Gretsch 2220 - "No Humbuckers" Reparations

For those who bought a new Gretsch 2220 Junior Jet since 2013, this might be worth checking out.

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Sweet, good on Lobster for taking this all the way through. Credit where due :slight_smile:

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Good job Lobster. I just checked Sweetwater’s website and they now list the 2220 with single coils.

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“Curse you, Leo Fender!” - Ella (or Noob Josh)

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It’ll be good just to see what happens. I like my G2220 but if I can get $100 back from Fender, that would be awesome and I could put that towards the Stingray I want.

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Hell, yeah! I think Leo would approve. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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“I take what I do very seriously.” said the guy in pajama pants and lobster claw hand. :smiley:

I like my Junior Jet a lot, and knowing that it has single coil pickups doesn’t change that. I did find the pickups a bit noisy for humbuckers, but not unacceptably noisy overall. The noise is only noticeable with everything cranked up, which I rarely do.

However, I was disappointed in Gretsch/Fender for the misrepresentation.

I emailed Gretsch customer support and received a prompt reply, which included the following:

"Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the recent issue surrounding the pickups in our Gretsch Electromatic® Junior Jet™ Bass II.

"We are aware of and acknowledge that there is a discrepancy between the listed specifications and the actual pickup itself. We assure you there was no intention for Gretsch to intentionally mislead our loyal consumers. Please know we are working swiftly with our manufacturing partner to rectify this issue and ensure this does not happen again.

"Gretsch takes deep pride in its outstanding relationship with its customers for over 135 years, and we would like the opportunity to make things right.

"Please accept this gift as a token of our gratitude for your continued support. Select $100.00 (USD) worth of Gretsch or Fender accessories from our website and supply us with the serial number of your Bass along with your shipping details and we will get your package out to you right away.

“Please visit: Gretsch Accessories, Lifestyle | Fender, Accessories | Fender to make your selections.”

I’m not sure if the credit has to be used on accessories, or if it can be applied toward anything on the Gretsch/Fender websites.

Too bad I can’t use my credit at TV Jones’ website. :wink:

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The message you copied states “accessories.” This might have been a recent decision, as they probably don’t want to refund 100 bucks on a $300 bass. Or, take a hit on another new guitar.

It’s really lame that they pulled this humbucker-ain’t-a-humbucker crap to begin with.

The original single pickup Junior Jet was equipped with a TV Jones designed mini-humbucker. My theory is that when they went to two pickups they switched to a cheaper pickup, and somebody forgot to tell Marketing. Just speculation, I have no inside info.

The funny thing is, had I known that the pickups were single coil I don’t think that it would have changed my decision to buy.

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“Please choose from these accessories no one seems to want and we have a $hit ton of.”

What would annoy me is if they change out the pickup to a humbucker vs. just correcting the marketing now. I would tell them you want humbuckers and see what they say.
$100 of accessories cost them a solid $20 if that.

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True that.

Does Fender/Gretsch sell pickups? $100 should get you a decent set of OEM humbuckers. It won’t get you Seymour Duncans but should get you a pair that would have shipped stock with something like the G2220.

If so, problem solved :slight_smile:

This would actually irritate TF out of me because double humbucker is my favorite configuration and I don’t particularly like single coils. That said, every Junior Jet I have heard online sounded great to me :man_shrugging:

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Gretsch OEM mini-humbuckers (real humbuckers used on other Gretsch basses) are made by TV Jones. A set costs about what a Junior Jet sells for. :roll_eyes:

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In the end, it’s still a good sounding bass worth the $299. Maybe not a great bass, but a good bass.

Now let’s talk about that other Fender marketing flub. Having the Charvel 5 string specs saying it’s a 35" scale, when it’s only 34". Which someone caught and fixed, way faster than 10 years

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that would only take me 2 or 3 years to catch that… whenever i changed the strings for the first time :joy:

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I emailed Gretsch and told them that there wasn’t anything on their site that I wanted and that I wanted the mini humbuckers. I went on to say if I wanted another jazz bass I would have bought one because I prefer the neck.

I also commented on how lame their web site was, hardly any prices and mostly no good descriptions.

I heard back from them: Sorry but we have no mini humbuckers and that they are trying to source them.

I’m tempted to ask them to just send me a check for $100.00 and see what they say.

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So, here’s what I did: I wrote and got basically the same response, then after looking around on both the Gretsch and Fender websites asked if I could use the credit toward something else, which they agreed to immediately. I play guitar with this country group and was wanting a compressor for that typical country lead sound; I also had been wanting an overdrive for my single-channel amp, again for playing leads. I’d already been eyeing the Compugilist, which is a 2-in-1 overdrive/compression pedal (they call it distortion but it’s really more of an OD if you ask me), so I put the $100 credit toward that allowing me to buy the pedal for about $70, which gave me a really nice pedal for a somewhat more reasonable and affordable price (‘cause pedals are crazy expensive). Yes, I’m giving more money to Fender, but whatever. It’s not like I’m seriously going to boycott them over this, and getting a $100 discount on something I already wanted… I mean, a deal is a deal. The bass is dope and does what I need whether the pickups are humbuckers (which they’re not) or single-coils (which they are). Oh, and the Compugilist can make the bass sound like Metallica when you max out the controls running both sides together. Haha.

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I bought this Gretsch bass the other day to learn bass. I’m through module four now.

I’m coming from playing guitar, so I liked the idea of a short scale bass to keep some of the feel the same. After trying out a bunch at the guitar store, the Gretsch was the most comfortable.

I think it sounds great. No complaints about the pickups.

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Yep, the Gretsch Junior Jet is the perfect bass for a guitar player. Glad you’re enjoying it.

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The Junior Jet is the most guitar-like bass I’ve ever played. It’s a small-bodied short scale with a thin, fast neck. The pickups were never the issue; what was an issue was how Fender misrepresented them so long as being humbuckers, which they clearly aren’t. Regardless, enjoy your Gretsch.

Now jump over to the Introduce Yourself thread and let the B2B group welcome you to the family.

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