On the spectrum of signature guitars, the Gretsch John Gourley Broadkaster is one of the more affordable ones I’ve encountered. Coming from the man behind Portugal. The Man, it features some gorgeous visual appointments, USA-made pickups, and a Bigsby tremolo, making it a very interesting prospect indeed.
My only real encounters with Portugal. The Man has been through the various FIFA soundtracks they’ve appeared on over the years. The band is labelled as rock, but their sound encompasses many different genres of music, which reveal itself in various guises via this signature semi-hollow guitar from their lead singer.
Gretsch Electromatic John Gourley Broadkaster review: Features
It’s a guitar that certainly catches the eye, and the visual appointments come courtesy of artist Cleon Peterson, whose uniquely drawn figures have appeared in galleries around the world, as well as on ‘Toy Machine’ skateboards.
We have the distinctive flame-shrouded silhouette on the scratchplate, cloud fingerboard inlays that point to one of PTM’s most loved albums, as well as a truss rod cover and metal plate on the headstock that both add small artistic touches.
The finish is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen, a heady, iridescent shape-shifter that looks absolutely stunning in a variety of lighting conditions, but especially in direct sunlight. It’s one of the most striking-looking guitars I’ve seen in a long time, and got an appropriate whistle when I pulled it out of the box.
It’s lightweight due to a thinner-than-usual body at the request of John himself, so even with the Bigsby attached, it doesn’t feel especially heavy. The body features a chambered spruce centre block, with an arched laminated maple construction. It’s a double cutaway with two f-holes and a sparkly silver binding on the neck with an added W/B/W purfling on the body.
The maple set neck features a thin ‘U’ profile, with a laurel fretboard that sports 22 medium jumbo frets. The pearloid cloud inlays guide your way over the flat 12” radius, increasing in size towards the 7th and 9th frets before decreasing as they terminate at the 17th.
Moving onto the electronics you get two USA-made Full’Tron humbuckers alongside a classic lineup of two volume knobs, a master tone, and a master volume knob on the upper bout of the body. A three-way pickup selector offers a classic switching combination between the two pickups, with the middle position engaging both.
In terms of hardware, the Bigsby B70 dominates the landscape, paired with an Adjusto-Matic bridge. At the opposite end you’ve got a set of locking tuners, which paired with the tremolo should keep tuning consistency to a maximum. With all the specs out of the way, let’s get to actually playing this beaut.
Gretsch Electromatic John Gourley Broadkaster review: Playability
Sitting down to play, I was very happy to see that a pair of strap locks are included as part of the deal, giving you a secure way to attach your strap before you start playing. Strap engaged, I examined the neck to see how this thin ‘U’ profile feels, sitting down with my HX Stomp and a pair of headphones to try out some different playstyles.
To my hand, it’s not drastically different from many ‘C’ profile necks I’ve been playing lately. It feels comfortable for a wide variety of styles, whether you’re ripping bluesy leads, strumming open chords or, laying down some tasty riffs. I tried a wide variety of styles, including learning some of John Gourley’s own playing and found the neck to be accepting of pretty much every playstyle you can think of bar the super shreddy stuff.
Whether it’s jazz chords or legato, the glossy finish of the neck doesn’t hinder your playing at all, and the profile is very accommodating. It’s no shred neck, but you can absolutely rip on it too if you’re that way inclined. One thing where it does struggle however is upper fret access. Once you get beyond the 19th fret you’ll be twisting your hand to get there, which can make bending beyond here pretty difficult.
When I first started leaning on the Bigsby it was a little unstable, but once I’d lived with it a little and bedded it in, those locking tuners upheld the stability excellently. Bigsby’s require a heavy hand to get anything beyond a subtle bend to the pitch, but you can move it both ways to a decent degree, and the slow movement of the trem arm makes for some lovely sounds. Under heavy use, you will knock the strings out of tune a bit, but you do really have to lean on it to do this.
Gretsch Electromatic John Gourley Broadkaster review: Sounds
I started my sound tests playing it unplugged, where it’s louder than a regular solid body but not quite as loud as a fully hollow guitar. It’s loud enough to annoy your partner while they're watching TV, but not so loud you’d annoy anyone in a different room. It sustains really nicely unplugged, with chords ringing out whilst single notes have plenty of definition, even when you start leaning on the Bigsby.
Plugging it into my HX Stomp, I started with a lightly overdriven Orange amp model to see how the pickups fared. If you want great rock and roll tones, then the John Gourley Broadkaster definitely delivers here. The bridge pickup has a nice bite to it that responds really well to your picking dynamic, and I found it very enjoyable playing some crunchy riffs.
Adding in an EQD Plumes model to the circuit to send the amp over the edge alongside some tape delay, that pickup starts to really sing making it great for cutting lead work. It’s bright but never harsh, straddling the line nicely between brash and warm. It can get aggressive too, delivering some gnarly tones through a Mesa amp model and a Friedman one too. It’s not quite metal territory of course, but you could definitely do some punk and hardcore stuff with it.
By contrast, I found myself not enjoying the neck position quite as much. To my ear it wasn’t that radically different from the bridge position, adding some extra warmth without delivering as much low end as I would have liked. It’s articulate that’s for sure, but ends up sounding like a slightly more muted version of the bridge pickup.
Moving to some clean tones the Broadkaster shines again in the bridge position. The articulation is lovely through a Fender Twin model, and once you start adding in delays and reverbs you’ll quickly end up in lush tone heaven. Again it cuts beautifully, without being overbearing.
As with the distorted tones, I found the bridge pickup lacking heft here. The added warmth did feel a little more appropriate when played through a clean amp. It doesn’t quite hit that ultra-warm jazz territory I’d have expected from a guitar of this kind of build, but it does do a pretty good job of thickening the sound some. Again, I found myself wishing there was just a little more oomph when flicking the pickup selector to really offset the sound of the bridge pickup.
Gretsch Electromatic John Gourley Broadkaster review: Verdict
For the money, the Gretsch John Gourley Broadkaster really does deliver a lot of bang for your buck. I really enjoyed playing it and I love that the signature touches do enough to make it stand out, without necessarily making it obvious that it’s a signature guitar versus something limited edition.
The bridge pickup in particular delivers fantastically varied guitar tones that can cover everything from classic rock to hardcore punk, although I think if I’d bought this guitar I’d probably change out the neck pickup.
Overall, it’s a brilliantly playable instrument that sounds fantastic and is excellent value for money too. One of the standout signature guitars I’ve played in my time, and well worth a look even if you’re not a fan of the band.
Gretsch Electromatic John Gourley Broadkaster review: Specs
- PRICE: $1,199.99
- ORIGIN: China
- BODY: Laminated maple
- NECK: Maple, thin U profile, set neck
- SCALE LENGTH: 24.6" (625 mm)
- FINGERBOARD: Laurel, 12" (305 mm) radius
- FRETS: 22, medium jumbo
- PICKUPS: 2x USA Full'Tron
- CONTROLS: Volume 1. (Neck Pickup), Volume 2. (Bridge Pickup), Master Volume, Master Tone, 3-position toggle
- HARDWARE: Adjusto-Matic bridge, Bigsby B70 tailpiece, Die-Cast Sealed Locking
- LEFT-HANDED: No
- FINISH: Iridescent Black
- CASE: No
- CONTACT: Gretsch
