I recently had a chance to spend some time with Gretsch’s wonderful budget entry, the Streamliner. Or rather, the G2657T Streamliner. Rolls right off the tongue. There’s decades of marketing research about naming products, and some companies insist on ignoring it. Sigh.
Anyway, I do really like this instrument for the money. Let’s dig in!
The Good
The model I tried had low action, looked bitchin’, and sounded great. What’s not to like? One of the main competitors would be the Epiphone 335/339, and honestly the Gretsch played better in my opinion. The sound of the pickups, which are passive “Broad’Tron” pickups, was pretty decent. I’m sure some would find them totally fine. The ebony fretboard and medium-jumbo frets made for a great playing experience. I was quite taken with this guitar. I really liked it.
The Bad
I won’t sugar coat this – the Bigsby trem system, while sounding good, knocked the guitar out of tune every single time I used it. Every. Single. Time. The G string was the main culprit. Big surprise there. I’m willing to concede that maybe there was an issue with the individual guitar I was playing, but it was unusable. The good news is that by putting some lube in the nut slot and swapping the bridge with a rolling bridge, I’m very confident this problem would be solved.
The Ugly
I think this is a great guitar with mediocre pickups and a poorly designed trem system. I have no problem with the Bigsby trem system – it’s good for what it does. But combined with the Gibson-style bridge, it just doesn’t work right. As I mentioned above, this issue can be fixed. StewMac sells a replacement bridge with rollers, and I think that would totally fix the issue. And the mediocre pickups can of course be replaced. But there’s the ugly truth – to make this guitar “good,” you need a new bridge and new pickups.
If you own one and the trem is working for you, and you like the sound of it, great! Everyone has their own opinion. But if you ever find it getting knocked out of tune when you use the trem, consider replacing the bridge with a roller bridge. And if you want to get more tone out of the guitar, consider swapping the pickups out with some TV Jones pickups. Pricey, yes, but honestly this guitar is well worth the investment. I think it’s great.
