Electric Guitar Review

When Gretsch first released the Jimmie Vaughan Synchromatic back at Summer NAMM 2006 I was immediately smitten––the thing was absolutely dripping with early Jazz mojo, and while looks may not be everything, in this case they went a long way towards telling me I really needed to get my hands on one of these for a test drive.

But as luck would have it, a full year went by, and I eventually learned the hard truth––getting your hands on a G400JV Jimmie Vaughan Synchromatic is like pulling teeth… unless you’re Guitar Player Magazine.

Fortunately, the good folks over at GP have seen fit to publish an excellent in-depth look at the G400JV, including a short but sweet video demo.

The guitar was of course built in conjunction with the Godfather of Austin Blues, Mr. Jimmie Vaughan, and it comes pretty much dressed to the nines––solid spruce top, solid maple back & sides, 3-piece maple neck, rosewood fretboard (12″ radius,) split Mother-Of-Pearl hump block inlays, and binding across the board.

Hardware includes a compensated rosewood synchronized bridge, gold-plated Grover Imperial die-cast tuners, gold chromatic tailpiece, and a streamlined “faux tortoise” pickguard, while electronics include include Fishman’s piezo Archtop Pickup System, and a pair of tone & volume controls tucked right up under the pickguard.

All in all a really classy design, and undoubtedly a whole lot of guitar for a street price hovering in the $2500 range.