Streamliner 2655 vs Epi Casino Coupe

I wanted a small body 335 style guitar to play around the house and back yard, amped or unplugged.

I heard great things about the Casino Coupe so I bought one. It got packed up and sent back ASAP.

I have a Proline Gretsch and a Korean Electromatic that I love so I checked out Gretsch's offerings in the Streamline line. I found a beautiful G2655, just what I was after.

The Epi felt like a toy and did not give me a great feel regarding the neck and fingerboard, the Gretsch excelled in both of those. The Gretsch had stunning fret work, a great feeling fingerboard and a beautifully shaped neck.

The Gretsch intonated far better and the Epi’s truss rod would not change the relief

The Gretsch is a keeper...However, it did have one glaring problem, a horribly cut nut.

The loser


The winner


The nasty nut



Gretsch, F- One conditioned fingerboard


Nut after dressing, new strings


Wonderful neck, I knocked the gloss off it



Yes, Rich, I’m putting one on



Of course it is not in the league with my Proline, or even my Korean Electromatic, but it is not far behind and it only cost $450. Well done Gretsch, thank you sweetwater

 

Pretty much every guitar I have ever purchased required some work on the nut, sometimes just to lower the action which is no reflection on the quality of the nut the guitar came with.

However, I have never seen a nut as bad as the one on this Gretsch on any new guitar. My guess is the nut slots were cut with files to small and the nut material is really strange. I can’t tell what it is. That’s ok, a new blank bone nut will only cost me about $5 and an hour or so of fun garage time.