Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankHudson
I always got the impression there was this loose association between Gretsch, Epiphone, and Guild back in the day in electric guitar design. With Guild and Epiphone the human connection is easy to make if I recall right (wasn't Guild started when the Epiphone factory closed down by ex-Epi folks?) Steve DeRosa will no doubt chime in with how Gretsch connected to the other two...
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You're on the right track, Frank - Guild was started by Alfred Dronge in lower Manhattan in 1952, and got a real jumpstart when many of the Italian craftsmen who left Epiphone (when Orphie Stathopoulo resisted unionization, in fact moving production to Philadelphia in 1953) went over to the upstart company; others would make the move to Gretsch, just a short subway/el ride away in Brooklyn, with more to follow when Guild shifted production to Hoboken in 1956. The Epiphone DNA can be seen in both companies' production for a number of years to come: Guild would adopt body/headstock shapes and neck construction outright (the current MIK Newark St. X-350, X-175, A-150, and T-50 still reflect their early-1950's Epiphone ancestry in their body contours), while formerly second-tier Gretsch would benefit from the ex-Epiphone employees' expertise (TMK several of them became foremen - my grandfather lived in the neighborhood, visited the factory on a couple occasions, and spoke with them) as they entered what most consider their late-50's - mid-60's Golden Age...
As far as "That Great Gretsch Sound" is concerned, in the absolute nothing else sounds
like a Gretsch
but a Gretsch - a consequence of both the largely-proprietary electronics and unusually lightweight woods used in their construction, which lends them an airy resonance and upper-midrange chime few other makes can approach, much less duplicate; that said, there have been several very close approximations over the years: the early-60's Guild Duane Eddy thinlines and X-350/375 hollowbodies with DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (Gibson/Epiphone jazzbox punch with Gretsch chime and clarity), the ultra-lightweight Godin CW II (an interesting mix of Gretsch airiness and P-90 drive - my clean blues, rockabilly, and jazz-comping box), and the current Guild X-175 Manhattan Soecial/Starfire II ST-Dynasonic. Having played a couple, IME the Epi Swingster is most definitely
not one of them - nor, come to think of it, is the Streamliner series...