Tour Gretsch’s Corona, California, custom guitar building operation with company master builder Chad Henrichsen and PG’s own John Bohlinger.
“We get a lot done in a small amount of space, but this is where it all happens,” Henrichsen says. It starts with the wood—mahogany, maple, and spruce body blanks; mahogany and maple neck blanks; rosewood for fretboards—and so does our tour. It also begins, of course, with specific orders from dealers, artists, and individual players, commissioning instruments."
Henrichsen describes Gretsch's process of making hollow- and semi-hollowbody guitars first, which uses pressure and heat to form tops and sides from wood laminate. The plant also uses old-school craftsmanship—a copy carver, for example—to cut wood tops and more to shape.
One of Henrichsen’s fortes is necks, so he explains the process of creating necks for Falcons, Duo Jets, 6120s, etc., in detail, and we see the neck shaper machine in operation. The evolution from wooden block to smooth, finished neck is fascinating! And some of the machinery, jigs, and other tools are older than your Uncle Billy. After inlays comes binding—gold sparkle for a Penguin, white for a Duo Jet, for example. And, by the way, all work in the Custom Shop is done by hand.
Master builder Gonzalo Madrigal makes a cameo to explain the step-by-step process of fitting a guitar’s neck to its body. The example here is one of the super-colorful, intergalactically shaped Billy-Bo models—half Diddley and half Gibbons. Madrigal also displays the process of setting a tortoise shell binding in place—a method that takes about 45 minutes overall, and then must sit to set.
In the final assembly department, we see a 12-string Country Gentleman turning to life—tuners, bridge, electronics, tailpieces and everything else comes home to roost. The grand finale? Dig a killer 3-pickup Penguin in a black paisley finish with Super’Trons, cats-eye f-holes, and a Bigsby. It’s gorgeous! And, in a sense, the culmination of Gretsch’s 140-year history of craftsmanship.
Listen to Bryan Ewald take this double-headed workhorse through its paces and demos how to blend the two distinct voices.
SE Hollowbody II Piezo
The SE Hollowbody II Piezo combines the balanced, clear, resonant tone of a hollowbody instrument with the power and stability of a solid-body electric guitar. Constructed with a maple back and top with mahogany sides, the SE Hollowbody II Piezo offers a light shimmer and snap in an attractive package.
The 58/15 “S” pickups deliver clarity and balance that sound big and musical in a hollowbody platform. Now boasting an LR Baggs/PRS Piezo system, the SE Hollowbody II Piezo provides musicians with the versatility of wielding both acoustic and electric tone in one instrument. The instrument’s two volume controls allow players to blend the 58/15 “S” pickups with the piezo’s acoustic tones. This newly-designed piezo system features two output jacks, so the guitar can still be run separately into your favorite amp and an acoustic amp or DI into the soundboard. This is one of the most versatile PRS SE Series instruments yet.
The first piezo-equipped instrument in the SE Series.
Stevensville, MD (June 23, 2020) -- PRS Guitars today announced the SE Hollowbody II Piezo. Another instrument that was scheduled to be released for their Experience PRS event earlier this year, the PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo is the first piezo-equipped instrument in the SE Series.
“Just a few years ago, it would not have occurred to us to bring a guitar with the Hollowbody II Piezo’s feature set into the SE Series, but we feel it is another example of how we are advancing our SE lineup,” said Jack Higginbotham, PRS Guitars COO. “We have worked very closely with Lloyd Baggs and the LR Baggs team to take our award-winning piezo system and design a no-compromise version for the SE Series. At the end of the day, our goal is to offer players professional-grade tools across all our lines. Due to its versatility and adaptability, we are especially excited to see how this guitar plays into recording at this time, and it will be a exceptionally unique tool when gigging players are able to resume their performances.”
The SE Hollowbody II Piezo combines the clear, resonant tone of a hollowbody instrument with the power and stability of a solid-body electric guitar. Constructed with a maple top and back with mahogany sides, the SE Hollowbody II Piezo offers a balanced voice with light shimmer and snap in an attractive package. The 58/15 “S” pickups deliver a clarity that sounds big and musical in a hollowbody platform.
Now boasting a newly-designed LR Baggs/PRS Piezo system, the SE Hollowbody II Piezo provides musicians with the versatility of wielding both acoustic and electric tones in one instrument. The instrument is designed with two discrete volume controls (magnetics and piezo) and output jacks (mix/piezo and magnetics). Players can plug into the “Mix/Piezo” jack and use the individual volume controls to blend the 58/15 “S” pickups with the piezo’s acoustic tones. Alternatively, players can plug into the jacks separately, so the guitar can run magnetic pickups into an amp and run the piezo through an acoustic amp or DI into the soundboard. When using the magnetic output jack in isolation, the piezo battery is bypassed completely, acting as a failsafe (in this scenario, the magnetic pickups still work even if the piezo battery has run out of juice). This is the most versatile SE instrument in the Series nearly twenty-year history.
Watch the company's video demo:
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PRS Guitars