural finish such as the '75 "natural" Strat. That I don't like. (But by all means, if you like it, go ahead and get it. I'm not the boss of you.) Mocha, on the other hand, looks like a proper woody style finish for a Strat.
I also really like the fact some '76 models can be as light as 7 pounds. More often than not, '70s era Strats are boat-anchor heavy. Not this one. And that's a very good thing.
I'll add something else I dig about it too. The "bullet" truss rod cover. Yeah, I know, it's just a visual thing, but I always loved the look of it.
If you have the cash for it, grab it. Nice price, real-deal vintage, good guitar.
Does Squier offer anything in Mocha?
Yes, sometimes. It's not a regular run color for them, but periodically you'll come across Squier in that oh-so nice mocha brown.
If you're not using a capo on your guitar, you're missing out
It's not a sin to use a capo.
There are a lot of guitar players who firmly believe you should not use a capo. Ever. Why? Because they think it's "cheating", which is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
According to certain guitar snobs, any use of a capo is failure because they feel if you want to achieve certain chords that you literally cannot fret with your hand, you should alternate your tuning. Yes, they say you should spend about, oh, five to ten minutes completely retuning your guitar, then go ahead and play that chord you wanted to. Total waste of time. Use the capo. Mounts in seconds and you get the chord you want a whole lot faster.
Some snobs will even recommend buying separate guitars just for alternate tunings. Waste of money. You already have a guitar, and it already plays and sounds just fine, yet the snob just outright tells you to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on another guitar just to do something a cheap capo can do in seconds.
When you get bored with guitar, slap on a capo and watch the magic happen
You can't really play Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street? without a capo.
I'm sure there are players who have figured out a way to play that theme song without a capo. I didn't. I used the capo because it's a lot easier to just play the song using one. If I didn't, the song would be in the key of A and not C like it's supposed to be.
You don't have to play complicated stuff with a capo. Play whatever you want. You'll notice your guitar will sound totally different when you put a capo on.
Get one. Use it. You'll like it.
Cheap guitar of the week #17 - Hofner CT Shorty Travel Guitar
Behold, the only travel guitar I've ever liked. Yes, really.
I make it no secret that I don't like travel guitars. But I dig this one, and only this one. The above is the Hofner CT Shorty Travel Guitar in limited edition Metallic Orange. The regular colors are blue and red. The other two limited edition colors are Rootbeer and Surf Green. The Rootbeer finish is my second favorite.
So why do I like this particular travel guitar and can't stand others? Four reasons.
First, I really, really like the fact you get so many color choices. On most travel guitars, you only get two to choose from. Hofner offers you five.
Second, the guitar is actually styled correctly. It actually looks like a proper guitar and not something just mashed together from a LEGO kit. True, it has a quirky look, but not in a tacky way. Hofner hits all the right marks with the Shorty.
There are nice little touches on this guitar. Even the rear plate has a logo on it. Little things like that are nice. It's classy.
Third, it's a Hofner, which is a very storied brand. Guitar players who know their stuff know Hofner. You actually get bragging rights by owning one of these just because of the company it's made by.
Fourth, CHEAP! This travel guitar is priced below other travel guitars, and you get a better looking axe from a storied brand that you can actually brag about. It even comes with the gig bag included.
Even if you don't travel with your guitar, the Shorty is a truly a really nice alternative to a Strat or a Les Paul. Really simple, a truly nice looker, great brand, and barely costs anything.
From a historic point of view, the Shorty is not a new model but rather a reintroduced one. It first made its appearance in the 1980s. I'm glad Hofner decided to make it again. It's what a travel guitar should be.
Get one in your favorite color. Again, I like the orange finish because it has a cool retro vibe to it. And yes, Hofner does know how to do orange correct.
One final note: Did I mention the shipping on it is free? Yep.