G5260T JET BARITONE

That twang is back in style

Baritones might have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years with metal players looking to put them into the service of high-end, low-end chug but they are nothing new, and were originally designed for less musically-destructive applications. Hitherto their destructive potential would have been restricted to demarcation disputes with musicians’ unions; are you a bassist or a guitarist? Well, using this you are kind of both. Picking up the G5260T, that’s the first thing that hits you. It’s a six-string, the geometry seems in proportion, familiar, and that neck profile, a shallow C, is never going to fool you in a blind taste test with a P-bass, but it sure does feel like a different instrument; like a bass. This is how baritones were originally intended. Duane Eddy, a man whose tone should be listed in all good dictionaries under

‘twang’, used a Danelectro Longhorn 4623 liberally – most famously on 1959’s The Twang’s The Thang – and his signature tone was faithfully transposed to the longer 30-inch scale instrument. You’ll find the same experience with the G5260T. It has a solid mahogany body, a big ol’ slab with a similarly-scaled maple neck with a four-bolt heel, and once you catch your breath after hearing the low sixth-string – here tuned to A – rumble for the first time, you’ll be struck by how much of that Gretsch elastic growl is in its tone. The musical possibilities soon stretch out in front of you. As Gretsch guitars go, the

electronics are simple. There are two mini-humbuckers, G-arrow master volume and tone controls, and a three-way pickup selector. Clean, dry tones reveal a baseline piano-esque bass tone, ideal for sitting under the hurdy-gurdy clang of a modern beat combo, but dial in some spring reverb, some tremolo and slapback delay and you’re back in the orbit of 50s rock ’n’ roll tones. Here, the G5260T truly excels, with the Bigsby-licensed B50 vibrato on hand to provide a little wobble to those oh-so-dreamy chords. If you liked Vinnie Bell’s playing on the Twin Peaks soundtrack then the G5260T is a fun entry-point into that world.

“THE GEOMETRY SEEMS IN PROPORTION, FAMILIAR, BUT IT SURE DOES FEEL LIKE A DIFFERENT INSTRUMENT; LIKE A BASS”