A glimpse of the production of Gretsch guitars in the Terada factory.
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/24549609
Re: USA Made Guitars
In 1999-2000 pre-Fender Gretsch did have Terada make a Super Gretsch. It looked just like the 70's Super Chet except it came with a Bigsby and it had standard knobs like the 6120. Apparently they didn't sell very well. I think these were the only two years they were available. Every now and then one will show up on eBay.
- jbc
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:03 am
Re: USA Made Guitars
Chet thought the super chet was a pretty guitar. They worked on the atkins axe and other such items. He played them on TV and had his picture taken with them but when the chips were down and money was to be made in recording he used the '59
That speaks volumes to me.
That speaks volumes to me.
- thenorm
- Posts: 482
- Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:29 pm
Re: USA Made Guitars
Vidar Lund wrote:A glimpse of the production of Gretsch guitars in the Terada factory.
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/24549609
Well, There's a lotta HAND FINISH WORK going on there, which is extremely costly.
The reason that guitars are dirt cheap (considering 50-years of inflation) compared to what they cost in the late 50s - mid 60s is that the FIRST one is what killsya, and the rest are fraction of the cost . . .
Now days, ALL the fret slots are cut in either one or muliple passes of a CNC mill in seconds, compared to a worker sawing each one by hand in the same identical position instrment after instrument with NO ROOM FOR ERROR ! ! !
Compared to Thiawan or Korea, labor in Japan is quite high, so by the time you factor shipping & export/import duty, it's probably not much if at all cheaper to import into the US.
If BRUTE-FORCE isn't working, you're not using enough ! ! !
- Mike Nye
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 2:21 am
Re: USA Made Guitars
i just want to share my new guitar. i have a ibanez j custom 7 string that i bought and it sounds great..want to change the dimarzio pick ups though..i wanna try lundgren so i can sound like fredrik thordendal. cheers!
hi, my name is gee 26, female and i love to learn new things.
- yvaine_1
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:32 pm
Re: USA Made Guitars
yvaine_1 wrote:i just want to share my new guitar. i have a ibanez j custom 7 string that i bought and it sounds great..want to change the dimarzio pick ups though..i wanna try lundgren so i can sound like fredrik thordendal. cheers!
Ibanez are GREAT guitars ! ! !
I started selling them back in the mid-70s. Back then their most expensive guitar retailed for $300.00 USD with a hardshell case.
Their quality was actually as good or better than what was being made here in the USA.
I'm still sitting on a couple sets of their Super 70 Humbucking Pick-ups from 1976, which were the HOTTEST pick-ups around in those days ! ! !
ENJOY your new guitar ! ! !
If BRUTE-FORCE isn't working, you're not using enough ! ! !
- Mike Nye
- Posts: 392
- Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2010 2:21 am