Founder
Friedrich Gretsch
1856–1895 · Mannheim, Tyskland / Germany
The Brooklyn immigrant who laid the ground for That Great Gretsch Sound
He died at 39, barely living to see what his son would make of the workshop.
Friedrich Gretsch moved from Germany to Brooklyn in the 1870s and opened a small workshop in 1883 making banjos, drums and tambourines. When he died his son Fred Sr. was fifteen and took over.
The son, and later the grandson, built Gretsch into a serious instrument maker — first known for drums (the Broadkaster), then guitars (White Falcon, 6120). Charlie Watts played Gretsch in the Rolling Stones; the Stones took the Chicago blues to the rest of the world. The circle closes there.
Anecdotes & moments
- Gretsch and Ludwig fought for decades over who could use the name Broadkaster — Fender wanted the name too, and ended up calling its first guitar the Telecaster instead.
- The family ran the company for four generations before selling to Fender in 2002 — on a licensing basis that still lets the family steer the design.
Links
Photo: Wikimedia Commons