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Topic: What years did Gretsch own Sho-Bud? |
Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 29 Jul 2020 11:08 am |
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Just Curious.
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Barry Coker
From:
Bagley Alabama, USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2020 11:49 am
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I think they still own the Name.
Barry
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Zum-D-10, Webb 614-E, 65 Pro Reverb, Evans RE200, 69 Gibson Birdland, 89 Telecaster EAD Bad!! |
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Ben Lawson
From:
Brooksville Florida
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Posted 29 Jul 2020 12:07 pm
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I got a Nashville Pro-Steel from Duane Marrs in '78 or '79 that has the Gretsch name on the back. I don't know how, or if, that helps with your post but hopefully it does.
Ben |
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Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
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Posted 29 Jul 2020 2:00 pm
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Yes Ben is right....1979 Gretsch bought the Sho~bud Name and the division of Shops; Parts; builders; suppliers...etc...is a Shot in the Dark, how it all went until it did not anymore...ha....but Gretsch still owns the Sho~bud Name.
Ricky
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Ricky Davis
Email Ricky: sshawaiian2362@gmail.com |
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Ben Lawson
From:
Brooksville Florida
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 3:18 am
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| Ricky, it's ironic that this came up. I just dug that amp out of a storage unit and plugged it in yesterday. Other than a hum in the reverb, it sounds great. It's only 60 watts but it still sounds good. I had to replace the Altec/Lancing speaker with an Electro Voice years ago. It's really heavy. |
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David Nugent
From:
Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 6:41 am
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| The 'Sho-Bud' name is presently owned by Fender who purchased Gretsch guitars some time back. While (according to the last article that I read) the Fender corporation has no immediate plans to manufacture Sho-Bud guitars, they are quick to jump on anyone using the brand name on any article without prior permission. |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 6:45 am
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Thanks Everyone,Much appreciated!
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Jeff Garden
From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 7:15 am
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| I think Gretsch had some ups and downs over the years. Fred Gretsch evidently sold the company to Baldwin Manufacturing (Baldwin pianos) in 1967. For the next 17 years they were a subsidiary of Baldwin. Baldwin fell on hard times over the years and in 1984 the great grandson of Fred Gretsch (also named Fred Gretsch) saw an opportunity to take back control of the company and purchased Gretsch (and Sho-Bud) from Baldwin. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 11:26 am
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| David Nugent wrote: |
| The 'Sho-Bud' name is presently owned by Fender who purchased Gretsch guitars some time back. While (according to the last article that I read) the Fender corporation has no immediate plans to manufacture Sho-Bud guitars, they are quick to jump on anyone using the brand name on any article without prior permission. |
I think I read somewhere that the current Fred Gretsch is a nephew or grand nephew of the founder.
Unless something has changed very recently, Fender does not own Gretsch. Fred Gretsch Enterprises is still owned by Fred Gretsch.
Fender has a huge stake in the company because they handle the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing - one can google this and read about it from a number of sources.
I'm guessing the Gretsch family doesn't have to work very hard to receive monthly checks.
Early in 2019 Gretsch sold the Bigsby brand to Fender. Maybe it's only a matter of time before Fender owns everything under the Gretsch banner.
A number of years ago I attended a Brian Setzer Orchestra concert nearby (if things ever get back to normal I highly recommend his Christmas tour - fun for the whole family, we have been twice). Setzer of course has long been associated with Gretsch guitars - and man, can he ever play 'em!
In the lobby there were several hollow body Gretsch guitars one could test drive, but you wore headphones connected to amps so you wouldn't ruin the evening for everyone. I spoke with the Gretsch sales rep and he told me that he was technically a Fender employee, but Fender didn't actually own the brand.
I haven't seen him post here in at least a couple years, but James Pennebaker had been with Fender Nashville in Artist Relations, I think he left that job sometime back. Jerry Douglas spoke of stopping by the Fender office several years ago and he spotted hanging on a the wall one of the inexpensive Gretsch Bobtail dobros equipped with the Fishman Nashville pickup he helped develop, and he borrowed it out to bring out on tour with his band to play on a couple songs per show to see how it performed in "the real world." I think this is why in guitar stores across the country these Gretsch resonators have become ubiquitous. They are manufactured and sold by the long arm of Fender Musical Instrument Corporation.
I'm not sure where the the Sho-Bud logo apparel one can buy online fits into all this, but the name is still owned by Gretsch.
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Mark |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 11:36 am
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So in theory, FMIC could have something cobbled together in an Asian sweatshop, slap a Sho-Bud sticker on it, and bring it to market.
Can you imagine waltzing into a Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon, and instead of listening to a half-dozen horrendous versions of Stairway to Heaven, listening to a gaggle of white-haired geezers trying to play Way To Survive? Oh the humanity! |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 30 Jul 2020 11:56 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
So in theory, FMIC could have something cobbled together in an Asian sweatshop, slap a Sho-Bud sticker on it, and bring it to market.
Can you imagine waltzing into a Guitar Center on a Saturday afternoon, and instead of listening to a half-dozen horrendous versions of Stairway to Heaven, listening to a gaggle of white-haired geezers trying to play Way To Survive? Oh the humanity! |
Man, wouldn't that be something! 
I used to travel a lot for business and always kept a pouch with a bar and picks in the car if I spotted a guitar store on the chance there might be something in the steel guitar category of interest. Probably 10 years ago I was in a Guitar Center in Sacramento and they had a Ric Bakelite lap steel for sale they had received in a trade. I plugged it into a Fender tube amp and tuned it up (I think it was in Open D or E) and started to play some 12 bar blues to see how it sounded.
You would think I had just stepped off an alien space craft with the the looks I was receiving and a few people stood nearby wondering how the heck I was making music on this thing.
I've wondered over the years why there hasn't been an Asian import version of something like the Carter Starter pedal steel. I've concluded that it's because if you sit down behind a pedal steel for the first time, even as an experienced musician, you can't make heads or tails out of it. If you try out an inexpensive lap steel or dobro and there is a bar available for your left hand, you can actually play something that resembles music the first time around and there is potential for an impulse buy in a guitar store.
That said, I'm thinking in marketing research by guitar importers the numbers don't pan out on importing relatively inexpensive Asian-built pedal steels.
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Mark |
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David Nugent
From:
Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 1 Aug 2020 4:49 am
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| Thanks to all for correcting my misinformation. |
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