George Harrison and the Return of Gretsch
Traveling Wilburys Guitar
Guitar Gavel Lick Of The Week with Ian Cowan - Mellow Blues
Love this lick… it can go several ways as I hear some Keb’ Mo’ in there or a path to swamp it up.
George Harrison was a Gretsch super-fan buying his “first good guitar” in 1961, a Gretsch Duo Jet, from a sailor in Liverpool. That guitar was used to record Please Please Me, I saw her Standing There, and Twist and Shout.
Two years later he moved on to a Chet Atkins Country Gentleman and played it on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. After that a Gretsch 6119 Tennessean. Between the three models, a Gretsch was his main squeeze through 1965.
In a 2014 Parade magazine article Fred W. Gretsch stated sales of Gretsch guitars went up 25% following the Ed Sullivan appearance.
Fast forward through the tumultuous Baldwin era of Gretsch ownership from 1967-1984. Baldwin moved production from Brooklyn to Booneville, Arkansas in 1969 and disaster struck in the form of two major factory fires in 1973.
Depending on your oddball flavor, Baldwin/Gretsch did manage to introduce some pretty cool guitars such as the Roc Jet, TK300, and Gretsch Atkins Super Axe (Chet’s last signature model). Overall however, the Baldwin thing was really, really bad. So bad Gretsch guitar production stopped in the late 1970s.
In 1984 Fred W. Gretsch bought the business back from Baldwin and began calculating the company’s reinvention.
And here comes George Harrison again…pictured with a Duo Jet on his “Cloud Nine” album cover in 1987. After seeing the album cover Fred’s wife, Dinah, wrote Harrison a thank-you note and in return the Gretsch’s received a phone call from ole’ George. It just so happened George was working with his super group at that time, the Traveling Wilburys.
While the specifics of subsequent conversations are unknown the result was a Traveling Wilburys promotional guitar. These were sourced in Korea and modeled after a Danelctro U-style guitar from the 1950s. There were six variations of the guitar with different pickup and hardware options. The impetus for the guitar’s artwork was a large 4’ x 6’ commissioned by Harrison with a different section of the print applied to every guitar coming off the line. As a result, no two guitars were exactly alike.
Introduced in 1988, revenue from these guitar sales helped fund the proper relaunch of Gretsch in 1989. Production continued through 1992. (In interviews with Fred Gretsch, production years vary.)
The TW-300 pictured is the same model Harrison played in the “Handle With Care” music video.
I found a 1990 JCPenny Wishbook listing for a single coil version with tremolo including a Traveling Wilburys cassette tape and poster for $119.00. These used to go on Ebay for like $75-$100 and the current starting price now is around $400.
Wyatt Wednesdays - An amp guy's thoughts on the best production amps ever and the best amps on a budget
In this episode we talk amps, the best production amps ever, and the best affordable amps ever. Most importantly, Wyatt's thoughts on WHY from both a tone and circuit perspective.
Best Ever: Fender Super Reverb, 65' era, Orange Rockerverb MKIII head unit, Roland Jazz Chorus
Best Budget: PRS Sonzera 20, Peavey Classic 20, Marshall Lead 12
This has to be a joke. George clearly stated ” If I’d had it my way The Stratocaster would have been my first guitar ”. He tried to buy a Stratocaster in 1956 from money his parents had loaned from the bank. The guitar shop told him Stratocasters did not exist in England because of a US embargo. So a very dissapointed George Harrison who had been painting Stratocasters for hours every day in school instead of listening to the teachers had to settle for a Stratocaster copy called Futurama. When the embargo was lifted in 1964 George Harrison immidiately got hold of his belowed Stratocaster. From that point untill he died he almost exclusively recorded electric guitar with a Fender Stratocaster. At his death They accounted he owned 350 Fender Stratocasters he had bought himself. Beatles regulations after the split up did not allow sponsor ship. George was However happy to be interviewed for 7 days for the official Fender Stratocaster book and because of his extreme passion for the Stratocaster got the lion share of the book. George Harrison is recognised as ” The biggest fan of the Fender Stratocaster of all guitarists”. ” I did not like the sound I had which was a Gretsch guitar and a Vox Amp” was Georges comment on the Gretsch guitar which he used on recordings the last time for 1 or 2 songs on the Album Help. All songs with Travelling Willbutys are recorded with a Fender Stratocaster, despite them posing with Gretsch guitars which was a combo nation of getting it to look old and that George had been invited to the Gretsch family. The only reason he more than 20 years later played a Gretsch guitar on The Carl Perkins show was because his wife had bought an old Gretsch 2 weeks before the show and George felt he had to use it. I like Gretsch guitars George did t it was the best guitar available at that time as the Gretsch family were the only American company getting guitars into Germany ( the family has German origins.