The music industry has long heralded Abbey Road Studios as one of the most innovative meccas for recording artists and equipment development — and for good reason. Now, Gretsch and Abbey Road have joined forces to create a stellar studio guitar: the Abbey Road Studiomatic. This all-maple, full hollowbody instrument equips the noiseless, crystalline brilliance of two Custom Filter’Tron humbuckers in conjunction with an Abbey Road-designed dual-mode Rumble Filter to give studio players a highly flexible instrument that adapts to complex multitrack mixes of any caliber. It’s the first musical instrument to be awarded Abbey Road’s “RS” invention code of distinction, taking the name “RS 201” and landing among the ranks of some of the industry’s most influential studio hardware designs. And of course, like any true Gretsch guitar, the Abbey Road Studiomatic comes outfitted with its fair share of flair, including gold hardware finishing, sealed die-cast locking tuners, and an expressive Bigsby vibrato. Whether you record in a curated home setup or track in the big league studio, take it from veteran 6-stringers here at Music Experience: the Abbey Road Studiomatic is set to become a staple of your studio sound.

Gretsch Limited Edition Abbey Road Studiomatic at a Glance:

• 2.25” deep maple body with parallel bracing
• Classic “C” shaped maple neck
• 12” radius bound ebony fingerboard with pearloid Neo-Classic™ Thumbnail inlays
• Graph Tech® TUSQ XL nut
• Custom Filter’Tron™ pickups
• Rumble Filter circuit with two-position rotary selector and push/pull pots for each pickup
• Adjusto-Matic™ bridge on secured ebony base
• Bigsby® B60 V-Cutout vibrato tailpiece
• Custom Abbey Road Studiomatic metal head badge
• Gold Hardware
• Custom hardshell case and exclusive case candy items included
• Available in Classic Walnut Stain

Classic Gretsch hollowbody feel

Drawing inspiration from a charmingly classic Gretsch design, the shallow-sloped double cutaways of the Abbey Road Studiomatic promote accessibility to all 22 frets. Crafted entirely from maple with full 2.25-inch-deep hollowbody blueprinting and parallel bracing, the bright and vibrant natural responsiveness of this 6-string sounds superb acoustically and absolutely comes to life once plugged in. The same can be said for its matching maple set neck, topped in ultra-smooth and sustain-favoring ebony, complete with a 12-inch radius and Gretsch’s legendary Neo-Classic Thumbnail inlays. Few builders do hollowbodies like Gretsch — toss the Abbey Road Studiomatic over your shoulder, and you’ll instantly see why.

Astoundingly studio-capable

If you’re looking for a recording studio juggernaut, this 6-string is your front runner. In both the bridge and neck positions, the Abbey Road Studiomatic carries a Custom Filter’tron humbucker pickup. A take on Gretsch’s famous 1957 design, these humbuckers offer not only the expected hum-canceling cleanliness but also a bright, tight, and crystal-clear tonal response that is much more reminiscent of single-coil sonics. Classic tone sculpting begins with a 3-way pickup selector, a Master Volume at the cutaway, and per-pickup Tone controls, and is further enhanced by an intuitive circuit born of studio ingenuity: the Rumble Filter. Gretsch worked side-by-side with Abbey Road Studios to design a custom-voiced Rumble Filter circuit that gives you even more studio and mix-sitting versatility. Inspired by the studio's legendary RS 97 Rumble Filter, this feature offers two degrees of low-frequency filtering that helps combat the potential muddiness of multitrack recording while maintaining the clarity and tonal character of your Custom Filter projects. To assign a filter mode to either one or both pickups, simply pull upwards on each pickup’s dedicated Tone knob and use the dial to implement subtle or strong rumble reduction to your signal.

Adorned like a true Gretsch

Gretsch guitars are widely renowned for their incomparable stylishness, and the Abbey Road Studiomatic certainly lives up to the legacy. Gold finishing throughout covers all the hardware onboard, from the sealed die-cast locking tuners and distinct “Abbey Road Studiomatic” placard up top to the G-Arrow knobs and pickup plates down at the body. Also atop the body, you’ll find an Adjusto-Matic bridge matched with a Gretsch-proper Bigsby B60 vibrato tailpiece, enabling charming expressiveness and note dipping whenever required. Rounded out with a colorfully customized hardshell case packed with case candy, this is one limited-edition Gretsch that you won’t want to let get away!.

What Gretsch Says...

For nearly a century, Abbey Road Studios has shaped the history of recorded music and popular culture. The birthplace of some of the greatest recordings ever created, and a hotbed for the development of innovative techniques and equipment, Abbey Road is the home of music making. Gretsch is proud to partner with Abbey Road on the development and release of a very special Limited Edition guitar – the Gretsch Abbey Road Studiomatic™ Hollow Body. Featuring custom Filter’Tron™ pickups, and a custom-voiced Rumble Filter circuit developed in collaboration with Abbey Road sound engineers, the Abbey Road Studiomatic™ is not only an homage to the continuing legacy of Abbey Road Studios, but also a unique and incredibly versatile guitar. Voiced and studio tested in collaboration with Abbey Road sound engineers, these custom Filter’Tron™ humbucking pickups feature Alnico 5 magnets and a vintage-inspired voice that delivers quintessential Filter’Tron chime, balance, and articulation. Inspired by a classic circuit developed at Abbey Road Studios, and developed in collaboration with a team of the Studios’ sound engineers, the exclusive Rumble Filter circuit provides two additional voicings that make this guitar an exceptionally versatile tool for the studio or stage. Devised by Abbey Road’s in-house team in 1954, the original Rumble Filter was designed to remove excessive low-end frequencies and add clarity to the sound and became a key tool in the studio team’s pioneering work to improve the fidelity of recordings. Activated by a push/pull pot on each pickup’s Tone control, and controlled by a two-way rotary switch, the Rumble Filter offers what are essentially two different levels of high-pass filtering. This allows exceptional sonic flexibility without splitting the pickup coils, tightening up the bass response while allowing the higher frequencies to ring through, all while still retaining the full humbucking properties of the Filter’Tron pickups.