Conference napalm::guitar

    I saw an ad in Guitar World showing one of the Traveling Wilburys 
    guitars, with an insert showing a stamp on the back with the signitures
    of Lefty, Charlie T, etc. It has the distictive traveling Wilburys
    Graphics on the front near the pickgaurd. According to the add,
    there are a few differant graphics to choose from. Looking at it, 
    I assumed it to be a take-off on Harrison's Gretsch (Duo Sonic ??, 
    Duo Jet ??) solid body shown on the cover of "Cloud 9". Maybe it 
    is modeled after a Danelectro, but I would think Gretch would use 
    one of their own basic styles.
    
    	Harrison used the Duo Sonic (?)  on one of the famous Ed Sullivan 
    appearances. It is basically a single cutaway solid body very similar
    (in appearence at least) to a Les Paul. Roy Orbison has also been
    a long time endorsers of Gretsch guitars.
                                        
    	$250 sounds very reasonable, especially if this guitar is only made
    in small quantities. It looks to be very well made, and a real bargain
    for $250. Most of the current guitar manufacturers are commanding
    a premium price for fancy graphics. I thought Gretsch was out of
    business. What the heck, if Mosrite can come back after all those
    years, why not Gretsch ?? The re-issued Mosrites are very pricey 
    (>1000). I'm surprised they have sold any for that price, but then 
    again, I doubt they are selling many.
    
    Any devout Roy Orbison Fans out there ?? Better get your order in
    now.
    
    Mark
    

    
    Get 'em while they're hot....
    
    East Coast Sound now selling Traveling Wilbury Gretsches for $129.95.
    
    800-356-5908
    

    	129 bucks, are they any good ? 
    
    Chris

    The 1990 Guitar World equipment directory has a listing for Gretsch
    electrics.  "Due to popular demand", they are manufacturing updated
    versions of several classic electrics: (the following list is an
    approximation - brain fade, y'know ;^)........)
    
    "Tennessee Rose" and "Nashville" are updated versions of the Chet
    Atkins electrics; have two humbucker ('tron) pickups and Bigsby
    vibrato tailpiece.
    
    "6120" (forgot the name) is like the original 6120, complete with
    the "G" cattle brand!
    
    They are also releasing what appears to be a cleaned-up White Falcon,
    as well as the infamous George Harrison "Duo-Jet".
    
    The only rub is the price - all these Gretsches are list priced
    at ~ $1300 to $1400 or so.  Egad!  8^(
    
    					--Eric-who's-always-wanted-a-
    						-Country-Gentleman--

    Re. -1
    Just to avoid misleading the public, I have photocopied the page
    mentioned in the past note, and copy it here sans permission:
    
    	G   R   E   T   S   C   H
    
    "Responding to the popularity of old Gretsch guitars with vintage
    collectors, Gretsch has reissued their classic instruments with
    technological improvements and updates."
    
    TENNESSEE ROSE #6119			$1495
    Single cutaway, laminated maple body with two open bound F-holes
    and multiple binding. Laminated rock maple neck with 22-fret bound
    rosewood fingerboard, neo-classical position markers, 25.5-inch
    scale, black headpiece,two Filtron pickups, Gretsch Bigsby vibrato.
    
    NASHVILLE #6120				$1750
    Similar to the Tennessee Rose but with block pearl neck inlays,
    24.5-inch scale, deeper hollow body and 24K gold-plated hardware.
    
    NASHVILLE WESTERN #6120W			$1875
    The Nashville with an added western motif - cactus, rifles and arrows
    in the inlays and a "G" brand on the body.
    
    COUNTRY CLASSIC I #6122-S			$1975
    Single cutaway, similar body to White Falcon but thinner. Bigsby
    vibrato.
    
    DUO JET					$1300
    Solid body single cutaway design something like a Les Paul, mahogany
    body and neck, arched maple top, multiple binding, 22-fret rosewood
    fingerboard, hump block ("cloud") inlays, two Filtron pickups, jet
    black finish.
    
    			============================
    
    That's it.  Love them guitars, hate them prices.  
    
    						--Eric--

    
    Out of curiosity, is Gretsch still in business, or is someone just
    using the name?  I thought they were history many years ago.  
    
    "Still in love with my old country gentleman although it now plays heavy
    metal music in the hands of my son".  Not exactly the traditional
    Gretsch sound!
    
    Frank
     

    Re. -1
    
    Not sure...... :^|
    As far as I know, Gretsch opted to leave the guitar market in 
    the late 70's/early 80's timeframe.  I'm pretty sure the company
    remained in existance in some form, since Gretsch drums were still
    around, as well as Sho-Bud pedal steels (which Gretsch owns).
    
    Anyone out there got a good company bio,perhaps?
    
    						--Eric--
    
    P.S. Heavy metal on a Country Gentleman?  Kinda like crop-dusting
    with a 747, huh?
    
    Wagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!  ;^)

    The current line of Gretsch guitars is made in Japan.
    
    The company itself is back under the "original" ownership.
    
    Danny W.

    Another noter suggested that the prices of vintage Gretsches has
    plummeted due to the availability of reissues. I'll discuss that
    premise later, but the first question this raises is: "How good are
    these new Gretsch guitars?
    
    I compared a brand new White Falcon to a 1975 model. The 1990 one is a
    thin double cut, while the '75 one is a  deep, single cut. Let's start
    with the similarities. The pickguards, Bigsby's, headstock and neck
    inlays are virtually the same. The overall appearance is quite similar.
    The knobs appear similar; however, the older one has three, while the
    new one has four. As a trade, the older has two toggle switches, while
    the new one has but one. In typical Gretsch tradition, none of these
    controls are very useful :-)
    
    The pickup surrounds on the new one are gold-colored plastic--they're
    metal on the '75. The truss rod adjusts at the headstock on the new
    one--a truss-rod cover styled like on a '50's model adorns the
    headstock. The older one has the awful geared adjuster at the heel, and
    has no truss-rod cover. The new one is also missing the ugly and
    useless snap-on body pad that is on the rear of the old one.
    
    One of the big differences is in the gold binding. The older model has
    very thick binding that looks "deep"--sort of 3-dimensional. The new
    one has thinner gold that just looks like colored binding. You can't
    see the gold from the front of the guitar, either so it looks less
    gaudy. This may or may not be an advantage, depending on your taste.
    One definite advantage is that the thinner binding along the neck
    allows the frets to be wider, increasing the string spacing. Even
    though the both guitars have the same neck width (1-11/16" at nut,
    2-3/32" at octave), the older one feels  narrower  because of the
    cramped strings.
    
    The newer guitar has a shallower, flatter feel to the neck. It is more
    consistently shaped and just feels better, to me. The frets, though,
    are very narrow and "edgy"--this is a poor choice for this type of
    guitar, which  should have jumbo frets. Unfortunately, the guitar as
    delivered is poorly set up. While properly leveled, the frets are
    poorly polished. The nut is too high and the bridge was mislocated by a
    half-tone at the 12th fret. Sounded pretty weird until I moved it. 
    
    In general, both guitars have about the same quality of workmanship,
    which I'd rate as okay, but not great. Gaps at the binding joints,
    buffing marks on the body, loose wiring were to be expected in the
    '70's, but not now, especially at this price. Still, the overall
    appearance of the new one is terrific--I mean, it's still white. Don't
    see too many original Falcons that aren't at least a tad green by now.
    
    I will readily admit I prefer the new model to the old one. It plays
    better, sounds much better, and looks about the same. I'll have to
    compare it to a older double cut to see how much of the difference in
    sound is from the body size; the single-cut model is really a
    porker--much too big for such a heavy construction style, it sounds
    dull and lifeless compared to the thin-body. 
    
    So, back to the premise that started this off--that the existence of
    new Gretsch guitars has caused the value of originals to drop. A one
    word answer: Nonsense! First, although I'd be the first to agree that
    vintage Gretsch's are overpriced, it will still set you back $3-5K to
    own an original 6120. A '70's Falcon is  $2.5K, a '50's model more than
    $3K, and those with vertical logo's are over $5k. The noter who stated
    that premise doesn't understand what drives collectors. The new Falcon,
    for example, looks almost like a '70's model, and not at all like a
    '50's model--it is not even a good copy. Even if it were, it would not
    be an original, and originals are still what people pay big bucks to
    own.
    
    Danny W.

    A few more points on the new Falcon:
    
    No zero fret! Hallelujah!
    
    The tuners appear to be Gotoh copies of Grover Rotomatics. They work
    well, but don't look quite right: the tuning knobs look okay, but the
    body castings aren't accurate copies.
    
    The bridge is a TOM unlike anything I've ever seen on a Gretsch of any
    year. It is actually less clunky looking than most of the Gretsch
    bridges I've had.
    
    The pickups are good repro's of earlier Filtertrons. In a way, that's
    one of the things wrong with this guitar if it to be considered a
    *re-issue*--it is not faithful to any particular original model. The
    pickups, truss-rod cover and lack of zero fret are from the fifties,
    but the headstock, pickguard, f-hole size and shape, Bigsby and other
    hardware are from the seventies.
    
    As a copy of a vintage instrument, this is not particularly successful
    effort, but taken on its own merits, it is a fine, if 
    outrageous-looking, guitar.
    
    Danny W.

    Once I got the frets polished and removed the rough edges, I found the
    Falcon to be a much better guitar than I'd expected, so much so that
    I've played it on a number of occasions when I needed a semi. I was
    almost to the point where I was going to apologize for a few of the
    more caustic comments I've made about the quality of Japanese
    guitars...
    
    Until Friday night, when I showed up at a session, took it out of the
    case, and found the binding at the end of the fretboard had unglued
    itself and had fallen off. I've seen plenty of guitars with binding
    separations, but never after just four months. Easy enough to repair,
    but between the rough fretwork, imperfect finish rub-out, and
    misaligned and poorly glued binding, this is hardly exemplary
    workmanship. I still think it's a great guitar--it just needs some
    decent QC.
    
    Danny W.
    

    Having been happy with my double cut Falcon, I'd been thinking of
    getting a single cut model. I looked at a really nice late '50's one at
    Gruhn's, but at $12k it was a just a little more expensive than I'd
    hoped (believe it or not, this is a reasonable price.) The current
    Gretsch catalog has two versions of the single-cut listed, one with
    Bigsby and one with the "Cadillac" tailpiece. The pictures of the two 
    show the same guitar with each tailpiece (block inlay, horizontal logo,
    the same as my double-cut), but the model number of the Cadillac
    version is 6136, which is the model number of the mid '50's one, while
    the Bigsby model has 1970's part number 7593. Kinda mysterious, eh?
    
    So, I call my dealer, who calls Gretsch, who says that the Cadillac
    version now has 1955 features and they have one in stock, so my dealer
    orders it. Asks if I want to look at it. Dumb question.
    
    Apparently, when Gretsch says "in stock", they mean in Japan, cause it
    takes six weeks to show up. Turns out to be just as described: humped
    MOTS inlay, vertical Gretsch logo with lightning bolts, jeweled control
    knobs, wide f-holes-- just as garish as can be. The headstock is
    outrageous.  One pleasant surprise is the body depth, which is only
    2.5" at the rims. My last single-cut Falcon was 2.75", which made it
    feel very clunky and sound dull, too. A plywood guitar as heavily built
    as this one seems to work better with the thinner body.
    
    The general level of workmanship is very good. The frets came better
    finished than on my double-cut but the edge of the fretboard itself
    seemed to have rough spots. Close inspection showed this to be some
    type of metallic foil sticking up from the binding, probably the
    backing for the gold trim. Judicious use of 1500 grit sandpaper seems
    to have smoothed out most of it. The overall action is fine as
    delivered, but several of the string slots on the nut need to be
    lowered a little. The shape and feel of the neck is excellent, being
    fairly shallow and flat on the back and very flat and wide across the
    fretboard. I think it plays well, but would be even better with larger
    frets.
    
    It sounds very much like a hollow-body Gretsch, just right for playing
    "Rebel Rouser", even if it doesn't have a Bigsby. At about 15% of the
    cost of a real one, it satisfies my desire to own something really
    decadent without getting into serious money :-) On the other hand,
    spending the money on a real '55 would be a better investment, but I'm
    not sure I'd want to play it as much.
    
    BTW, the new "Made In USA" archtop Gretsch recently announced is
    reportedly being made by Heritage.
    
    
     
    Danny W.
     

    So who the heck actually sells Gretsch guitars these days?  They have
    to be the lowest profile manufacturer I can think of, they make
    Rickenbacker look like Peavey as far as signing up dealers....
    
    						Brian

    re: -.1
    
    I got mine from Chuck Levin's (Washington Music Center).