Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Zurdo wrote:Sorry, boys, Electromatics are NOT the REAL Gretsch. ...
I hereby Declare Oficially: Electromatics are NOT real Gretsch.

OK, so this is a joke, right? Hence the smiley face.
JimK

Zurdo wrote:Sorry, boys, Electromatics are NOT the REAL Gretsch. they are what they are, but they are not a REAL Gretsch. whether Made in China, Korea, or Japan, same thing >> NOT REAL GRETSCH.

I am NOT SAYING the China-Korea-Japan -made "Electromatics Gretsch" are BAD, I am saying they are NOT REAL GRETSCH and NONE have a zero fret.

Jay Turser makes a decent Gretsch copy, so does everybody else and their brother, but they are NOT REAL GRETSCH.

I hereby Declare Oficially: Electromatics are NOT real Gretsch.

OK using your logic I'll go try to buy one with monopoly money and let you know how it works out for me
I see what you mean to an extent, but the reality of it is Gretsch hasn't been Gretsch , for a while, Fender hasn't been Fender since 1963.. does that mean Rickenbacker hasn't really been Rickenbacker since it was purchased and carried on by the Hall family????

fluffy wrote:... does that mean Rickenbacker hasn't really been Rickenbacker since it was purchased and carried on by the Hall family????

Fortunately F.C. Hall bought the company from Adolph Rickenbacker. If not for him Rickenbacker very well may have ended up as a nice piece of past history.

Gretsch guitars are great instruments and over the years it seems to me that most models have been in transition with changes occurring in one way or another. My Electromatic seems real to me when I am playing it. Zurdo, what makes a Gretsch a real one?

admin wrote:Gretsch guitars are great instruments and over the years it seems to me that most models have been in transition with changes occurring in one way or another. My Electromatic seems real to me when I am playing it. Zurdo, what makes a Gretsch a real one?

hi Peter

I'll try to qualify my opinion without hurting anybody's feelings. A "real" Gretsch is one that was made in the USA by the Fred Gretsch guitar factory, it was made from the 1950's (or earlier but I am talking about electric guitars) and it was made before the closing of that Gretsch factory, and it usually had a zero fret. I am aware that some "budget" Gretsch models did not have a zero fret, but most of them had zero frets. Moreover, the original Gretsch factory never made "Electromatic" models.

If you compare an Electromatic "Tennessean" model to a "real" Gretsch Tennessean model, there is no zero fret in the Electromatic "Tennessean". Same for all other Electromatic models. In fact, there is not one Electromatic model with a zero fret, only the replicas made by the new Gretsch Custom Shop have zero frets like the original Gretsch models.

The Most compelling Case for the Zero Fret:

http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/zero-fret/

Zero Frets have been in use since the late 1950's by:

Gretsch,
Hofner,
Vox,
Kent,
Magnatone,
Framus,
and many other guitar manufacturers even today...

search "zero fret" in your favorite search engine and see what you come up with.

Zurdo wrote:
If you compare an Electromatic "Tennessean" model to a "real" Gretsch Tennessean model, there is no zero fret in the Electromatic "Tennessean". Same for all other Electromatic models. In fact, there is not one Electromatic model with a zero fret, only the replicas made by the new Gretsch Custom Shop have zero frets like the original Gretsch models.

What's an Electromatic Tennessean?

I have a zero fret on my Martin Keith Elfin 5.

Aw fer cryin' out loud! Following the logic of the OP, any guitar marked Fender® and built after 1963 is a forgery because it was made in Mexico, Japan, or somewhere else other than the original factory stateside. So I guess any guitar marked Gibson® is a forgery too because they haven't been made in the USA in years. And Rickenbacker is suspect because the company was sold by its founder Adolph Rickenbacker. As for Gretsch, any argument to the contrary made by Joe Carducci, or Fred Gretsch III is irrelevant, or at best moot. Do I have that about right?
I suspect a troll, and I stepped right into it. Good grief!
JimK

jimk wrote: I suspect a troll...

Yep.

deaconblues wrote:

Zurdo wrote:
What's an Electromatic Tennessean?

a Gretsch Tennessean copy made in Korea.

Zurdo wrote:
a Gretsch Tennessean copy made in Korea.

I wasn't aware that Gretsch made reissues under the Korean Electromatic line. Do you have a source for this?

they're all over the place, I'm talking about the George Harrison-style Tennesseans , both the single and the Double Cutaway Gretsch Tennesseans, they are both made in Electromatic models. Check your local Craigslist and eBay.

Terada-made, Electromatic, Zero Fret...

http://gretschguitars.com/products/inde ... 2516000506

Seems like a Gretsch to me.

(And I've seen Fred strumming one at NAMM)

bvstudios wrote:Terada-made, Electromatic, Zero Fret...Seems like a Gretsch to me.
http://gretschguitars.com/products/inde ... 2516000506 (And I've seen Fred strumming one at NAMM)

well I'll be...maybe The Electromatic Corporation of Korea is finally recognizing the importance of the Gretsch Zero Fret?

if Gretsch, Magnatone, Mosrite, Hofner and even lesser guitars like Kent used a Zero Fret, there you have it