Guitar of the week #52 - Gretsch G2655 Streamliner Center Block Jr.
Nice digs for a nice price.
The Gretsch G2655 Streamliner is a lot of guitar for little money. The above version is without Bigsby, but from the link you'll see there is a model offered with one. The model without Bigsby is, of course, the less expensive version.
Specs:
- 24.75-inch scale
- 1.6875-inch nut width
- Thin "U" shape neck
- 12-inch fingerboard radius
- Neck wood: Nato
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Body wood: Laminated Maple
- Top: Laminated Maple
- Pickups: "Broad'Tron"
- Frets: 22
Is this a Gretsch pretending to be a Gibson?
No. This is still an all-Gretsch guitar. Everything from the neck feel to the electronics controls to the pickups is Gretsch all the way through.
From what I've seen and heard of this guitar, it does have a good "spanky" tonal character to it, but not quite a spanky as other Gretsch models. This has more of a modernized "flatter" sound to it. I suppose that's understandable as some players would want that.
I like the fact that on the non-Bigsby version seen above there is a boomerang-shaped bridge. That's just cool and gives the guitar some cool visual personality.
I think for many players this will be a nice pick-up-and-play guitar. It has the 24.75-inch scale like a Les Paul, a light weight because it's semi-hollow, easy-playing thinner neck, and a double-cutaway body that allows easy access to all the frets (single-cutaway Gretsch Electromatic models made it difficult to get access to all frets.)
Overall, good guitar for the price. It sits just below the Fender Standard Stratocaster's price tag.
