It’s strange I can’t find a review of this instrument, and obviously it’s hard to trust any feedback left on amazon.com or other online shops.

I had recently found my RB1 guitar strum to be a bit faulty (which happens to most) and so checked with EA as it was under warranty. Go back to the store, they ALL will organise an exchange. Er… right, I called up Curry’s to check. They said yeah sure! Just bring it in for exchange or refund. I dropped by the Curry’s I bought it from. I asked an attendant – I said

• I don’t want to waste my time bringing my guitar all the way here, only for you to tell me something completely different. Can you give me a new guitar?
• Yeah sure! We have three in stock!
• Alright, I’ll be in tomorrow.

I warned the guy I would remember his name. He grinned and noted he wouldn’t be in the next day. I gulped. I returned the next day, boxed guitar in hand.

• We don’t have any guitars to give you, sorry, would you like a refund?
• WHAT?

Well, I took the refund.  I had noted a RB2 guitar on ebay…  Then today I noticed play.com was doing a half price offer on the beatles instruments (£80-> £40), and as I noticed that the RB1 guitar still sells for £40, there was really no good reason not to buy one.

So here it is. It’s actually a little bit longer than the Fender, takes three batteries, the effects changer is now a dial and quite simply, the damn thing is gorgeous to look at. But enough with the looks, what about the actual instrument?

The fret buttons are quiet. REALLY quiet. It’s lovely. The guitar hero guitar may be more accurate in the long run but they’re damn noisy with all that clicking. Won’t matter so much if you’ve got the game cranked up but for some peaceful strumming you’re in for none of that. The Gretsch’s strum bar is certainly firmer than the RB1 guitar (I have not tried the RB2) but there is still a little dead space – it’s still not anywhere near a microswitch.

I gave the guitar a little warm up with System of a Down’s Toxicity on hard mode.  No problems, apart from my brain spazzing out a little as I had been playing with the GH guitar while waiting for this to be delivered, which meant I had switched back to four finger fretting, as opposed to four finger and thumb fretting (a feat which can only be achieved on the RB guitars).  To be honest, only time will tell if the Gretsch can handle the punishment due, and if you just want to play these games accurately and can handle four finger fretting, you’ll probably want a GH guitar.  On the other hand, if you’re like me, and want to swagger with awesomeness, be able to use your thumb on the green fret and play clicking-noise-free, you should get a Beatles RB guitar.  Or be super smart, get both, and invite a friend over to jam, just to watch them stare at your Gretsch…

Now I don’t realllllly want to open this but if the strum bar gives way… then there’s always this option: