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Guild® Guitars
Guild® was founded by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music store owner, and George Mann, a former Epiphone executive. They formed a partnership and registered the name in 1952. The partners set up shop in a 1500 square foot New York City loft. In 1956 Guild relocated to Hoboken, NJ. During the 1950’s and 60’s, the Guild® line attracted many of the well known guitarists of the day. Guild then moved to Westerly, RI.
In 1995 Fender Musical Instruments purchased Guild®, and under the personal direction of CEO Bill Schultz, has whole-heartedly committed all of Fender’s resources to the survival and prosperity of the company.
Gretsch® Guitars
For more than 100 years, Gretsch® has developed what came to be known as “That Great Gretsch Sound"™ but it all began with a young German immigrant in Brooklyn.
At 27, Friedrich Gretsch founded a small musical instrument shop, to make banjos, drums and tambourines. Fred knew listening to what the public wanted was the key to growth, and the public wanted guitars. So, Gretsch began making guitars.
The ‘60s brought a further boost to Gretsch when George Harrison played a succession of Gretsch® models.
In the late ‘60s, Fred Gretsch retired and sold the company to Baldwin Manufacturing. Fred Gretsch III had vowed it would return. In 1985 his dream came true, and through the ‘90s he brought Gretsch back into the limelight with a series of successful re-issues and new models.
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