![]() ![]() ![]() Play with delicacy and restraint, and the top end and mid range dance and sparkle for you. ![]() Played fingerstyle, it’s a rewarding guitar, but you’ll have to regulate your right thumb if you’re used to a smaller body, because there will be far more bass than you are used to. The bass is really powerful, though, demanding attention and with the potential to be overwhelming if you push it too hard. The key things you get are volume, sustain and projection, which is exactly what you’re looking for in a jumbo - it’s not supposed to be a delicate instrument, it was designed to be louder and forceful. This continues as you hit the midrange there’s a pleasing fatness to the tone, but not a ton of harmonic complexity. If you hit it hard, it’s punchy and cuts through. The treble end is bright, but not thin or biting there’s enough body that if you play it gently, it’s delicate and ringing. A spruce top and laminate back and sides only takes you one place bright and direct, but Gretsch does it well this is the third using that recipe we’ve had in a short period and they are all really good. Not only is the guitar big, but it sounds big. The neck is fairly slim not like a shredder guitar, but certainly there’s no vintage heft that would make it a D or U shape rather than a C. That’s no bad thing players of large guitars usually want to feel the beast tangibly, but it won’t be the ideal big guitar for someone who wants the tone without the physical imposition. Standing with the guitar on a strap is easier, but the depth is still there. Playing it on your lap, it could be too imposing, especially for a smaller player: the huge lower bout and the towering 4.3” depth mean that you really know you’re holding something it doesn’t vanish into your arms. Make no bones about it this is a really big guitar. The looks will not work for everyone, but here, we love them the black and the glitter together have almost a John Travolta in Grease feel there’s a leather jacket edge to it, but not with real menace - more in a Broadway musical way. The whole guitar is well executed, not fancy in a complex, luxurious way (apart from the neck binding), but the work is done right and there’s no sloppiness to point at. This has an undersaddle piezo pickup, and a head unit with a tuner, volume, and three band EQ, so it’s well equipped for the stage. Hardware wise, there are knurled gold strap buttons which have a very industrial feel to them and a Fishman Isys pickup system. There’s a synthetic bone nut and the large trademark Gretsch headstock has a vast, glittering logo, a sparkle trussrod cover, and gold sealed back tuners. These are quite attractive and certainly lend a unique appearance to the guitar. The fret markers are semi circles, or rather, in most cases, semi ellipses (the diameter gets bigger as you go down the board, but the shapes don’t intrude any further onto the board), which Gretsch describes as ‘neo-classical thumbnails’. The rosewood bridge is elegantly curved, with a notch which is aesthetic only, a synthetic bone compensated saddle, and white plastic pins. The back and sides, which are laminate (the spec says laminate maple, but honestly, you can’t see any veneer because of the paint, so let’s not gild the issue too much) are also bound in gold sparkle, with a gold sparkle heel cap. There’s a Rancher standard triangular soundhole, no rosette, but the triangle is bound in more gold glitter and a large gold pickguard with a Gretsch logo and a falcon. That top, which is a huge 17” across the lower bout, is bound with gold glitter that makes no attempt at subtle, understated, or classy - but goes straight for Vegas Showgirl. The Falcon Jumbo’s vast soundboard is solid spruce the quality cannot be determined due to the black polyester finish, so the tone, which is always the primary gauge anyway, will have to tell the story. The Jumbo in black as seen here would therefore be Johnny Cash, but the Cash of the 80s, before Rick Rubin picked him up, when he was the faded rhinestone cowboy in black. ![]()
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