Gretsch Archtop Acoustic

gretsch model 30 , made in the gretsch factory.... hollowbody acoustic archtop, f holes, originally sold at sears for a whopping $35.00, sporting a DeArmond pickup, (with one pot) sunburst, "synchromatic" adjustable bridge, grover tuners, thin neck- with the frets made of rosewood i'm guessing, hard shell case with a sticker on it that says "fight stockpiling no overtime" from that, providing that the guitar has traveled in it's original vessel, the date of production looks to be around 1934 to possibly 1940 or so...model number(located on the top of headstock, stamped)

I can get harmonics on every fret, almost- with alot of fine tuning on that adjustable bridge- once it took me a month of sundays to get it just right, and my man friend, thinking that i had overlooked tightening down the bridge fixed it for me...but for a minuite it had tone on tone on tone~! i use a fender princeton amp, with the pink super slinky electric strings- oddly enough that's all she'll run, anything else just doesn't register that tone... I can get it to sound like a setzer...the pot is kinda gritty and it crackles a little sometimes. but, overall, the guitar is pretty versitile, i'm able to play dirty, clean- you name it. its sorta a jack of all trades, if you will-

as far as the factory set up goes, I was about 40 years from bieng born, but as far as i can tell, the only thing that has been changed is the machine headsto grovers, the action is like butter and as low as you can go for me!!!the tail piece (trapeze) is a little rusty, but not enough to affect the guitar's overall appearance or playability- i think for the original $35.00 pricetag, it has withstood the test of time.

the gretsch model 30, in my opinion, will probably outlast a gibson les paul- or whatever acoustic you put it up against, by a long shot- the proof is in the pudding and the gretsch product and name have survived with flying colors. The thing that originally caught my eye when I acquired it 15 years ago was the way the black finish had worn off the neck, on the back of the fretboard, giving it nostalgia and giving me the inspiration to put just as many hours as the fret board suggests it has been played. this guitar has never let me down, i think if i backed it up with anything, it would be a coffin!!! to the end- if there's a fire, what do you think im gonna get outta the house first? you know it.

I haven't had much luck in getting history on the guitar, the gretsch factory burned down and the records were lost, so over the years, i've gotten bits and pieces of information here and there. it wasn't until about a month ago i finally found out the model number.

I've been playing for about 17 years,(here and there) i own a cello, two violins, keyboards, a flute, a ukelele, harmonicas, and misc. percussion instruments. I hope i would never get my guitar lost or stolen, because, i never leave it in the car(not for a second) i don't loan it out and i could never replace it. the only thing that it doesn't have is a place for the strap to go, but hey, if thats all i have to complain about i'm doing better than most.

This guitar was made in 1937 in the USA. It has a carved solid spuce top, maple sides, three piece neck with two slabs of maple sandwiching a thin slab of rosewood and the back is mahogany. The 20 fret fretboard is made of red-purple rosewood. It has a staircase bridge, harp tail piece, and a DeArmond guitar "mic" pickup that can slide from the bridge position all the to the neck. The original tuners have been replaced with Schaller locking tuners as the orignals were wonrn severly and it has been refretted. This added about $500 to the cost but I bought for the sound. Some time in the past the neck was broken at the heel but this has been repaired and its now stronger than originally. It probably could tell quite a story about its history if it could talk.

I play blues and classicsl music and this guitar sounds great which is why I bought it. There is only a volume control for the DeArmond PUP and its noisy unless its open then its quiet and the tone is great and the notes are clear. I have played it through a 30 watt Crate tube amp, 100 watt Ampeg tube amp, an ole Fender Silverface 135 watt Twin Reverb and my only new amp a Fender Acoustasonic and it sounds great on all of them.

This guitar action is low and it plays well. The finish seems to soften up slightly where my right (picking) arm touches. The quality of the wood and construction is great. It appears to be a copy of the Gibson L-5. I bought this guitar not for any collector value but for its musical value and I really like it.

I would say that the fact that this guitar is still here speaks for itself. I have a Yairi WY-1, a Strat-Plus, American Deluxe Strat, MIM Strat with EMG DG-20 setup, San Patrice Classical, and a Takamine practice box guitar. This guitar can stand up to any one of them in quality of construction and materials and musical value.

Over all this guitar is a ten for sound and playability. It has a worn look from a lot of play in the past and I hope that that I can but on a few more years before it leaves me.

There is more I don't know about this guitar then I do know (maybe somebody has some info?). Here's what I do know. Its non-laminated, beautiful mother of pearl binding against a tobacco finish. The tailpiece has a crude but appropriate etching of GRETSCH at swing joint. Looks like an ebony 2 piece adjustable bridge. I don't think its aftermarket since it fits boy contour like a glove. Its 2 "f" holes are rather narrow. The neck is 20 frets. 4 inlay dots, and 4 thumnail dots. Don't know if the 3 on a side tuners are aftermarket but they are open and the nicest feel when tuning of any guitar I own. They are self locking. The headstock has the name Gretsch carved into the wood, or rather its in relief. Its an extremely well crafted guitar with no #'s, model or any other markigs inside or out. The most I could find out from the Gretch site was that no markngs meant 50's and older. I got it on Ebay and it was listed as from the 1930's but it came from an estate and they really didn't know.

Before I give an opinion on sound I preface it with this. I don't use this guitar as an acoustic in the truest sense of the word. It has a DeArmond "pickup on a stick" which came with the guitar. It has just a volume pot. I use 11 gauge fender super bullets. I use a Harmony 303A amplifier. (if interestes see my reveiw - Harmony Central) and play electrified delta. But what gives me the biggest kick is how close this guitar, pickup and amp can relpicate early Muddy Waters from Rollin Stone, Can't be Satified, Rollin and Tumblin, all his early stuff from Aristocrat to early Chess. You gotta have the chops for this but I have spent a lot of $$$'s trying to get his particular sound. Muddy himself use to say he forgot what he used. ?? He said he couldn't remember if it was a Stella, Silvertone, Gretch. He eventually recorded with a Goldtop/p-90"s and then the Fender telecaster. His earliest recordings by ALAN LOMAX was done with Alans Martin guitar for the Library of Congress. I still don't know what he did use but I do know I found my answer to it and for anyone who is a Muddy nut like I am maybe this will give you something to go on... Forgot one thing. My DeArmond does not deliver much of a signal so I got a stomp box made by Danelectro called a Daddy O. I don't use the distortion but I yank the volume up to max to drive the 303a. The only thing I don't like about this guitar is that I can't put it down...

This guitar is so well made that my other guitars look like assembly line clones except for my Heritage hollowbody. To be hyper critical the fets could be maybe a sqigeon bigger but thats not a flaw thats something I should have put it in features (what do you expect from a 60's space cadet?) I gave all 10's because I am thrilled with this guitar plus the guitar looks like its got mojo all over it, maybe its just drool..

I play this guitar on the street (with a pignose but thats another story) in a dive... it puts up with whiskey breath.

the only investigation I've done is the Gretsch site. If it needed repair I would have local luthier do it.

Ive been a player a lot longer then I am good. If this guitar was stolen it wouldn't matter cuz I would be in the joint for murder. If I lost it, it wouldn't matter cuz I would commit "lost my guitar suicide"
I have gone through so many guitars before gettin this one I am too embaressed to talk about it. An old deceased blueman friend of mine use to say "you payz ya' moneez, ya takes ya chances" which sure is true but once in a blues moon it works out bigtime!