From the earliest days of the electrified guitar used with rock’n’roll, rockabilly, punk, and classic rock, the hollowbody guitar body has seen the lot. While it may have come under threat from the convenience and sheer abundance of solid and semi-acoustic electrics, the hollowbody’s massive innards aren’t just home to air.
Two popular hollowbody guitars are the Epiphone Emperor Swingster and Gretsch G5422T Electromatic, but which one is better for you?
| Features: | Epiphone Emperor Swingster | Gretsch G5422T Electromatic |
|---|---|---|
| Price: | £579 ($672) | £700 ($813) |
| Inlay Design: | Block inlays | Side Pearloid |
| Pickup: | Epiphone SwingBucker | Blacktop Filter’Tron |
| Frets: | 22 | 22 |
Epiphone Emperor Swingster
The Epiphone guitar company first introduced its Emperor model in 1935 to compete with Gibson’s Super 400, but this Swingster iteration is geared up for rockabilly rather than jazz and has its sights set squarely on Gretsch fans.
Epiphone’s Swingster has a Forest Green Metallic paint and gold hardware is a classic combination reminiscent of the Cadillac Green Gretsch Country Club, while the gold sparkle binding screams ‘Falcon’. Along with its pickup covers and Chet Atkins-style Bigsby arm and the Swingster’s vibe is unmistakable, but the resemblance ends there as the body and headstock shapes, floral headstock inlay, block markers and pickguard motif are typically classic Epiphone.
Build
The Emperor Swingster is a true hollowbody guitar made from laminated maple, with a set mahogany neck and no centre-block or trestle bracing. While Indian laurel is a perfectly acceptable fretboard substitute for rosewood, it’s nice to see the guitar with such attractive figuring. It’s shaped to a peak at the end, much like some of Gibson’s high-end archtops and acoustics, along with sparkle binding with multi-ply purfling that matches the body. The guitar’s neck also features a two-way truss rod.
The Epiphone’s Swingster’s hardware includes a LockTone tune-o-matic bridge on a pinned wooden base and Grover Rotomatic tuners, while the familiar-looking control array features a potential ace up its sleeve its form of series/parallel switching via push and pull tone pots.
Performance
The Epiphone Swingster’s unplugged performance is more than good enough for it to be used as a medium-volume acoustic archtop. It has a full tone that’s balanced and punchy in the low mids, with mellow but clear treble and smooth sustain.
When plugged in, its volume controls in the push position, while the pickups default to parallel mode. It gives a clear, low-output tone that works well enough across all three settings although it lacks a little character and there’s noticeable treble loss when the volume controls are turned down.
Pulling up its tone controls brings the pickups into series mode, which gives a significant volume hike. The Swingster’s tone is fuller, more powerful and a bit more fun, however, neither mode quite does justice to the Swingster’s unplugged potential. The Swingster’s best setting is in the middle with the bridge in series and the neck in parallel – although you shouldn’t expect the twang or throaty chime that a genuine set give of Filter’Trons from these SwingBucker units.
Gretsch G5422T Electromatic
Most guitarists understand that playing a Gretsch requires a great deal of commitment. The main reason is if your electric guitar leanings have primarily been solid-body choices, and Gretsch guitars are predominantly hollow bodies, which often requires some finessing of your amp’s tone if you’ve ever switched between the two.
This shouldn’t be considered as a condemnation, because if you’ve never experienced the joy of that primal “Gretsch Sound” roaring through an amp, then you just don’t know what you’re missing.
The only problem for those who have an itch for using a Gretsch has always been its typically out-of-reach prices for its most prestigious hollow body models. But behind the scenes, Gretsch has assiduously revamped its Electromatic collection, making them not only more robust and player-friendly but, more importantly, temptingly affordable.
Build
Simply looking at Gretsch’s G5422TG, it’s abundantly clear that Gretsch has made great strides in refreshing its mid-tier Electromatics.
It says a lot about the construction of this hollow-body instrument; as the G5422TG feels quite solid and substantial once it’s in your hands, and you can see how Gretsch has paid homage to original Fifties and Sixties designs with the guitar’s newly refined arch contours and vintage-inspired shape on its double-cutaway laminated maple body.
The updated trestle block bracing in the body has noticeably increased sustain (even when unplugged), reducing feedback and makes the guitar respond closer to a solid body while retaining all the vibrant qualities of a hollow body. The classic “C”-profile maple neck has a pleasantly comfy shape featuring a 12-inch radius laurel fingerboard along with Gretsch’s signature Pearloid hump block inlays.
Performance
The Gretsch G5422TG Electromatic is spot-on in its overall build and tone that if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of having a Gretsch in your arsenal, now might be the time to grab one.
Having the combination of the G5422TG condensed 24.6-inch scale length and super flat 12-inch radius fingerboard contributes to its inviting playability, users will be enthralled at the bounce of the springy Bigsby B60, which stays remarkably in-tune for subtle vibrato.
Conclusion
While both of these guitar models are very similar, most people go for Gretsch’s G5422TG due to its aesthetics. However, if your main genre is jazz, then you should consider Epiphone’s Emperor Swingster.