Gretsch Guitars
Gretsch is one of the oldest American manufacturers of guitars and drum kits in the world. It is also a brand noted for its longevity and quality, and has been used in the hands of notable guitar players like George Harrison, Chet Atkins, as well as contemporary artists such as Daniel Kessler of Interpol and Tim Armstrong of Rancid. As quality guitars with a star studded userbase, one cannot go wrong choosing a Gretsch guitar as a part of his or her collection.
Gretsch has a full lineup of hollow body, semi-hollow body, and solid body guitars, as well as bass guitars and premium drum kits premium enough to outfit an entire band in style and luxury. Musicians who prefer a certain style of music, whether it be the rowdy sounds of psychobilly to chicken-picking country music and bluegrass can all get a kick out of a Gretsch guitar, so if price is of no concern to you, check out a Gretsch guitar at your nearest music store.
The History of Gretsch Guitars
The Gretsch Guitar Company as we know it today has its beginnings from over a century ago, and was started by a man named Friedrich Gretsch. This German immigrant founded the Gretsch Company in 1883, and while he died at the early age of 39, his son Fred managed to guide the company into great sales and profits. The company moved to Brooklyn in New York City around 1916, helping the company to gain more prominence in the American musical instrument industry.
While the company had been known to make instruments such as drums, tambourines and banjos, the 1930s was a time ripe with musical evolution, introducing genres such as blues and jazz to the general populace. In this era, Gretsch soon made its debut with hollow body guitars that included the capability to be plugged into amplifiers in order to be heard over other instrument common with big band jazz bands of the day.
After the World Wars, Gretsch Guitars maintained a steady business pace, but gained more popularity after prominent guitarist Chet Atkins started to endorse them. The 6120 model was Atkins' preferred model, and experienced great sales thanks to his endorsements. Its popularity led to more prominent guitarists in rock n' roll history to pick up the 6120, such as George Harrison and Duane Eddy.
The end of the 1960's proved to be a dark time for Gretsch, as Fred Gretsch was unable to find a suitable heir to leave the company to. The company fell in the hands of Baldwin Pianos, which only recognized Gretsch Guitars as a subsidiary company. The Brooklyn office was shut down and relocated to Chicago. The hollow body guitars that made waves in the 1960's fell out of favor in the hard-rocking musical movements of the 70's, and the company eventually shut its doors.
In 1989, the Gretsch name fell back into family hands; namely, into the hands of Fred Gretsch III, who restarted the company and resumed large scale production. Classic Gretsch models were soon made in factories in Japan, a country that has been known to make quality replicas of other prominent guitar designs such as the Gibson Les Paul. Perhaps Gretsch took notice of the attention to detail these lawsuit guitar manufacturers had in their products, but production began anew in factories in this country nonetheless.
The Current Lineup of Gretsch Guitars
The lineup of Gretsch Guitars available today caters to people playing almost any style of music. Solid body guitars, semi-hollow, and the full-hollow body guitars Gretsch made its name on have been revitalized and reissued with modern, player-oriented adornments under the classic designs that have lasted for decades in the hands of the prominent players in guitar history.
One of these guitars is the Gretsch White Falcon, a guitar known for its luxurious and elegant looks. The twangy tone in the Dynasonic pickups has been faithfully recreated based on the original specifications, preserving the signature sound as well as the looks of the original. The three-piece maple neck is fast enough to keep up with the fastest and most technical of guitar licks, and includes gold-plated Grover Imperial tuners for added tuning stability. This model comes in a single cutaway design as well as a double cutaway form factor.
The Gretsch 6120 is also a popular model, and has been one of their staple models ever since their initial endorsements with Chet Atkins in the early days of the electric guitar. The modern production 6120 introduces this classic design with modern adornments to keep up with the times, such as improved High Sensitive Filter'Tron Pickups that reproduce that signature Gretsch sound with a lot less of the feedback than before. Some models come with a Bigsby Vibrato tailpiece, but Grover Rotomatic Tuners are standard for ultra-high tuning stability.
Gretsch Guitars also has a line of solid-body models that have also gained attention with prominent rock n' roll players such as Malcolm Young. The models included in the solid-body lineup are the Jet series, which include single and double cutaway designs to cater to both the gentle and hardest-rocking of guitar players in this day and age. The Duo Jet, Power Jet and Pro Jet all have the luxury adornments found on the hollow body guitars Gretsch is known for, but in a smaller and sometimes more comfortable solid-body construction that rose to prominence in the 70's and 80's.
