Gretsch Committee

Gretsch Committee (# 89545?)

Vintage guitar collectors know that the catalogs don't describe every variation of every model that a manufacturer has produced. Gibson is just one manufacturer that often varied the specifications in minor ways from time to time; substituting one knob for another or even making minor changes in wiring or wood selection. Gretsch also reserved the right to change specifications without notice, and this may be one example. Generally, this guitar matches the specifications for the Committee model: The construction method is laminated (maple and walnut) neck-thru-body; the pickups are dual humbuckers; and the fretboard is bound rosewood with twelve pearl dots. The peghead is also bound, with a rosewood overlay and the Gretsch logo inlaid in pearl. But there are also some significant differences from the Committee that you'll find in Bacon and Day's The Gretsch Book. The Committee that you'll find in that book has dual body horns and a large pickguard surrounding the pickups, but is otherwise identical.

One odd thing about this guitar is that I can't seem to find the serial number. Gretsch guitars of this vintage (The Committee was manufactured from late 1976 to (very) early 1981.) should have the serial number stamped into the wood on the back of the peghead, along with the words "Made in the U.S.A.". The dealer's receipt for this guitar says that the serial number is 89545, which would match a manufacture date in August of 1979, but I haven't been able to find this number on the instrument. How did this guitar escape getting a serial number? Was it a prototype? If you know the answer, please tell me!

Some Other Historical Oddities

If you examine the back of this guitar (go ahead, run the mouse over the picture and take a look), you'll notice a black button at the neck heel. That's the truss rod cover. The truss rod adjustment on this model uses a worm-gear mechanism that was patented by Burns of London, and there's a little bit of a twisted tale of corporate history in that.

You see, you might say that it began in the early sixties, at a time when the Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company was using Bigsby vibrato mechanisms on their guitars. Unfortunately, Bigsby was, at that time (before Ted McCarty and his partners left Gibson and took over the company), notorious for slow delivery on orders. Well, one day in the early 1960's, the fellows at Gretsch got tired of waiting for Bigsby to deliver, and decided to use Burns vibratos instead. (At one time, Rique had a lime-green 1963 Duo-Jet with dual filter-tron humbuckers and a Burns vibrato; but that's a sad story.)

In 1964, the Baldwin Corporation was one of the bidders for the Fender Electric Instrument Company. Even though Baldwin lost that contest, they were determined to get into the guitar business. So, they took their money to England and bought the Burns company in 1965. By that accident, Baldwin became the supplier of vibrato mechanisms to the Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company.

In 1967, 62 year-old Fred Gretsch Jr. had decided to sell the company that was founded by his grandfather, and the Baldwin company was eager to acquire an old and prestigious name in American musical instrument manufacturing. The deal was settled in May of that year, at a price that came to a total of about $6 million in Baldwin stock and cash, and Burns and Gretsch were thus joined under the same banner.

In 1979, Baldwin bought Kustom, the amplifier company, and combined the headquarters of the Gretsch operation with the existing Kustom headquarters in Chanute, Kansas.

When Baldwin began buying other instrument manufacturers in the 1960s, they expected that their existing sales force would be able to effectively sell the new lines to their existing customer base. But, partially due to the sales force' unfamiliarity with the new lines, and the increasing specialization in the retail instrument trade, the market share of the Burns, Gretsch and Kustom lines declined steadily after the Baldwin buy-out. By 1984, Baldwin was actively seeking a buyer for several of their acquired brand names, so that Fred Gretsch III was able to regain the Gretsch brand in January of 1985.

Truss Rod Adjustment

But then Scott sent me another note, that might be useful to someone else. He says, "I rec'd an email from a guy who described it and provided a crude drawing. Apparently it's just a T shaped tool with a slot cut in the end, almost like a female screwdriver".

If you've got a similar problem, you might visit Scott's website. Maybe you can find more information about the tool there.