My Gretsch Custom Jet

[Stefan Eff]

I‘d like to introduce my Gretsch Custom Jet. I bought this guitar cause I love the cadillac green color and I wanted a guitar with a wraparound bridge. The Gretsch Electromatics are good guitars out of the box but this one surprised me because of it‘s lightweight (7.2 lbs) and it‘s flawless finish and my decision was clear after I heard it’s amazing unplugged tone.
Even if the guitar sounds good stock and played nice I decided to customize this instrument to another level. The guitars got a generously chambered mahogany body with a maple top, the neck is also made of mahogany with a laurel fretboard, 12“ radius and medium C-profile.



I‘ve swapped the pickups for Lollar P90‘s (underwound neck) and the wiring for the usual Switchcraft/CTS-parts and a Jupiter vintage tone capacitor.



(The nickel pickuprings with nitrolacquered covers are made by myself).

Also the hardware is completely changed: Kluson tuners and a KMS wraparound bridge with Tonepros locking studs. I‘ve aged the hardware light as well as the binding, just a hair for a subtle antiqued (not reliced!) look.



I‘ve matted the backside of the neck for improved playability and levelled/rounded the frets to my liking (but honestly they weren’t bad out of the box). The nicely figured laurel fretboard was sanded and then oiled several times.



I‘ve build a nitrolacquered custom pickguard inspired by the vintage Jet guards with a „G“-brand, just for the look.

The guitar sounds fantastic and plays like a dream. It‘s got a warm yet loud and transparent tone full of ringing overtones and an incredible sustain.
I‘m playing Jazz, Americana and Neosoul and couldn’t be happier.
The tone is pretty unique- warmer compared to a Gretsch but more transparent and „airy“ compared to a P90’s Les Paul. The guitar is super fast and responsive (thanks to the wraparound bridge, especially this wonderful KMS-piece). I‘m building my own guitars and it‘s astonishing what a great basis Gretsch delivers with this model on that price point.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Cool! That’s one fine guitar. And I love that you used a condenser instead of a capacitor. You need a bumper sticker that says “My tone cap is a condenser!”

[Stefan Eff]

Cool! That’s one fine guitar. And I love that you used a condenser instead of a capacitor. You need a bumper sticker that says “My tone cap is a condenser!”

My bad, I‘m not a native speaker so excuse me.

[Flat]

Congrats, Stefan! That is lovely. I like especially your idea of swapping out the pickups for Lollars, and that laurel fretboard is gorgeous. Play it in good health for a good long time!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

My bad, I‘m not a native speaker so excuse me.

Sorry - that was a joke. I’m so old that I knew Volta I still call caps condensers because it’s what they were called when I was a kid with my first electric guitar.

But I do like my bumper sticker idea. I’ll bet there are even some who don’t know they’re the same thing and think they can hear a difference between condensers and capacitors.