Fender vs Gretsch

Fender and Gretsch share 5 plants and 1 company on record. Dyna Gakki (Chino, Nagano) and Fender Corona built for both at the same time.

Two names on two headstocks can come out of the same building. When they do, the difference between them is the badge, the spec and the price, not the factory. When they share an owner, one company decided what each name stood for. Here is everything Fender and Gretsch have in common, from the records.

Side by side

	Fender	Gretsch
Founded	1946^{[1, 2]}	1883^[3]
Eras on record	14, from 1946	21, from 1883
Owners	4	5
Plants	15	13
Countries built in	USA, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China	USA, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, China and Indonesia

Plants that built both

Plant	Fender	Gretsch	Both at once
Dyna Gakki (Chino, Nagano) Chino, Nagano, Japan^{[4, 5, 6]}	Fender Japan (MIJ / CIJ) 1996–now^{[5, 6, 7]}	Gretsch Japan early-Fender-era models 2003–2006^[8]	2003–2006
Fender Corona Corona, CA, USA^[9]	Fender USA 1985–now^{[10, 11]} Fender Custom Shop 1987–now^{[12, 13]}	Gretsch Custom Shop 2004–now^{[14, 15]}	2004–now
FujiGen Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan^[16]	Fender Japan (MIJ / CIJ) 1982–1996^{[17, 18, 5, 19]}	Gretsch Japan early-Fender-era models 2003–2006^{[8, 20]}	never
PT Cort Indonesia, Ngoro Ngoro, Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia^[21]	Fender Indonesia (acoustics; Standard Series) 2024–now^{[22, 23, 24]}	Gretsch Streamliner year unknown^[25]	never
PT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi Cileungsi, West Java, Indonesia^[26]	Fender Indonesia (acoustics; Standard Series) year unknown^{[27, 10, 28, 29]}	Gretsch Streamliner 2016–now^{[30, 8]}	never

Companies behind both

Company	With Fender	With Gretsch
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	owns 1985–now^{[31, 11, 2]} parent company 1985–2015^{[31, 11, 2, 5, 19, 17, 18, 10, 12, 13, 32]}	licenses 2003–now^{[14, 33, 34, 3, 35]}

More comparisons

Sources

Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.

1
Fender ownership historygraded secondary
2
Fender Musical Instruments Company Historygraded secondary
3
gretschguitars: support/historygraded primary
- "in 1883… Friedrich Gretsch… founded his shop in Brooklyn"Gretsch, founded
- In late 2002 a deal was struck for Fender Musical Instruments Corp. to handle Gretsch Guitars manufacturing and distributionFender Musical Instruments Corporation, licenses, 2003–now
4
国税庁法人番号公表サイト: 株式会社ダイナ楽器 (法人番号1100001019111)graded primary
- 長野県茅野市玉川３６０２番地の１Dyna Gakki (Chino, Nagano), location
5
Fender Japangraded community
6
The Ultimate Word on Made in Japan vs Crafted in Japan Fender Guitarsgraded community
7
Fender Made in Japan Exclusive seriesgraded community
8
reverb: news/how to date a gretsch guitargraded secondary
- "JD = Japan - Dyna Gakki"Gretsch Japan early-Fender-era models at Dyna Gakki (Chino, Nagano), 2003–2006
- "JF = Japan - FujiGen Gakki"Gretsch Japan early-Fender-era models at FujiGen, 2003–2006
- "IS = Indonesia – Samick"Gretsch Streamliner at PT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi, 2016–now
9
Fender Announces Free Public Visitor Center and Factory Toursgraded secondary
- The Visitor Center is located at 301 Cessna Circle, Corona, Calif. 92880Fender Corona, location
10
Fender factoriesgraded community
11
The End of the CBS Era: Inside the 1985 Fender Buyoutgraded community
12
Fender Custom Shopgraded community
13
re: korean squires (forum thread)graded community
14
gretschguitars: 2014/01/ten years of the gretsch custom shopgraded primary
- Gretsch Custom Shop is now located in the rolling hills of Corona, Calif.Gretsch Custom Shop at Fender Corona, 2004–now
- "Fender acquired licensing for the manufacture, distribution and marketing… in 2002"Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, licenses, 2003–now
15
fender newsroom: gretsch celebrates 15 years of the gretsch custom shopgraded primary
- With Stern tied up with Benedetto, Fleming and Fender’s George Blanda were tabbed to build the first-ever custom U.S.-made Gretsch models, which debuted at the 2004 winter NAMM Show.Gretsch Custom Shop at Fender Corona, 2004–now
16
フジゲン(株) 会社概要 (本社所在地)graded secondary
- 本社所在地: 長野県松本市平田東3-3-1FujiGen, location
17
Fender Japan: A Brief Guidegraded community
18
Fender Japan Historygraded community
19
Fender Japan history (Fachblatt article, 1987)graded secondary
20
Wikipedia: wiki/FUJIGENgraded community
- some Gretsch models and their own branded FGN guitarsGretsch Japan early-Fender-era models at FujiGen, 2003–2006
21
PT Cort Indonesia (Panjiva supplier profile)graded secondary
- Kawasan Berikat Ngoro Industri Persada Blok G, 5-6, Desa Ngoro, Kecamatan Ngoro, Kabupaten, Mojokerto, Jawa TimurPT Cort Indonesia, Ngoro, location
22
Why Fender is building its $599 Standard Series in Indonesiagraded secondary
23
The Big Review: Fender Standard Telecastergraded secondary
24
Fender Standard Stratocaster reviewgraded secondary
25
gretsch-talk: threads/guitars made in indonesia pt 1.200410graded community
26
PT Samick Indonesia (Panjiva supplier profile)graded secondary
- JL. PERKEBUNAN DESA KIDUL, KEC.CIL, BOGOR JAWA BARAT, INDONESIAPT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi, location
27
Where are Fender guitars made? Fender factories and production locationsgraded community
28
How can I find out when my acoustic instrument was manufactured (Dating Fender acoustic guitars)graded primary
29
Samick Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. Historygraded secondary
30
guitar: reviews/electric guitar/gretsch shootout g2420t streamliner g5420t electromatic g6120t plagraded secondary
- "Streamliner models are made in Indonesia"Gretsch Streamliner at PT Samick Indonesia, Cileungsi, 2016–now
31
Fender Musical Instruments Corp, Form S-1/A (2012), accession 0001193125-12-298421graded primary
32
35 years of Fender Mexico: a timelinegraded secondary
33
reverb: news/the rebirth of gretsch guitarsgraded secondary
- "starting officially on the first day of 2003"Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, licenses, 2003–now
34
The Story of Gretschgraded secondary
- In 2002 Gretsch and Fender announced an alliance that granted Fender exclusive rights to develop, market, and distribute Gretsch guitars.Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, licenses, 2003–now
35
A brief history of Gretsch guitarsgraded secondary
- In 2002, Gretsch and Fender Musical Instruments Corp announced a strategic partnership.Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, licenses, 2003–now

See something wrong, or know a better source?