Production moved to Baldwin/Burns factory in Arkansas.
Gretsch is bought by Baldwin as a second choice after failing to buy Fender. This was the original Golden Age for Gretsch, particularly the late '50 and early '60s, when they enjoyed the endorsement of Chet Atkins and George Harrison.īaldwin Era: 1967 - 1981. Gretsch is family owned, growing to major distribution. Gretsch is unique in that it started as a family company, was bought out and later taken back by the family, only to be bought a second time. This refers to the corporate ownership changes the company experienced over time. You will also hear people throw around terms with Gretsch guitar like pre-Baldwin or Fender-era. Low production.ġ995 - present: US (Custom & Masterbuilt Series)Ģ000 - present: China and Korea (Electromatic & Synchromatic Series) See the reference below.ġ979 - 1981: Various locations including Mexico. From there, things get a bit more complicated. The bulk of vintage Gretsch specimens were manufactured in the original factory in New York, with a decade of Arkansas production during the '70s. G6120)ĭoes this also tell me where my Gretsch was manufactured, you ask? It depends.
The original Synchromatic models.ġ948 - 1971: 6000 Series (example, the original 6120 Chet Atkins Hollowbody)ġ971 - 1980: 7000 Series (though the 8000 Series started in 1979)ġ990 - present: G before the number. It's also one more piece of evidence to pair with the serial number to corroborate the actual year.ġ933 - 1948: Model numbers reflect retail price. This will give you an approximate idea of the era during which your guitar was manufactured. If you have absolutely no idea whether your Gretsch is old or new, a good place to start is the model number. The guide for that is much simpler: be nice, ask questions, offer whiskey. Getting the correct year is one thing, but getting the story behind a guitar is the fun part. The best approach is to cross-reference the serial number with known features for the model during different eras and the personal account of previous owners.
Just make sure it's not modified or a partscaster before screaming from the Gretsch-pert mountaintops. And there's always the possibility of discovering a specimen that completely upends common knowledge about what was produced when. In some cases a serial number may leave you with a fuzzy span of several years, and in others you will know which number your guitar was within a batch during a specific month and year. While the situation isn't quite as bad as say, Gibson or Guild, this guide should be viewed as the best available consensus, not gospel. Like the other Giants of Original American Guitars (save Martin), Gretsch had its share of corporate hand-offs and resulting serial number inconsistencies over the years. Their collective investigative legwork deserves the respect and gratitude of us all. This information has been compiled from multiple sources (cited at bottom). The guide below is intended to help you identify the production year of any Gretsch guitar, given the serial number and its location on the guitar. Half the battle of finding a great deal or pre-empting conflict is accurately dating the guitar in question. As such, there are a lot of vintage specimens hidden under beds, lurking in closets or parading in plain sight on shop walls (and Reverb listings). Take a picture of the serial number.Īlongside Fender, Gibson, Martin and Rickenbacker, Gretsch was one of the original American guitar manufacturers. Samick guitars have been radically redesigned by industry guru Greg.
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