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Gretsch
Since its founding in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, Gretsch has, through masterful craftsmanship, produced musical instruments of the highest quality — instruments that have been both influential to and prized by some of the most respected artists in the music industry. These include Chet Atkins, Eddie Cochran, Billy Duffy, Bono, Duane Eddy, George Harrison, Brian Setzer, Stephen Stills and Malcolm Young.
The 27-year-old Friedrich Gretsch, a German immigrant, began the company's career by making banjos, drums and tambourines. Only 12 years later Friedrich died and left the young business to his then 15-year-old son Fred. Far from a typical teenager, he built the company into one of America's leading importers and manufacturers of musical instruments. Knowing that the key to growth was listening to public demand — and that demand was for guitars — Gretsch began producing the coveted six-string guitars.
It began in 1926 with acoustic archtops for the rapidly rising popularity of jazz and a handful of flattops for the ever-popular country and western sounds in the USA. In 1935 Gretsch launched the legendary Broadkaster drum series, which remained successful into the 1950s. Gretsch's contribution to the advent of electric amplification came in 1939 with the first Electromatic®, a hollow-body design that, in a contemporary form, remains in the range to this day.
In 1942, after 50 years of successful business, Fred Gretsch Senior handed the company to his son Fred Gretsch Junior. As production was interrupted during the upheaval of the Second World War, Junior left the business to his brother Bill and went to serve in the Navy himself. Sadly, Bill died young in 1948, as his grandfather had, so the now-former naval officer Fred took the helm of the family firm once again.
From 1953 the company also developed its expertise in solid-body guitars, which addressed the ever-louder concert environments by being far less susceptible to feedback. The semi-acoustic range was later expanded to include guitars with centre-block construction, combining the tonal characteristics 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 become a firmly established star in the firmament of iconic guitars — a status reflected in 1965 by the company's highest production volume in its history.
In 1967, at the height of its success, Fred Gretsch Jr. decided to retire and sold the company to the Baldwin Piano Company, which took over operations, albeit with limited success. Fortunately Dinah Gretsch joined the company in 1979 and was able to prepare the way for a buyback, which her husband Fred W. Gretsch, the founder's great-grandson, completed 17 years after the sale. Together the couple brought the company back to its former glory, where it remains today.
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