Project Guitar - Gretsch Streamliner

[SWoll]

Hello all,

As it's been 12 months+ since my last guitar related purchase I'm starting to get a case of GAS.

Currently own a Tele and an SG but would like to add something a bit different to the collection which I can play around with. I'm a big fan of both Gretsch and Duesenberg guitars but at the minute handing over £1K + for a new guitar is not in the budget.

Had a quick look at the weekend and was very impressed with the build and playability of the Gretsch Streamliner series and thought they'd be a great place to start but can't decide which model to go for. I'm thinking of replacing the neck pickup with a P90 (possibly a Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen, but open to suggestions) and then making some cosmetic changes over time to get a Black Falcon/Penguin/Seltzer vibe. I'm going to avoid Bigsby models I think as the cheaper ones do unfortunately seem to cause tuning/restringing havoc.

Choices are

1) Hollow Body Single Cut



2) Center Block Double Cut



I've got the SG for heavier gain stuff so this would be used predominantly acoustically or with clean/mildly driven bluesy tones.

Any pointers/thoughts greatly appreciated

[dojo]

Why don't you want a filtertron pickup in it? Its pretty synomous with the Gretch. The only upgrades you can do are electric and hardware - so maybe upgrade to a set of TV Jones pickups and, a set of Gotoh or Groovers tuners on... Personally I'd put a Bigsby on as they're great you can always lock them off. I've one on my tele and it doesn't have tuning issues

[davidd]

My bandmate Pete has one. It's a nice sounding thing and quite well made. He's considering changing pickups as I think he feels they are a little thin compared to his fender starcaster. He has mentioned a few times that it is clearly a budget instrument.