Falcon sighting in Brooklyn - and it's a beauty!!

[Steve DeRosa]

If you've been jonesing for an early-60's style double-cut White Falcon, but can't handle the $20K+ price of a primo Brooklyn original and missed out on the early-2010's MIJ version, here's what may be your very last chance:

http://www.streetsoundsnyc.com/grets...-guitar-ss2603

From the Street Sounds NYC website:

STREET SOUNDS THE WORLD'S LARGEST AUTHORIZED GRETSCH DEALER IS PROUD TO OFFER THIS:
================STREET SOUNDS EXCLUSIVE================

G6136T-62 RAY BUTTS WHITE FALCON

WITH ONLY 12 OF THESE IN EXISTENCE STREET SOUNDS IS PROUD TO BE THE EXCLUSIVE DEALER
EACH ONE HAND NUMBERED
THIS IS #1/12
SN:JT18093738

GUITAR WEIGHT: 8 LBS. 9 OZ.
BODY: DOUBLE CUTAWAY
LOWER BOUT: 17''
UPPER BOUT: 12''
BODY DEPTH: 2''
BRACING: PARALLEL (NON-SOUNDPOST)
BINDING: GOLD SPARKLE W/BK & WH PURFLING
HEADSTOCK: HORIZONTAL LOGO
NECK SHAPE: STANDARD ''U''
FRETBOARD: EBONY
FRETBOARD RADIUS: 12''
SCALE LENGTH: 25.5''
FINISH: POLYURETHANE
BODY COLOR: NEW VINTAGE WHITE
MACHINE HEADS: GROVER IMPERIAL GOLD (151G)
NUT MATERIAL: BONE
PICKUPS: RAY BUTTS FUL-FIDELITY
BRIDGE: SPACE CONTROL
BRIDGE BASE: ADJUSTABLE PINNED EBONY BASE
TAILPIECE: BIGSBY B6GVT
CAPACITORS: GRETSCH OIP CAPACITORS (C3961 & C3962)
CONTROL KNOBS: ''G'' JEWELED
BACK PAD
MUTE: DOUBLE MUTE SYSTEM
HARDWARE: GOLD
STRING GAUGE: D'ADDARIO NPS .011-.049

Some pics:



















But for the gold serial number on the back of the head and the bridge ends (the originals had a more rounded dome) this one's a dead-on reissue of a mid/late '63 Falcon: correct body depth, control and jack placement; long neck joint (like George Harrison's '63 Country Gent); correct headstock contour, muffler knobs/felts, finish color (a very subtle diamond-like blue-white, rather than the "white-white" of the regular-line Falcons/Penguins), and f-hole binding (the first double-cuts had white/black/white due to problems with the binding material, and that version appears only in the '63 catalog) - I drooled over this guitar in the '63 catalog when I was a kid, and if I hadn't bought what was almost certainly the very last of the NOS first-run double-cut Falcons back in June I'd be over the Verrazano Bridge and all over it first thing tomorrow morning...

Priced right @ $2995 (if you're looking at an ES-335 you can afford this one, and it's far more distinctive both tonally and visually), there are only going to be twelve made (this is #1), nothing beats the cool factor of a Gretsch, and TMK they're the only ones who stock the period-correct white Gretsch-logo skinny strap that came as case candy in '63; somebody's going to get one killer guitar here, and since it's not going to be me I'd sooner see it go to a fellow AGF'er who'll give it the love it deserves - please PM me and let me know if it's you...

[muscmp]

i still don't have a gretsch and that one is beautiful, steve. but, still way beyond my means.

play music!

[KevWind]

Wowser's that is almost too pretty to play, almost ....

[Pura Vida]

Absolutely beautiful. As a lifelong Neil Young fan, I'd love to have one of these, but just not in my cards at this time. Still, it's gorgeous... I'll just drool at the photos for a while.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

...As a lifelong Neil Young fan, I'd love to have one of these, but just not in my cards at this time...

Although Neil is most often associated with the 1961 stereo Project-o-Sonic version (four switches, white/black/white f-hole binding, 2-1/4" body depth - side shots show it to be unquestionably thinner than the full-depth '58 he swapped with Stephen Stills - retrofitted Bigsby B7G, and TOM bridge) that has been his main stage guitar for the last five decades, as you're aware he also owns an ultra-rare '62 Project-o-Sonic stereo (probably no more than three or four from that period in existence - if that many) that TMK he only used for a brief time during the early CSN/CSNY transition period. There's a photo dating to July '69 that shows him with this guitar with its original "Cadillac G" tailpiece, dial-up mutes (which used full-size knobs as opposed to the small post-'63 knobs on the flip mutes), W/B/W f-hole binding, and 2" body depth - the latter three in combination on the same instrument making this guitar no later than very early '63; FYI George Harrison's first Country Gent (listed as either a '62 or '63 according to various sources I've read over the years) boasted similar features, and I've still got my copy of the '63 catalog somewhere in storage showing both instruments so equipped (bear in mind that the photo shoot would have taken place around August/September '62 for Christmastime release)...

The only other extant pic - likely taken later that year as the '61 became Neil's go-to stage guitar by early 1970 - shows the guitar minus pickguard and fitted with a Bigsby B11G vibrato, after which it seems to have vanished from circulation - TMK neither David Crosby (also a Gretsch player during his days with the Byrds) nor Graham Nash ever used the instrument in performance. Just to add to the scream factor, rare instruments of this type often lingered around the Gretsch factory long after their official model run, and while most of them boasted a hybrid of earlier and later features (like the korina Explorers and V's released by Gibson with nickel hardware and chrome-dish knobs in the early-60's) the occasional complete rare bird (pun intended) would be shipped intact to a waiting dealer (where it might further languish as NOS for an untold period before being discovered and dumped at a rock-bottom, "get-this-fool-thing-out-of-my-shop-already" price - I've personally seen this happen on two occasions) - or possibly offered to an act having a strong and highly visible association with their product...

Some guys have all the luck...

[Pura Vida]

That's some really great info. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Wowser's that is almost too pretty to play, almost...

Some lucky picker now owns #1 (um, Kev, is there something you're not telling us...? ), #2 of 12 now posted on the Street Sounds NYC website - ten more to go and that's all, folks...

As I said I'm unfortunately in no position to buy, but since I have business in the area late next week I may just drop in and check it out - whichever number is available - in person...

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Some lucky picker now owns #1 (um, Kev, is there something you're not telling us...? ), #2 of 12 now posted on the Street Sounds NYC website - ten more to go and that's all, folks...

As I said I'm unfortunately in no position to buy, but since I have business in the area late next week I may just drop in and check it out - whichever number is available - in person...

Na! I wish but unfortunately I am in the same boat, just moved to a new place and hemorrhaging money like sive

[SalFromChatham]

Bay Ridge Brooklyn. My folks still live there. I was there earlier today... should have stopped in!

[Steve DeRosa]

A must-see if you're ever in the old neighborhood - be aware that the showroom only keeps very limited hours, so you'll need to get there before 2PM or so if you expect to try anything...

[Johnny K]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

A must-see if you're ever in the old neighborhood - be aware that the showroom only keeps very limited hours, so you'll need to get there before 2PM or so if you expect to try anything...

Steve Do you ever get over to Rivington Guitars in the Village? They have a few nice vintage Gretsch guitars there.

As a side note, I did the NYC 5 Boroughs Bike tour in May and the route didn't pass by the old Gretsch Building, which I understand is condos now. Im doing the ride again in 2019. So maybe I'll get to see then.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Johnny K

Steve - Do you ever get over to Rivington Guitars in the Village? They have a few nice vintage Gretsch guitars there.

As a side note, I did the NYC 5 Boroughs Bike tour in May and the route didn't pass by the old Gretsch Building, which I understand is condos now. I'm doing the ride again in 2019. So maybe I'll get to see then.

I try to avoid Manhattan as much as possible these days for a variety of reasons so I've yet to make it to Rivington, Ludlow, Carmine Street Guitars (Matt Umanov's first independent shop in the '70s, BTW), Rudy's Broome Street, or the 14th Street GC (just down the block from the old Epiphone factory at 142 West 14th, if you're looking for some additional NYC guitar history). That said, as an ex-Brooklyn boy from back in the day I've probably played several hundred original Brooklyn Gretsch instruments and seen a whole bunch more than that, without exaggeration - they were our hometown guitar maker (my grandparents lived three blocks from the factory and just down the street from the drum warehouse), if you lived in that time and place your first "good" electric was a Gretsch period, and again without exaggeration if it was made between 1960-1967 (before the Baldwin takeover) and spent its life in the NYC area, chances are good that I've either seen it in person or played it at one time or another...

Unfortunately if you're doing the 5-Boro (one of my former colleagues and my ex-supervisor ride every year BTW) it'll be impossible to detour, so you'll need to seek it out on your own time. The 1916 factory building is located at 60 Broadway (between Berry St. and Wythe Ave. - which was part of the 2018 route) in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and, other than condos, is occupied by a Sherwin-Williams paint store, a martial-arts studio, and - wait for it - Gretsch Cleaners (I wouldn't trust them with my White Falcon FWIW ); the former drum warehouse at 109 South 5th Street (about three blocks from the factory, between Bedford Ave. and Berry St., and the site of Friedrich Gretsch's first factory TMK) is now a multi-purpose commercial building housing a clothing boutique, employment agency, and Car2Go branch office, among others. As it's changed significantly over the last six decades - arguably for the better, certainly for the infinitely-more-expensive - the neighborhood's former industrial/blue-collar/multi-ethnic (German/East-European/Hasidic/Latino) character I knew as a kid has been largely lost and, unlike many areas of Manhattan that still maintain their working-class heritage in the preserved signs painted on the sides of former commercial buildings, there is very little if anything to inform the casual visitor of what once was (FYI the former Schaefer brewery, Brooklyn's last full-scale commercial brewer, and Domino Sugar refinery - both within walking/biking distance of the Gretsch buildings - are also going/have gone condo); then again I have a thirtyish former colleague who lives not too far north, and if you're of a three-steps-ahead-of-the-cutting-edge hipster mindset the "new" Williamsburg may just be to your liking...

[paulp1960]

What is the round thing on the back of that guitar? The thing that looks like a deflated beach ball.

[KevWind]

hey Steve D.....Saw this posted in another thread and immediately thought of you

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by KevWind

hey Steve D.....Saw this posted in another thread and immediately thought of you

LOVE it, Kev ; he's kinda on the skinny side, though - I was a more contact-sports-stocky kid - but the hair and glasses (both long since gone - one for worse, one for better) would have been about right...

Originally Posted by paulp1960

What is the round thing on the back of that guitar? The thing that looks like a deflated beach ball.

That's the "Gretsch-exclusive padded back - cushioned for comfort during those long sets"...

Actually, the snap-on pad seen on the back of most upper-line Brooklyn Gretsch hollowbodies - Nashville, Country Gent, Viking, White Falcon, and some thin-body Country Clubs - and their Professional Series reissues was intended to cover the access plate installed in the back of the body, when Gretsch went over to the sealed Electrotone body design; as with all things Gretsch in those days, however, there was no consistency in its application - it was used on the full-hollow Viking/Falcon/CC, but not on the sealed post-1961 Tennesseean (every tech's worst nightmare - try replacing a bad switch or pot on one ). My best guess - and this is supported by both catalog info and hands-on experience - is that it was intended to facilitate not only future servicing, but installation of the "new for '62" muffler systems that appeared on all of the high-end hollows until the Kustom takeover in the early-70's; if you've never seen one it's a finicky Rube Goldberg-type apparatus that not only requires a fair amount of fine-tuning to work correctly, but is impossible to install/service without clear access to the inside of the guitar in question. Their inclusion on the above '63 reissue, as on the '62 Country Gent and discontinued 6120 AKA Nashville double-cut reissues, is strictly a nod to historical accuracy - increases the drool factor for us Gretsch lovers who missed out on/can't afford a mint-condition original, gets those muffled-bass Chet and early-60's "tic-tac" tones without restricting left-hand mobility - but I don't have them on any of my Gretsch instruments, and I really don't miss them much...