The small forest of guitars is tucked into what Fred W. Gretsch calls his “studio.”
To anybody who can play even a few chords, it’s more a Shangri-la.
Colorfully decorated Gretsch Super Axes flank richly wooded acoustic guitars and stylish Thunderbirds. Renowned Chet Atkins models dot the rows.
One instrument in particular garners Gretsch’s attention. The banjo is perhaps the most unassuming of the lot. The strings and head reflect its great age — it is a 1920s model — and the aluminum rim doesn’t shine like the metal parts of its peers in the collection.
But to Gretsch, the instrument signifies what has sustained his family’s business for 130 years.
Innovation and dedication.
“We started using aluminum for banjo rims in the 1920s, and the advances we made from there we drew on in building drums in the 1930s and 1940s,” Gretsch said. “What we learned from drums we put into practice at the dawn of the rock and roll era in the 1950s and on and on. We are a company that’s consistently built on its past.”
The company is celebrating that history this year. Gretsch is the fourth generation of his family to head the Pooler-based business since his great-grandfather, German immigrant Friedrich Gretsch, opened a small music shop in Brooklyn in 1883.
The original shop specialized in banjos, drums and tambourines. The company grew as the accordion and other band instruments gained popularity in the first half of the 1900s. Rock and roll guitars and drums made Gretsch a household name starting in the 1950s.
Fred Gretsch expects the company to thrive for several more generations and continue to be renowned for the “great Gretsch sound” made famous by music legends such as Chet Atkins, George Harrison, Charlie Watts, Davy Jones, Bono, Bo Diddley and Brian Setzer.
“Antonio Stradivarius also made amazing stringed instruments and led a prosperous life,” Gretsch said of the famed violin maker. “But his family did not benefit from his name and his designs. I want to ensure that the Gretsch family remains a key part of this company for the next 100 years of business.”
Family matters
As Gretsch celebrates its 130th anniversary this year, another significant milestone awaits the company in 2014.
Next year will mark the 30th since the Gretsch family regained control of the business.
Fred and his wife, Dinah, bought the company from the bankrupt Baldwin Music Company in 1984. Fred’s uncle, Fred Jr., had sold the business to the musical instrument giant 17 years earlier.
“The rock and roll era had helped us become the biggest name in the business, and my uncle saw selling as his retirement plan,” Gretsch said. “I told him I wanted to buy it, but I was just a young man at the time. Baldwin offered him cash. I didn’t have any cash.”
Yet Gretsch maintained his desire to purchase the family business. He stayed on with Baldwin through 1970 before starting his own business as an import/export wholesaler of musical instruments. Each year, at the industry’s largest trade show, he approached Baldwin’s executives about buying Gretsch back.
And each year, Baldwin’s leaders showed “no interest.”
In the meantime, Baldwin damaged Gretsch’s reputation when it contracted production of Gretsch guitars and drums to another company, the Hagner Musical Instrument Corp., in 1973. Quality issues and a pair of fires at Hagner’s production facilities led Baldwin to end that arrangement.
The Baldwin operations manager overseeing Gretsch, Charlie Roy, bought Gretsch in 1982. He soon defaulted on his deal and Baldwin reassumed control.
Baldwin attempted to re-launch guitar production at one of its piano plants in Juarez, Mexico, in 1983. The factory produced a trial batch before Baldwin abandoned the plans with the company’s bankruptcy looming.
Enter Fred and Dinah Gretsch. Two Baldwin execs bought the company’s piano division in June 1984 but had no interest in the guitar and drum side. The Gretsches reclaimed the family business and opened a custom drum manufacturing facility a year later.
Guitar production resumed in the years that followed. In 1990, Gretsch rolled out its first new line of guitars since the buyback.
“We brought back a dozen different models all at once, and we took a lot of pride in our rebirth,” Gretsch said.
Re-establishing success
Gretsch quickly re-established its reputation as the professional musician’s choice for guitars and drums.
The drum shop, located in Ridgeland, S.C., has steadily grown and now employs 15 craftsmen. The Gretsches in 2002 licensed Fender, the guitar-making giant, to manufacture, market and distribute Gretsch guitars. Gretsch still advises on the development and design of its guitars.
Fred and Dinah make regular appearances at dealers and music industry events.
Another Gretsch company focus is giving back to the Savannah-area community, particularly through music education. Fred has lived locally since 1978 and met Dinah here. They raised their children here and consider Savannah “home.”
Dinah started the Mrs. G’s Music Foundation in 2010 to promote music education in rural southern schools.
“I believe that music has the power to change children’s lives for the better,” Dinah Gretsch wrote in a Gretsch “House Telegram” newsletter. “If we can just reach them with that power, we can set them on a positive path for the rest of their lives.”
The Gretsches recently pledged a gift to Georgia Southern University’s music department that will help fund the school’s music education outreach program.
The community service efforts reflect Fred Gretsch’s vision for the company’s future innovations — “to give more people the opportunity to play.” And while he’s personally been involved with the business since 1958 — he won’t divulge his age — he intends to be around to see many more company anniversaries.
“I’d like to see our 150th anniversary,” Gretsch said. “We’ll probably have a seventh generation coming up by then.”
BREAKOUT
ABOUT THE GRETSCH COMPANY
The Gretsch Company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, N.Y., as a banjo, drum and tambourine manufacturer. The privately held company, celebrating 130 years in business this year with headquarters in Savannah, has seen six generations of family ownership. Gretsch products are currently sold in the United States and 112 other countries.
Go to www.gretsch.com for more information.