Gretsch

27-year-old Friedrich Gretsch, a German immigrant, initially began his company's career by manufacturing banjos, drums and tambourines. However, just 12 years later, Friedrich died and left the young company to his son Fred, who was only 15 years old at the time. This, by no means a typical teenager, built the company into one of the leading importers and manufacturers of musical instruments in America. Knowing that the key to growth lay in listening to what the public wanted - and they wanted guitars - Gretsch began manufacturing the coveted six-string.

First from 1926 in the form of acoustic archtops for jazz music, which was rapidly gaining popularity at the time, and a handful of flattops for the sounds of country and western, which were always popular in the USA. In 1935, Gretsch launched the legendary Broadkaster drum series, which was successful until the 1950s. Gretsch's contribution to the emergence of electrical amplification was the first Electromatic® in 1939, a hollow-body construction / acoustic that has remained in the repertoire to this day in a contemporary design.

Since 1953, the company has also cultivated its expertise in solid-body guitars, which addressed increasingly loud concerts with their greatly reduced sensitivity to feedback. The semi-acoustic department has now expanded to include guitars with center block construction / acoustic , which combine the tonal properties of a hollow body guitar with the practical aspects of a solid body.

Since George Harrison's appearance with the Beatles and his Country Gentleman on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Gretsch has finally become a permanent star in the firmament of iconic guitars, which is clearly reflected in 1965 in the form of the highest production volume in the company's history.

In 1967, at the height of success, so to speak, Fred Gretsch Jr. decided to take a well-deserved retirement and sold the company to the Baldwin Piano Company, which took over the business. Unfortunately with limited success. Fortunately, Dinah Gretsch joined the company in 1979 and was able to pave the way for a buyback, which her husband Fred W. Gretsch, the founder's grandchild, was able to complete 17 years after the sale. Together, the couple brought the company back to its former glory, where it still shines today.