Guitar Story
Guitar Story
In 2014, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation controlled the Gretsch name under Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch). Its 4 lines on record were built at Terada Gakki, Yako (China; city unverified) and Fender Corona (Japan, China and USA).[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
A Gretsch guitar from 2014 belongs to whichever era was running on its product line that year. An era is a stretch when the company that controlled the name and the plant that built the line both stayed the same. If you know the line, the table below tells you which version of Gretsch you have. The name dates from 1883[1], 131 years before.
| Line | Controlled by | Parent | Built at | Era | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gretsch Custom Shop | Fender Musical Instruments Corporation | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | Fender Corona Corona, CA, USA[10] | 2004–now | primary[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] |
| Gretsch Electromatic | Fender Musical Instruments Corporation | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | Yako (China; city unverified) Chinano source | 2003–now | community[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9] |
| Gretsch Professional Collection (Japan) | Fender Musical Instruments Corporation | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | Terada Gakki Nagoya, Aichi, Japan[11] | 2003–now | secondary[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8] |
| Gretsch Synchromatic/Historic | Fender Musical Instruments Corporation | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | No plant on record | 2008–now | primary[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] |
Nothing changed in 2014. Every era running that year carried on from an earlier year, so a Gretsch from 2014 is the same version as one from 2013.
Fender Corona, Yako (China; city unverified) and Terada Gakki. See every brand each plant built for, and every plant in the same country:
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.
See something wrong, or know a better source?