GuitarPlayer Verdict
The Gretsch Streamliner Hollow Body channels Falcon, Nashville and Synchromatic style at a far friendlier price. Well built and striking in Fairlane Blue, it offers comfortable playability, stable tuning and lively acoustic resonance. BT3S humbuckers deliver clear, versatile tones—from warm jazz to rockabilly twang and punchy rock—with useful coil-split sparkle.
Pros
- +
Cool retro-style look
- +
Classic big-body resonance and tone
Cons
- -
Gig bag not included
- -
Corners on the nut are sharp
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Based on high-dollar Gretsch models in the Falcon, Nashville and Synchromatic lines, the new Streamliner Hollow Body electric is designed to capture “that great Gretsch sound” at an eminently affordable price. It features a fully hollow arched body constructed of laminated maple with a width of 16 inches and a depth of 2 3/4 inches.
My review guitar arrived in a glossy Fairlane Blue sparkle finish that looks fantastic with the aged white binding, thick single-ply pickguard, matching cream pickup surrounds and quartet of cream “radio” knobs with inset gold tops.
True to form, the f-holes are smaller than the ones on many other Gretsch archtops, and the hardware consists of a Bigsby B60 vibrato tailpiece and a nickel-plated Adjusto-Matic bridge that sits atop a pinned laurel-wood base. Pickups are Gretsch’s own BT3S humbuckers with Alnico 2 magnets in the neck position and Alnico 5 magnets in the bridge position, both featuring 12 adjustable pole screws.
Carved to a Soft C shape that feels great in the hand, the Streamliner’s nato neck attaches at the 14th fret via a glued-in joint and sports white binding and a matching heel cap. The laurel fingerboard has a scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a radius of 12 inches and carries 22 lightly polished medium-jumbo frets and a set of pearloid “thumbprint” position markers.
Strings ride over a bone nut to a set of nickel-plated die-cast tuners on a bound headstock with a gloss black facing and gold Gretsch logo. This well-made guitar exudes classy coolness that immediately attracts attention and proved a lot of fun to play.
The Streamliner has a robust acoustic sound and good natural sustain, and it’s great that someone at the factory took the time to get the intonation right and the strings comfortably low with no fret buzz. The guitar tuned up easily and stayed in tune quite well once the strings and the Bigsby settled in enough to allow spirited whammy workouts.
Played through a selection of amps that included a PRS DGT 15, ’65 Deluxe Reverb reissue (hand-wired by Alessandro) and a reissue Vox AC10, the Streamliner delivered cool tones across the board. The use of Alnico 2 and 5 in these pickups optimizes them for their respective positions, overall providing great string-to-string clarity and plenty of bottom-end to facilitate everything from burnished jazz textures to rockabilly snarl to crushing rock grind.
The lower output neck unit sounded great for blues and roots rock, delivering warm, clear tones that didn’t become murky when the volume and/or tone controls were rolled down. Switching to the middle position which combines the brighter, louder bridge pickup, elicited more twang and bite—nice for country and rockabilly — and the bridge pickup by itself when pumped though a pedal or high-gain amp was perfect for bluesy metal in the Billy Duffy camp, delivering ripping archtop-electric muscle that can make a solidbody guitar sound thin by comparison.
That said, if you want skinnier, funkier tones for channeling Nile Rogers or Leo Nocentelli, just pull the master-volume knob and the guitar delivers single-coil sounds that sit beautifully in a track or with a band that has horns, keys, singers, percussion and other instrumentation.
The Streamliner Hollow Body is an inspiring guitar that plays well, is lightweight for its size and has the sonic flexibility to handle just about any style. It’s an impressive performer for the money and well worth a test drive if you’re looking to bring some Gretsch love into your life.
SPECIFICATIONS
CONTACT gretschguitars.com
PRICE $649
NUT Bone, 1.6875" wide
NECK Nato, glued-in, Soft C profile, gloss finish
FINGERBOARD Laurel with aged white binding and black side dots, 24.75" scale, 12" radius, pearloid “thumbnail” inlays and bound headstock with gold Gretsch logo
FRETS 22 medium jumbo
TUNERS Nickel-plated die-cast
BODY Fully hollow arched maple construction with aged white binding, three-ply purfling and gloss finish
BRIDGE Nickel-plated Adjusto-Matic with pinned laurel wood base
TAILPIECE Bigsby B60
PICKUPS Broad’Tron BT3S humbuckers with Alnico 2 magnets (neck position) and Alnico 5 magnets (bridge position)
CONTROLS Master volume (with push-pull coil split), master tone and individually adjustable pickup volume controls. Vintage radio-style knobs and 3-way toggle switch
EXTRAS Single-ply cream pickguard (as tested) or three-ply tortoise color with gold “Gretsch” logo. Available in Fairlane Blue, Brandywine, Robusto Burst, Midnight Sapphire and Havana Burst
FACTORY STRINGS Nickel Plated Steel, .010-.046
WEIGHT 7.2 lbs (tested)
BUILT Indonesia
PRO Cool retro-style look. Classic big-body resonance and tone.
CON Gig bag not included. Corners on the nut are sharp.
