The Internet Has Thoughts About Guitar Player's Gretsch G2420T Streamliner Review.
Guitar Player's only complaints were a missing gig bag and sharp nut corners. Owners are busy replacing the pots and the pickups.
Two sides. One page.
Johnny argues the piece. Then he argues against himself. Somebody has to check his work. Read both, then call the winner below.
The take is shown below.
Source
“an inspiring guitar that plays well, is lightweight for its size and has the sonic flexibility to handle just about any style”
What the internet actually said
“Not really a Gretsch sound. Entry level stuff, which is where it's aimed.”
Gretsch-Talk · u.d.
“I love mine. Check out my threads about pots upgrade.”
Gretsch-Talk · m.
“I have a 2420 incoming with a t-armond pickup upgrade, and I'm looking forward to it enormously.”
Gretsch-Talk · d.b.
The Suede Read
Art Thompson reviewed the $649 G2420T for Guitar Player and called it inspiring, light for its size, and flexible enough for just about any style. The cons box named two things: no gig bag, and sharp corners on the nut. Both are true. Neither is the conversation owners are actually having.
On Gretsch-Talk, the thread asking whether the Streamliner is any good draws a different picture. One player who tried an early one found a chunky neck and a finish that was reasonable for the money, then delivered the line the review never approaches: not really a Gretsch sound, entry level stuff, which is where it's aimed. That is a fan of the brand saying the guitar does not deliver the thing the brand is for.
The owners who love theirs do not contradict him so much as confirm him by accident. One says he loves his and points you to his own threads about upgrading the pots. Another has a 2420 arriving with a T-Armond pickup swap already planned and is looking forward to it enormously. These are happy customers. They are also happy customers describing a guitar they intend to rewire.
The review measured playability and weight and got both right. What it left out is that the people who keep these guitars mostly keep modifying them, and a missing gig bag is not the reason.
Spotted something the press fluffed? info@suedeai.org
A $649 import that rewards upgrades is not a review failure. It is the entire economic logic of the price tier, and one forum regular saying so out loud proves the review right.
The split verdict here rests on treating pickup and pot swaps as a hidden defect. They are not. At $649 the Streamliner is the cheapest door into a hollow-body Gretsch, and everybody transacting at that tier — the magazine, the shop, the forum — understands that the wood and the neck are what you are buying while the electronics are the obvious upgrade path. The column found owners doing the expected thing and filed it as a gap the press missed.
The one genuinely critical voice makes the case for the review, not against it. Entry level stuff, which is where it's aimed, is a description of correct positioning. He is not saying Guitar Player oversold the guitar; he is saying the guitar is aimed at the entry level and hits it. Guitar Player said it plays well, weighs little, and is flexible. The forum's most skeptical poster agreed on the aim and disputed only whether it earns the family name — a question of brand romance, not of the review's factual claims.
And the claim under test survived intact. Nobody said it plays badly. Nobody said it's heavy. Nobody said it can't cover styles. The review's two cons were verifiable and verified. Docking it to split for failing to predict that hobbyists would tinker sets a standard no launch review can meet, because the tinkering happens after the review and is itself a form of praise. You do not spend money upgrading a guitar you regret.