The Gretsch manufacturing company was founded by a 27 year old German
immigrant and today is owned by Fender. This is a very early model and
these are becoming harder to find.There was a period during WW2 where
the company was not making any guitars. This one came to be right after.
William Walter “Bill” Gretsch was owner of the Gretsch company from
1942 until his death in 1948. I presume this guitar to be made sometime
around 1947 because of it's serial number. It is a model 6050 "New
Yorker" archtop. I believe this was made while Bill was still alive. The
number inside the body seems to read 1977. I checked with the website
on that year, and it seems to match up somewhat using pictures for
reference.
This guitar is in very good shape considering it's
age. It doesn't need a neck reset and there are no loose braces. The neck on this one is good and it plays very well. It retains it's original tailpiece. The nut is also
original. I installed brand new Grover Butterbean tuners 18:1 ratio. I also made a custom pickguard for it. The one upgrade that I like about this guitar is
the bridge. Normally these came with your average wooden bridge
that you'd find on any Kay or Harmony. Someone decided to make this
guitar electric by drilling a small hole for a pickup lead in the top
and mounting a one piece bridge with bone saddle over the hole. The
pickup is concealed under the saddle. It appears to be a non-electric
guitar from first glance. The lead is run out to the location of the end
pin where a long thread jack now sits. Believe it or not the fretboard is Brazilian rosewood. There are cushions sitting under the tailpiece so it
doesn't rattle against the body. You can plug this into an acoustic
guitar amp and it will sing. The pickup sounds very good and very
discreet. One section of binding has been replaced on the right upper
bout. The binding on the front appears to be stock.
This is
definitely not a show guitar because of the wear but it is still in good
shape considering how old. The overall length is about 42 inches. The
lower bout is about 16" while the upper bout is about 12". It has high
end acoustic strings that I just installed. It comes with a vintage
case. I do not believe it is original. It is most likely from the 60's.
This is a very nice instrument.
