Fred Gretsch, Sr. Fred Gretsch, Jr. Command was again passed to Fred Gretsch, Jr. In the late-'60s, Fred Gretsch retired and sold the company to Baldwin Manufacturing.
Baldwin had difficulty understanding Gretsch's position in the market and failed to make a transition through the psychedelic '60s and hard-rock '70s. To make matters worse, Baldwin moved production to Arkansas, and Gretsch suffered through two disastrous fires.
The Baldwin marriage was always an unhappy one, and eventually resulted in a shutdown in production in the earlys. But ever since the company had left the family, Fred W. The 20, square-foot seventh floor housed the main factory and administrative offices, while the machine shop and plating department took up half of the ninth floor.
The basement was used primarily for storing drum hoops, parts and accessories. My grandfather was an entrepreneur and recognized the importance of real estate in building a solid business enterprise.
Like the smaller factory on Fourth Street the Gretsch Building replaced, my grandfather rented valuable office space in the building to a wide range of businesses — from bookbinders and publishers to vacuum cleaner makers. After 57 successful years as president, my grandfather retired in My uncle, Fred Gretsch, Jr. My father, Bill, then became president and guided Gretsch through the scaled-down production war years.
In , my father hired Phil Grant, a master percussionist, innovator, and drum ambassador. When Fred Jr. I sometimes wonder if the people currently living on what used to be the seventh floor of the Gretsch Building are aware of all the musical history that happened there and all of the stars and legends that walked those floors when they visited the factory.
This revolutionary new method not only made construction faster, but also made drum shells and hoops lighter, stronger, and more perfectly round.
It soon became the drum industry standard for manufacturing drums and — 90 years later — is still the method used today. Several books have been written about the iconic and historic drums built within the walls of the Brooklyn factory. I had the fortune of literally growing up in the Gretsch factory during its heyday of the 50s and 60s, and I started there full-time in the Industrial Engineering Department in Starting as a family business in the late s making banjos and drums, Fred Gretsch Sr.
Unfortunately, hard times fell on the brand when Gretsch was sold to Baldwin pianos in Quality suffered, sales wilted, and Gretsch was eventually laid to rest by However, the Gretsch family wanted their piece of American history back. They fought to regain control, and in , they succeeded in acquiring and relaunching Gretsch. By , they had built the brand back up to the point where Fender Musical Instruments Corporation FMIC bought the company, whose ownership continues to this day with close partnership with the Gretsch family.
Under the leadership of Masterbuilder Stephen Stern, the Gretsch guitars of today are truly the best that have ever been built. Come with us as we take a walk around this workshop, where history is preserved and the future of Gretsch is being written….
Essentially, this bench is the home base of modern era Gretsch. He manages a small team of talented builders who assist him in the workshop.
Every great guitar started out as a great tree somewhere. Here are some body blanks that will become Duo Jets and Penguins. These are one piece mahogany spreads that have been weighed and inspected.
We spied some curly maple veneers up on a shelf, undoubtedly to be used on the top or back of something fancy. You can also see some of the kerfing Gretsch buys in the box as well.
These custom bender forms can be switched out inside the side benders to create different contours for different models. The solid bodies are routed and get their shape on a CNC machine downstairs in the Fender factory. Then they come back up to Gretsch for the rest of the build.
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