“It’s clear that the pickups on this guitar are geared for the loud and lewd stuff”: Gretsch Electromatic CVT review

What is it?

A reboot of the cult-classic Corvette, the Gretsch Electromatic CVT is a sleeper vintage guitar reborn at a very budget-friendly price point. Gretsch initially teased us with the return of the distinct asymmetrical double cut design via the Jack Antonoff and Patrick Stump signature guitars, but this super-affordable model looks to build on the positive response to these designs and put Gretsch’s first-ever all-solid guitar into the hands of a new generation of players.

Introduced in 1961, the original Corvette wasn’t exactly a smash hit when it aimed to compete with the Gibson Les Paul Junior and SG Junior. It did gain fans in players like Rory Gallagher, who loved his for playing slide guitar, and Jimi Hendrix, who strung his upside down in his typical style. Later on, the guitar found its way into the hands of Shaun Lopez of Far/Crosses and Josh Homme, and has become an approachable vintage guitar in the process.

Following last year's Jack Antonoff "Princess Antonoff" CVT model, the revamped standard CVT retains the iconic double cut shape, scale length, and combo of mahogany solid body and neck, but there are some differences. Here, the neck is a bolt-on rather than glued-in design of the original, and the pickups are humbuckers.

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Typically, early Corvettes came with Gretsch HiLo’Tron single coils and a Burns vibrato, whereas the CVT features an adjustable wraparound bridge. On paper, that makes it not quite a faithful recreation, but rather a reimagination for a modern audience.

Specs

• Launch price: $419.99/£499/€549
• Made: China
• Type: Six-string electric guitar
• Body: Mahogany
• Neck: Mahogany bolt-on, performance ‘C’
• Fingerboard: Laurel
• Scale length: 24.6" (625 mm)
• Nut/width: Graph Tech NuBone, 1.6875" (42.86 mm)
• Frets: 22 frets, medium jumbo
• Hardware: Die-cast sealed tuners, adjustable wraparound bridge
• String spacing at bridge: 52.7mm
• Electrics: 2x Twin Six humbuckers, master volume, master tone, 3-position toggle switch
• Weight: 7lb 5oz, (3.4kg)
• Left-handed options: No
• Finishes: Havana Burst (as reviewed), Vintage White, Wychwood
• Case: No
• Contact: Gretsch

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Unboxing the CVT and sitting down to play it unplugged, I’m immediately struck by how well put-together it is. It resonates beautifully when I strike the strings, the neck and body alive with vibrations - a great indicator that the guitar has been constructed at a high quality. It’s very comfortable on my knee and feels nicely balanced despite its similarity in look to a lopsided SG.

The bolt-on neck might seem like sacrilege to some but it’s very well delivered here, with no discernible movement and a small sculpt of the heel to help aid the upper fret access. The neck features a binding that runs all the way around the laurel fretboard and up around the headstock, with a near-perfect application. A close inspection of this test model reveals some tiny marks where the neck sits above the body, but these are barely noticeable.

Moving to examine the hardware, as is typical of a lot of wraparound bridges I can see that this one is tilting ever so slightly towards the headstock of the guitar. It doesn’t affect the playability or intonation though, so I’m not too worried about it. Moving up the guitar, the nut is nicely cut and blends in seamlessly with the binding, and despite the tuners looking slightly wonky from the back, it makes sense as they align with the headstock shape when you look at it from the front.

All-in-all, it's incredibly well put together when you consider it's an electric guitar below $500, and the quality of the build really does exceed my expectations for the price. The proof is in the way it feels when you play it unplugged, with the whole build resonating in a really cohesive fashion, and the lack of any really noticeable blemishes in the build and finish makes it incredibly good value for money.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★☆

I start off playing it seated, and immediately find the 24.6-inch scale paired with the gauge 10 set of D’Addario electric guitar strings makes for very easy playability. The medium jumbo frets give me a nice, balanced feel, whether I’m riffing on the low E or bending strings on the higher end of the fretboard. My usual array of licks comes easily, and there’s basically no adaptation period as I get acquainted with it, despite usually playing a longer scale guitar.

Moving to play the guitar standing, I find the placement of the strap pin on the upper bout to be pretty awkward, and it’s actually quite difficult to get my basic guitar strap onto it. Add in some straplocks to the mix, and I can see it ending up being a very tight squeeze. Presumably, this placement is a necessary evil to prevent the neck dive that plagues the SG, but it does make me feel slightly nervous as the strap end has to bend in an odd way when you stand up with it.

The upper fret access is very good, but not quite SG good despite the visual similarity. That said, I don’t find it more difficult than any other solidbody design to get to the 22nd fret. I can find no issues with the setup as I move up and down the neck either, from the intonation of the upper frets to the lack of any discernible buzz playing near the nut.

It’s incredibly well playing out of the box, and I don’t find myself wishing to tweak anything at all with it. The Gretsch CVT just lets me get on with the fun stuff, and I never feel like anything gets in the way of my ability to play a myriad of styles and techniques.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★☆

Taking the guitar to rehearsal with my band, I put it through my usual combo of a stacked pedalboard and Orange tube amp to hear the tonal differences from my typical Telecaster. I immediately notice that the pickups excel at the louder, brasher stuff as we barrel into a heavy opening song from our set.

When I engage my POG alongside a fuzz pedal, I get a healthy dose of low end that feels nicely smoothed by the natural compression of the humbuckers. They’re mid-range heavy and pair perfectly with hard-driven power chords. There’s plenty of clarity when I start dolloping on the drive, and even with my synth pedal and Digitech Ricochet engaged, the bridge pickup still delivers a lovely lucidity despite the very busy tones.

It’s a raunchy tone with plenty of attitude that I find very inspiring. Once the time comes for me to play some lead, I get some amazing sounds from the neck pickup despite ladling my tone with plenty of phase-shifted overdrive, reverb, and delay. It cuts through the full band mix incredibly well, allowing me to sit nicely above the furore of loud cymbals and grinding bass guitar.

When played with clean sounds, however, I don’t find it quite as inspiring. They’re not bad, but compared to the single coil pickups I normally use, the Twin Sixes just don’t have that same pristine quality. I do end up preferring the neck pickup for clean sounds, with its slightly lower output faring better than the bridge position to my ear. This is partly due to the natural characteristics of a humbucker versus a single coil, but it’s clear that the pickups on this guitar are geared for the loud and lewd stuff.

Verdict

For the money, the CVT is incredibly well put together and for those who like to live life loudly, its sharp looks and ability to deliver aggressive tones will make it a very tempting buy indeed. My review model played beautifully out of the box, excelling at a huge variety of styles thanks to the comfortable neck profile and scale.

It’s a little one-dimensional in terms of tones, the Twin Six humbuckers delivering superb overdriven sounds but feeling a little lackluster when it comes to playing cleaner, more ambient sounds. I also found the placement of the strap pin to be a bit awkward, and if I were going to regularly gig this guitar I could see myself moving it or just taping my strap to it to make sure it stays secure.

Guitar World verdict: The Gretsch Electromatic CVT is an incredibly good-looking guitar, and superb value for money, too. For players who like loud rock tones, it’s an excellent choice, but if you’re after dynamic clean tones you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. The build quality is sumptuous, as is the playability, which makes this a brilliant choice for players who want something unique below the $500 mark.

Also try

Epiphone SG Special P-90 - $449/£399

The guitar model that the CVT takes its inspiration from, if you’re looking for a great value double cut then this Epiphone SG Special P-90 is worth looking at. The pickups have more in common with the original Corvette, and the upper fret access is simply superb.

Read more: Epiphone SG Special P-90 review

Reverend Flatroc - $1,199/£999

Another guitar that shares similar DNA to the Corvette, this Reverend Flatroc has a similarly retro look with dual humbuckers, but also has a Bigsby tremolo, which gives it a lot in common with the original Corvette.

Gretsch Streamliner Jet Club - $419.99/£349

If you’re after a guitar that’s similarly well priced to the CVT but fancy something a little more traditional looking, the Gretsch Streamliner Jet Club delivers superb value for money. It’s got dual humbuckers and a wraparound bridge, but it gives you that classic single-cut aesthetic.

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