Gretsch

Fred W. Gretsch Biography

It's that Great Gretsch Sound developed by four generations, now more than one hundred years better where better is possible. The Great Gretsch Guitar Classics are back in limited production, in celebration of the history of stringed instruments and in tribute to the great family that made so much of That Sound possible.

That's the sound, the anthem that began when Friedrich Gretsch, an immigrant from Mannheim Germany, founded a small shop in Brooklyn in 1883. He was to create a dynasty lasting to this day. Yet Friedrich Gretsch died unexpectedly in 1895 before he could see it bloom.

In 1967 the Gretsch Company was sold to Baldwin, a music industry giant. But without the family dedication that had driven the business for so many years the company began to drift.

Determined to return the company to family ownership, it was in 1985, when Fred W. Gretsch, the great-grandson of the company founder, made good on his promise. The Gretsch Company was once again in capable family hands.

Operations moved to Savannah, where the revitalized company began to offer new, vintage styled, Gretsch guitars and classic Gretsch drums. The success of the new products was immediate and Gretsch instruments were quickly back in demand.

Artists who play Gretsch: Billy F Gibbons, Bo Diddley, Bono, Brian Setzer, Chet Atkins, Chris Cornell, Elliot Easton, Eric Johnson, George Harrison, Joe Perry, KT Tunstall, Marty Stuart, Mike Campbell, Pete Townshend, Robert Smith, Sheryl Crow, Stephen Stills, The Edge, Tom Petty