Gretsch Custom Shop TeamWhen Fender acquired licensing for the manufacture, distribution and marketing of Gretsch guitars in 2002, Mike Lewis helmed the effort. An accomplished guitarist with an especially keen mind for product authenticity and marketing, he’d been with Fender for a dozen years, first in charge of amps and then in charge of guitars. Fender’s own custom shop, founded in 1987 in Corona, Calif., had earned acclaim by the dawn of the 2000s. With the 2002 Fender/Gretsch licensing deal in place, high-quality Gretsch guitars soon started coming from Japan, with considerably more manufacturing and marketing muscle behind them than Gretsch had experienced in quite some time.
“It was as simple as looking around the shop and saying something like ‘We ought to build some things here,’” Lewis said.
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Lewis enlisted Fleming and Fender’s George Blanda to craft a pair of custom U.S.-made Gretsch models to display at the January 2004 NAMM show. The results debuted in 2004 under the banner of the “Gretsch U.S. Custom Shop,” with two stunning new limited-edition versions of original-era classics—the G6136CST White Falcon and G6120WCST Nashville Western.
Artists honored with special models later included Brian Setzer, Chet Atkins, and Billy Zoom.
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