A while back, I wrote about a fat-bodied Gretsch Streamliner jazz guitar I acquired pretty cheap. That purchase started me on a Gretsch odyssey. One thing I’d never done with a Gretsch was to install a Hipshot bender. Most Gretsch models have either a Bigsby or trapeze-type tailpiece, which would prevent using a bender. But a few models have a kind of V-shaped stop tailpiece, a few inches from the bridge, and that got me thinking. I wasn’t sure how well it would work, but I was committed to at least trying to mount a Hipshot on a Gretsch.
The first step was to find a guitar cheap enough to experiment on. So I scoured eBay and found this red G2655 for $350, including a hardshell case. I’m a gig-bag guy, so I figured I could sell the case for $50 on Craigslist and that would drop my price to only $300, which seemed like a good deal. So I pulled the trigger.
Hipshot units include a Teflon tube that routes the B string through the tailpiece to the B-bender.
I received the guitar a few days later, unpacked it, and was immediately struck by how light it felt. The first thing I did was raise the V-shaped stop tailpiece to create a less severe angle for the strings going over the bridge, so the bender string would not get hung up and go out of tune. Then I took off the rear strap button, slapped the Hipshot on, and threaded the B string through a small Teflon tube going through the stop tailpiece. After playing a few moments, I discovered that the B string would not stay in tune because the bender shifted around too much at the strap button.
Even a minuscule tilt of the Hipshot will cause tuning problems, but luckily the Hipshot comes with two pre-drilled holes that straddle the strap button, just for such an occurrence. So, with the top of the Hipshot pressed as tight against the guitar body as I could hold it, I drilled two small holes into the body using the Hipshot holes as a guide. Then I anchored the Hipshot tightly against the guitar body at the strap-button end using two small flat-head screws. Voilà! I was in business and it only took about 15 minutes.
And here’s the bending mechanism: The piece that extends past the guitar body holds a rod, which you press against your hip when you want to raise the B string. A knurled screw at the front of the unit’s “telegraph-key” lever lets you adjust the fine-tuning.
Now the Hipshot stays perfectly in tune because it no longer moves around. The beauty of the Hipshot is that you don’t have to rout out large sections of the body to install it. Also, if you sell the guitar down the road, you can simply unscrew the Hipshot and take it with you. And most people won’t be bothered by any small holes that the strap hides, anyway.
By the way, I ended up selling the hardshell case on Craigslist for $65, reducing my cost of the guitar to $285. Not bad! Man, this guitar is so much more fun to play with the Hipshot. And, believe me, you won’t find too many Gretsches out there with benders.
![Jerry Cantrell Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53714787&width=600&height=600&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C560%2C0)
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
