Vintage Gretsch Guitars

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Vintage Gretsch Guitars are best known for their rockabilly country music appeal. Gretsch is celebrating its 125th anniversary, which makes it even more appropriate to highlight some of their vintage guitars.

The most popular and sought after by collectors are the guitars that were endorsed by Chet Atkins, a well known guitarist at the time. Other models that have collectors interests include the Gretsch Roundup, White Falcon, White Penguin, Gretsch Clipper, and Tennessean. Another one is their acoustic Gretsch Synchromatic, though due to poor quality construction, many of the original Gretsch acoustics have not withstood the test of time.

As always, we here at Vintage Studio Gear think that listening to one in action says more than whatever it is we write about, so let’s listen to a few Grestch guitars in action.

This video shows off the Gretsch Streamliner:

This video below is a demo of a 1964 6120 Chet Atkins:

And here’s Chet Atkins playing live a version of Don McLean’s “Vincent”. Can’t tell what guitar he is playing, but it really makes you realize why his endorsement would bring popularity to the Gretsch guitars:

You may be lucky enough to stumble across a Gretsch at a yard sale or auction, but eBay still seems to be the best place to find them. Below are the most recent listings on eBay:

Do you have a vintage Gretsch guitar? Go ahead and brag a little about it in the comments below.