Granada Hills, CA, United States
About this listing
Jimmie's daughter, Jennifer, maintains that her father named her "White Falcon" after the Air Force newspaper that appeared during the war. Gretsch had been subcontracting pickups and bridges, but things changed when they decided those items should be manufactured in-house. He worked with Ray Butts (considered the inventor of the humbucker pickup) to develop a humbucker version of the Filter'Tron. The 'Space Control' bridge, created by Jimmie, was replaced by the 'Melita'. Despite being an excellent piano tuner, Jimmie felt it was more important for players to be able to adjust string spacing than intonation. Strange, isn't it? String spacing adjustments appeared across the entire product range, resulting in a tendency towards unwanted noise and less sustain than Gretsch's bar bridges. The miniature neoclassical thumbnail inlays were one of Jimmie's most successful ideas, and they have since become a trademark, along with his standby switch, padded back pad, and string mute. So many innovations in such a short time. After Baldwin bought Gretsch in 1967, the White Falcon remained relatively unchanged for several years. But in the early 1970s, they began to simplify the guitar and incorporated their own stylistic changes, including smaller f-holes, square pearloid inlays, a Bigsby vibrato with a much thinner arm, and a pickguard with sharp angles. Baldwin's purchase of Gretsch was a significant development, especially considering that their strength had always been in manufacturing pianos and organs rather than guitars. The factory, originally located in Brooklyn, moved to Arkansas in mid-1969, but one thing was clear: they wouldn't cut corners when it came to crafting Falcons. That's why today we want to present this queen of the Baldwin era, a 1976 model in excellent condition for its 47 years. The guitar is 100% original except for an old refin on the back of the neck and its 1990s Gretsch hard case. It features the filter-blacktops, Billy Duffy's favorites, and they sound absolutely incredible. It also has a Bigsby tremolo arm, Grover tuners, and a gold pickguard in excellent condition, as is the binding. Wow! A unique instrument, definitely not to be missed. It will be delivered recently set up and tuned by luthier Santiago Fassi.
Price$7,990
+ $200 Shipping
