Gretsch Custom Shop: Absolute Masterpieces
Published on 27 September 2024
Tucked away deep inside Fender’s Custom Shop facility in Corona, California lies a small studio area that puts out some of the most exclusive and incredible guitars in the world. It’s a well known brand, but this wing of their business makes a tiny amount of guitars every year, in all manner of amazing finishes and styles.
I’m talking here about the Gretsch Custom Shop. This is like a magical corner in a place that’s already chock-full of special mojo, where classic Gretsch guitar designs are recreated, re-designed, re-established and recontextualised through the eyes of only a few top craftspeople.
Gretsch Through and Through
The Gretsch Custom Shop may reside in the same location as the Fender Custom Shop, but they do not share tables, tools or staff. It’s an autonomous well of creation, where Gretsch is celebrated for the iconic brand that it is, and the artisans who build them have a freer hand to build one-off creations. These can be for custom orders, or as artist tribute guitars, special show-pieces (such as NAMM specials and the like) and very limited, themed runs.
In fact, there are only two appointed Master Builders for Gretsch: Gonzalo Madrigal and Chad Henrichsen. Whilst there are other Builders involved, if you buy a Gretsch Custom Shop Masterbuilt guitar, it’ll be from one of these two guys!
For the Gretsch fan, this Custom Shop is a little corner of heaven. As I say, they don’t produce high quantities of guitars, but the ones that do come out of here are simply exceptional.
You want to see some, right?
Gretsch Custom Shop G6134T Pink Penguin
We took delivery of this stunner recently and pretty much everyone who has gazed at it has instantly fallen in love. Meet the Grestch Custom Shop G6134T Pink Penguin.
It’s a fantastic example of Gretsch custom shop craftsmanship, with an authentically applied heavy relic process over the subtle Shell Pink finish.
These Penguin guitars don’t often come with a trio of pickups like this one, and that’s a small example of the types of ways in which Custom guitars can offer interesting variations on famous themes.
Gretsch Masterbuilt 1955 Chet Atkins
Any fan of Gretsch has to tip their hat towards the original ‘Certified Guitar Player’, Chet Atkins. In a pre-shred age, he was the guitar hero’s guitar hero, with a melodic sense to his compositions that make them well-loved to this day.
Chet did play a bunch of guitars throughout this career, but he displayed particular affection towards Gretsch Country Gentleman models, using them in studio recording with Elvis Presley and countless others.
It is fitting, then, that Gretsch Custom Shop have created this Masterbuilt 6120T, a fully reliced tribute to Chet. It’s based on his own 1955 Country Gent and displays some wonderfully worn ageing on not only the finish but the beautiful gold Bigsby.
Fully playable art? I’d say so!
The Coolest Versions of the Coolest Guitars Ever
If you like what you see here - and what self-respecting guitar fan wouldn’t?? - then come and talk to us about owning your own Gretsch Custom Shop guitar. Their builders are taken from Fender’s Custom Shop and moved exclusively to Gretsch, so that level of talent and finesse that you know from top Fender CS builds will be apparent here too.
They don’t take too many orders at all - you’d be surprised at the numbers, this is pretty exclusive stuff - but we can take you through the whole process of spec’ing your ultimate dream Gretsch. Just get in touch and we’ll get the ball rolling for you!
We may, however, already have your dream Gretsch Custom Shop guitar in stock! We order whenever we can, and our buyers are mad about the brand, so we always end up with lovely guitars when they eventually land on our shores. Click the link below to browse what is currently available and let yourself begin to make that dream a reality…
Click to Browse our Gretsch Custom Shop Guitars
