I need your opinion on this guitar, Mr. Mudge!

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:05 pm

Tony, it is not green, but a beautiful sunburst.

lyle_from_minneapolis · Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:06 pm

Yikes!!!

Nice grab!

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:14 pm

Paul, what year was your Annie?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:41 pm

Jeff, mine was a newer one, one of the last 2004s with the "vintage" burst pattern. Newer ones have a narrower burst. As you can see, it has the '61 look, which is what attracted me to it.

Yours is a great find, especially at that price. That vintage of Gretsch is one of the best, and if yours exhibits no bad corrosion of the metal parts and no binding separation or deterioration, you've got a real gem--a Brooklyn-made Gretsch with no major issues, at the price of a Japanese-made new one.

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:00 pm

Cool guitar, Jeffrey! Congrats and enjoy it.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:27 pm

Wow, great grab Jeff! Looks gorgeous.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:46 pm

I took it to play today with some friends. We are in the process of putting a band together to do the best of '60 and '70s music, mostly in the radio friendly genre. This guitar gives my 660DCM some very serious competition in all aspects of sound, feel, playability, etc. I will have to take care of the electronic issues that any guitar of this age requires, I just need to find someone who can get to them, as I have no experience in working on hollowbody guitars that do not have easy access to the wiring (read: pickguard).

jch · Post by **jch** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:18 am

That sure was a great buy Jeff!
$1500 !!

I'm a Gretsch freak myself,(got 3 vintage, 57 6120,57 6122, 65 6120)that is in great condition for a 61 Annie!

I've just bought a new 6120 DSW, and it cost me £1400!

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:44 am

Jeff..these are pretty simple to work on as Electrics. The pickups unplug from the wiring loom which makes pulling the controls very easy. Then work can be performed and reinstall controls, plug pickups back in and your set.

freshmattyp · Post by **freshmattyp** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:43 am

You might also consider just buying a new wiring harness from TV Jones.

I love those early 60's Gretsch Sunbursts.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:32 am

Agreed. Sometime in 2004, Gretsch changed this type of burst:

to this type:

Happily, this year, they went back to the old-style burst on the Anny, leaving the "halo" burst on the new Country Club Burst, pictured at bottom.

Sadly, as I predicted last year, Gretsch is going the way of Fender. After opening up their own "custom shop" in Corona, they are now producing a "Masterbuilt" (yawn!) Anniversary Green Relic.

Signed, checked finish, and it's American-Built (although it's interesting to consider a Terada-built Annie sent in mint condition to Corona, there to be custom-damaged and signed by the damager...)

Gretsch's press release on this reveals the Fender association in its corporate-marketing-speak. They're only building 75, so they decided not to publicize it, etc.

I've heard tell that they will be seling in the $5K range, and, although Fender/Gretsch claims that "no detail was overlooked", see this thread on the Gretsch Forum for a good debunking of that claim:

http://gretschpages.com/forum/modern-gr ... 652/page1/

Best point made there is that a beautiful, original Smoke Green Annie can be had for $3K tops. Also note the generally negative attitude against "relics" by the Gretsch community, who treasure their older Gretsches and hate to see fake oldies produced as just another profit center.

Probably this is the real reason why "only 75" are being produced.

As a market test, the thinking goes like this:

Fender/Gretsch wants to expand their American-built line, currently having three models, priced at $10K, $11K, and $15K (for the sold-out Setzer '59 relic...ah, the power of licensing!) and look for a model that they can build in Corona to meet the price point of $5K...the Green Annie is inexpensive to build (especially if you ignore certain time-consuming details like correct binding on the body), and relicking it is cheap, if you do a light relic. So, you hoopla it up, have the builder sign it, put on a newly-designed CS decal, and--voila--trial balloon

It doesn't show up on Gretsch's newest price list.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:58 am

Sorry; here's that link again:

http://gretschpages.com/forum/modern-gretsch-guitars/gretsch-g6118t-cst-anniversary-custom-relic-limite/2652/page1/

paologregorio · Post by **paologregorio** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:09 am

I like the Japanese made Gretsch guitars just fine-I own three of them. It would be great to buy one made here in the U.S. if the price tag was a bit more reasonable-there's no reason for one to cost 7-10K IMHO-why would I bother? I don't like relics at all. I don't need any help turning a brand new guitar into a relic.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:48 am

Agreed 100%, Paul. Have you ever seen the Terada factory tour? It's an old, very crowded and busy factory and is not the cleanest facility around, judging from the tour pictures. But the quality of their work is very, very good, especially when you consider that these are traditionally-built hollowbodies.

http://www.gretschguitars.com/terada/

paologregorio · Post by **paologregorio** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:54 am

Thanks for the link Paul! That's really cool! I had not seen this before.

I think Gretsch has just gotten better and better since the guitars have been back in production, especially with respect to getting period details correctly on the newer reissues. I especially like that the "G" brand on the western models is routed into the body instead of using a decal as was done with the early reissues. I think it's probably a better idea than actually using a hot brand as was done in the old days.

AS far as 7-10k for a U.S. made Gretsch-it would be cheaper to buy TWO Rickenbacker 381s....not that I have an extra 7-10k to throw around, or need a couple of more 381s!