Gretsch Adds Two Baritone Electromatics, Rethinking the Corvette and Jet for a Heavier Register

Gretsch has expanded its mid-priced Electromatic series with a pair of baritone guitars that pull two of the company’s classic designs into noticeably heavier territory. The Electromatic CVT Baritone and the Baritone Jet both arrive with extended scale lengths, high-output humbuckers and a price point set at £599 and £609 respectively.

The CVT Baritone revives the Corvette silhouette, a model with a history that includes Rory Gallagher’s early adoption and its later revival as Jack Antonoff’s vibrato-equipped Princess Antonoff CVT. That previous iteration carried FideliSonic P-90s and a softer visual character. The new version takes almost nothing from that playbook. A 27” scale length, dual PureVolt Twin Six humbuckers, a chambered mahogany body and a heavily contoured solid body shape make it ready for down-tuned riffing. The finish, a muted Bristol Fog, underlines the shift in intent.

The Baritone Jet pushes things a little further. A 29.75” scale length, closer to short-scale bass territory, gives it an elastic low-end that handles lower tunings without flab. It keeps the chambered mahogany body, glued-in mahogany neck with a Performance C profile, and a 12” radius rosewood fingerboard. The Imperial Stain finish and Pearloid Neo Classic inlays stay neatly within Gretsch’s visual language, but the pickups, the same PureVolt Twin Six set, move it past the classic rock rumble of earlier Jet models.

A demo by Loathe guitarist Erik Bickerstaffe makes it plain that both instruments work beyond the twang and rock tradition normally associated with Gretsch. The sounds lean into doom, sludge and straight-up metal without forcing the design into unfamiliar territory. The components, GraphTech NuBone nut, Adjust-O-Matic bridge, stop-tail, binding, read like a list of sensible, unfussy choices that make the price feel deliberate rather than cut-rate.

The Corvette’s return as a baritone is the more unexpected move, given its history. Gretsch chose to ignore nostalgia and give it a role that the original never had. The Jet baritone feels like a logical extension of an instrument that has always taken well to heavier playing, but the CVT does something more interesting. It opens a door for players who might not have looked twice at the brand before.