Guitar Story A Brand Lineage Research Project

Plant

US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified): guitar plant in USA · Guitar Story

unknown

US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified)

Name: US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified)
Address: USA

USA (location known to country level only)^{no source}. Built for 1 brand on record.

conflict:K009 start 1995 (Reverb) vs 1998 (jedistar); see notes on PR021/PR022, S260 says first custom U.S.-made Gretsch models debuted 2004. Location null (country level only); centroid removed 2026-10-15.

More: every plant in the USA, the Gretsch lineage.

Where it is

No location is on record for this plant (USA), so it is not mapped.

Brands built here

Every headstock this plant has built for, on record. A contract plant can sit behind several brands at once.

Brand	Lines	Years
Gretsch	Gretsch Custom Shop	1995–2004^{[1, 2]}

Production record

Years	Brand	Line	Role	Source
1995–2004	Gretsch	Gretsch Custom Shop	full build	secondary^[1]
1998–2004	Gretsch	Gretsch Custom Shop	full build	disputed^[2]

Owners while this plant was building

The plant stays the same across these rows; the company behind the name does not.

Years	Line	Owner	Parent
1995–2003^{[3, 4, 5, 6, 1]}	Gretsch Custom Shop	Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch)	—
2003–2004^{[3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1]}	Gretsch Custom Shop	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch)

Where its materials come from

No supply records for this plant yet.

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
reverb: news/how to date a gretsch guitargraded secondary
- "1995 - present: US (Custom & Masterbuilt Series)"Gretsch built here
2
jedistar: gretsch 2/ampgraded secondary
3
gretschguitars: support/historygraded primary
- "In 1984, Fred W. Gretsch… purchased Gretsch back"Era: Gretsch Custom Shop, 1995–2003
- In late 2002 a deal was struck for Fender Musical Instruments Corp. to handle Gretsch Guitars manufacturing and distributionEra: Gretsch Custom Shop, 2003–2004
4
The Story of Gretschgraded secondary
- In 1984 Fred made good on his promise when he and his wife Dinah bought the Gretsch Company back from Baldwin.Era: Gretsch Custom Shop, 1995–2003
- In 2002 Gretsch and Fender announced an alliance that granted Fender exclusive rights to develop, market, and distribute Gretsch guitars.Era: Gretsch Custom Shop, 2003–2004
5
Fred #4: Fred W. Gretsch – Leading The Return Of 'That Great Gretsch Sound.'graded primary
- His offer was accepted, and in November 1984, Fred was able to fulfill his 17-year dream of buying back the Gretsch Company.