Why are Gretsch guitars so associated with Rockabilly?

Rocker

I find it hard to see the difference between Rockabilly and traditional Rock & Roll.  By traditional Rock & Roll, I mean the style of playing of Chuck Berry and George Thorogood.  Essentially based on the blues chord pattern with a shuffle beat.  The type of guitar they use is a Gibson 335.

Yet for Rockabilly, which to my ears sounds similar to traditional Rock & Roll, a Gretsch guitar is favoured.  Is there a musical/sound reason for this preference or is it just another reason to buy another guitar?

octatonic

Really it was Brian Setzer who codified Gretsch as rockabilly guitars in the 80's rockabilly revival.

Setzer got it from Cochran who played a Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Western model.

In the 50's there was much more plurality of guitar model.
Carl Perkins used Gibson.
Buddy Holly a Strat.
Scotty Moore played Gibson and Fender Telecaster.
Bill Hailey played a Gibson Super 400.

Philly_Q

Because rockabilly's that bit more twangy?

hollywoodrox

I absolutely dig the Rat Rod   By Gretsch  I think it makes a great Sleazy rock guitar  and has a hint of Richard fortus style to it 

dazzajl

Gretschs sound perfect, look better than any other choice and unlike all the other brands, they really haven’t diluted the 50s vibe of their product. 

Philly_Q

I think of rockabilly as having a fairly large good ole boy quotient, and elements of country... Gretsch played up to that with all that cowpoke/rodeo imagery, "G" brands, horseshoe inlays etc. 

EricTheWeary

octatonic said:

Really it was Brian Setzer who codified Gretsch as rockabilly guitars in the 80's rockabilly revival.

Setzer got it from Cochran who played a Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Western model.
In the 50's there was much more plurality of guitar model.

Carl Perkins used Gibson.
Buddy Holly a Strat.
Scotty Moore played Gibson and Fender Telecaster.
Bill Hailey played a Gibson Super 400.

I agree although a lot of Setzer’s work hasn’t had the more plinky plonky type rockabilly sounds. 

And some Gretsches have the bling and the cattle branding and all that Americana type stuff which is much more part of the rockabilly image. I think they also did the custom colour thing before Fender and they were doing wacky body shapes (think Bo Diddley and Lady Bo) quite early on. So if you wanted to make a loud visual statement Gretsch were the go to brand. 

https://i.imgur.com/Hrnc44U.jpg

dazzajl

Wow @EricTheWeary that’s a lotta cool in one pic 

slacker

My most versatile guitar is a Jet. Sometimes guitars are used for a genre or revival and its not clear that their were other uses or genres. George Harrison, Malcombe Young, Billy Duffy all break the mould. 

The Telecaster is a country guitar-Status Quo, Stranglers...

Stratocaster is a surf guitar...Hendrix

Les Paul's and Jazzmasters were designed for jazz.

I remember not see a LP on top of the pops for years, along comes Slash. 

downbytheriver

Actually George Thorogood usually used a thinline ES-125 and Chuck Berry used all kinds of guitars before apparently settling on a 355. 

Gretschs are great for almost anything. 

octatonic

downbytheriver said:

Actually George Thorogood usually used a thinline ES-125 and Chuck Berry used all kinds of guitars before apparently settling on a 355. 

Gretschs are great for almost anything. 

Rocker

Back in the 1970s, Gretsch guitars were rated similar to Ibanez.  And that was not good.  It seems that both brands have upped their game considerably since those days.

Basher

Interesting question.

I don't think it's anything to do with sound and is more just tradition. IMO I think a Gibson can be dialled in to twang, a Gretsch to be warm and midrangey, at least as close as it would need to be.

I think the Gretsch cosmetics always look a bit more influenced by '50s cars (although it might be that for all my lifetime - and I'm old - I've associated Gretsch guitars with '50s cars). The hot rod 50's car thing seems central to the Rockabilly genre (although you could probably say that about traditional rock-n-roll).

Another thing might be the high percentage of Gretsch guitars that have a Bigsby as stock? The whole wiggle/shimmer thing seems very popular with the be-quiffed ones.

Caffeine_Vampire

The straight rock 'n' rollers will play all the usual Fender/Gibson suspects but if you try to play anything other than a Gretsch in a Psychobilly band then you're asking for trouble. 

Redlester

Gretsch guitars are visually very striking- they do go with the whole larger than life Rockabilly aesthetic. 

That's why Billy Duffy of the Cult picked a Falcon as well- big guitar, plenty of bling, makes a big statement and gets you noticed. 

Sounds great in his hands as well. 

octatonic

Caffeine_Vampire said:

The straight rock 'n' rollers will play all the usual Fender/Gibson suspects but if you try to play anything other than a Gretsch in a Psychobilly band then you're asking for trouble. 

With one exception: the Gibson ES295 with Bigsby.

CaseOfAce

As Slash was to Gibson Les Pauls, Brian Setzer was to Gretsch !

stimpsonslostson

hollywoodrox said:

I absolutely dig the Rat Rod   By Gretsch  I think it makes a great Sleazy rock guitar  and has a hint of Richard fortus style to it 

I got one of the black Rat Rods because I couldn't afford a Tim Armstrong signature model, 
It's a great guitar & I've been really impressed by how versatile it is- it even sounds good unplugged, so I don't use my acoustic as often.

ICBM

Rocker said:

By traditional Rock & Roll, I mean the style of playing of Chuck Berry and George Thorogood.  Essentially based on the blues chord pattern with a shuffle beat.  The type of guitar they use is a Gibson 335.

downbytheriver said:

Actually George Thorogood usually used a thinline ES-125 and Chuck Berry used all kinds of guitars before apparently settling on a 355.

Because the 335 family did not exist before 1958, by which time rock 'n' roll was almost over, at least in its original form.

Most of the early rock 'n' rollers actually used fully hollow Gibsons or other similar guitars, with a few using Fenders. Chuck Berry mainly used an ES-350 before the 335-types.

Offset

slacker said:

I remember not see a LP on top of the pops for years, along comes Slash. 

Off the top of my head... Paul Kossoff?  Jan Akkerman?  Mick Ronson?!  And all the decades in between...

Basher

Offset said:

slacker said:

I remember not see a LP on top of the pops for years, along comes Slash. 

Off the top of my head... Paul Kossoff?  Jan Akkerman?  Mick Ronson?!  And all the decades in between...

To be fair, I think it did go a bit quiet on the LP front during the 80s.

Caffeine_Vampire said:

The straight rock 'n' rollers will play all the usual Fender/Gibson suspects but if you try to play anything other than a Gretsch in a Psychobilly band then you're asking for trouble. 

That's this poor fucker's goose cooked then...



Although, to be fair (again), some Guild/DeArmond models seem to split the difference between Gretsch and Gibson.