Why use butter when you can dunk your
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Has Gretsch been lying to us for over a decade?
- Thread starter LowEndLobster
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Just put some magnetic viewing film over my pickups and yep... single coils instead of the advertised humbuckers. Very disappointing.
For the $300 price I could live with the just okay tuners, generic bridge, crappy 3-way switch and the cheapest output jack ever, but now I'm finding out that this Gretsch isn't even equipped with the humbuckers that were part of the selling point. I feel swindled.
I even spent hard earned money replacing cables, parchcords and battery supplies in the attempt to get rid of the hum and noise. I've wasted hours rearranging my pedal board trying to figure out the where and why of the noise. All along it's been simply the annoying hum of a single coil.
So very disheartening.
For the $300 price I could live with the just okay tuners, generic bridge, crappy 3-way switch and the cheapest output jack ever, but now I'm finding out that this Gretsch isn't even equipped with the humbuckers that were part of the selling point. I feel swindled.
I even spent hard earned money replacing cables, parchcords and battery supplies in the attempt to get rid of the hum and noise. I've wasted hours rearranging my pedal board trying to figure out the where and why of the noise. All along it's been simply the annoying hum of a single coil.
So very disheartening.
Bought it about 3 months ago. Really liked it when I first got it... except for the constant background hum. Noticed it even more when I purchased a Stingray a month after buying the Gretsch. Stingray is as quiet as an empty library compared to the Junior Jet. I almost didn't buy it simply because of the name "Junior Jet". The name makes me think of a kids red wagon. I should've listened to my gut.
Fast forward 20 years and folks on here will be talking about the highly sought after pre-2023 Junior Jets that came with the magical factory stock single coils.
Very interesting to read this saga about the advertised pup's vs the actual pup's in these basses.
I owned one for about a year and just didn't like the, in my opinon, muddy sound. But never had any hum at gigs or practice.
I owned one for about a year and just didn't like the, in my opinon, muddy sound. But never had any hum at gigs or practice.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
If these single coils truly were "magical" I would agree. Unfortunately, they are not. I'm not sure I would even call them good single coils. Apparently many others feel the same if you consider all the threads regarding the hum and noise complaints. As well as the threads requesting help in replacing these pickups.
No disclaimer exempts anyone from false advertising laws.
However, the chances that someone at Gretsch deliberately gave the order to use single-coil instead of dual-coil humbuckers is extremely low. It is far more likely that someone at the factory screwed up and used the wrong part. Since there isn't much QC on a $300 instrument, no one at the factory noticed. It happens all the time.
Even if it was deliberate, you'd have to prove it somehow. The courts will not allow a fishing expedition that lets you access 10 years of emails based on a hunch. That's assuming that some villainous exec actually sent any emails telling someone to secretly install the wrong part, presumably texting the order whilst laughing maniacally.
More to the point, IMO the OP is overstating the case. It is extraordinarily unlikely that anyone committed "fraud" -- it just doesn't make sense. Do you really think they're going to get a huge windfall by using a cheap SC instead of cheap humbucker? C'mon.
And let's face it, while you should get the parts that were specified, and I can understand why people are upset, there's a limit to how mad you should get. Extensive quality control is one of the many things you are not paying for when you buy a brand-new $300 instrument.
Man, who knew bass players knew so many lobster jokes?
Come for the bass; stay for the seafood.
I'm watching for the coming Junior Jet closeout price drop, so I can buy one cheap, like I bought my Danelectro 56 cheap (Impulse buy: $175 new! I should have gotten a blue Dano 56 also, but I didn't know I'd like it so much!).
Come for the bass; stay for the seafood.
I'm watching for the coming Junior Jet closeout price drop, so I can buy one cheap, like I bought my Danelectro 56 cheap (Impulse buy: $175 new! I should have gotten a blue Dano 56 also, but I didn't know I'd like it so much!).
Though we haven't seen a lot of data yet, it appears so far that the 2220 has always had two single-coils, and that perhaps only the old 2202 single-pickup model ever had a humbucker. I think (if I remember?) that there used to be a different 2-pu model with some other number besides 2202 or 2220. We haven't heard from anyone yet with one of those.
But the 2-pu 2220 has existed for years... at least 10 years, I think. It seems likely, so far, that it's always had these same humbucker-looking single-coils. But even if it's only had these single-coils for the past 2 or 3 years, and even if it was a substitution made by the Chinese factory without telling Fender/Gretsch, the fact is that Fender/Gretsch is in the instrument business, and it's a company full of instrument-nerd musicians and engineers (and engineers who are also instrument-nerd musicians), not just bean counters, and some of those people would have picked up a 2220 and messed with it and would have noticed pretty quickly that the the pickups weren't humbuckers. They would have mentioned it to the person beside them, and someone would have mentioned it to their boss. And, most likely, the boss said "don't worry about it" or "never mind" or "it doesn't say humbucker, it says humbuckING!", or something. So it would be an open secret at the company, and something they'd joke about at the Christmas party. "Chinese Junior Jet II with humbuckers? Pffff! Hah! Riiiiight! No. Whatever. I'm using my emplyee discount to buy my grandson an American P-bass! Who wants another beer?"
I bet that exact conversation has happened, but maybe it was a fancy Gretsch, not a P-bass. I wasn't there.
Is it fraud? Under US law, perhaps not. That's why we need people to tear things apart and look sometimes, so we know when we're being duped.
Personally, I've always played basses with single-coils, and I've rarely liked the sound of a bass with humbuckers, so probably someday I'll pick up a 2220 when one pops up in my face, and I have the money in my pocket.
But the 2-pu 2220 has existed for years... at least 10 years, I think. It seems likely, so far, that it's always had these same humbucker-looking single-coils. But even if it's only had these single-coils for the past 2 or 3 years, and even if it was a substitution made by the Chinese factory without telling Fender/Gretsch, the fact is that Fender/Gretsch is in the instrument business, and it's a company full of instrument-nerd musicians and engineers (and engineers who are also instrument-nerd musicians), not just bean counters, and some of those people would have picked up a 2220 and messed with it and would have noticed pretty quickly that the the pickups weren't humbuckers. They would have mentioned it to the person beside them, and someone would have mentioned it to their boss. And, most likely, the boss said "don't worry about it" or "never mind" or "it doesn't say humbucker, it says humbuckING!", or something. So it would be an open secret at the company, and something they'd joke about at the Christmas party. "Chinese Junior Jet II with humbuckers? Pffff! Hah! Riiiiight! No. Whatever. I'm using my emplyee discount to buy my grandson an American P-bass! Who wants another beer?"
I bet that exact conversation has happened, but maybe it was a fancy Gretsch, not a P-bass. I wasn't there.
Is it fraud? Under US law, perhaps not. That's why we need people to tear things apart and look sometimes, so we know when we're being duped.
Personally, I've always played basses with single-coils, and I've rarely liked the sound of a bass with humbuckers, so probably someday I'll pick up a 2220 when one pops up in my face, and I have the money in my pocket.
What you're describing is fraud. It's also a very unlikely scenario. Few companies would handle such a matter the way you describe, because it's bad business. Maybe Nestlé would, maybe Exxon would, but not a reputable company with a long history of excellence. Perhaps if the stakes were higher and the risk of being found out was lower, but not to let a Chinese manufacturer make a few extra cents by putting cheaper pickups in their bass. The boring and most probable explanation is that the manufacturer switched to a different pickup, perhaps by accident, perhaps by ignorance, perhaps by greed. Maybe even a combination. And maybe someone at Gretsch knew and decided not to do anything about it, but in that case they probably kept it to themselves.
It was Lisa Lowbster that got me to Stay.
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