Stephen Stern of the Gretsh Custom Shop is always on a quest to ensure his guitars are as close to vintage correct as possible, accomplishing that by having his builders closely analyze all the vintage instruments that come across his desk.
Stern’s group recently examined Stephen Stills’ 1959 White Falcon— the one he played at Woodstock with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. And because that guitar featured the original knobs that were used on Gretsch Falcons and Penguins over a three-year period in the late 1950s, Stern now finds himself closer to his goal.
“From that one knob, we were able to spec out the three model years of Falcon and Penguin knobs,” said Stern.
In addition, Stern was helped a while back when he got his hands on George Harrison’s 1957 Duo Jet and recorded the knobs used over a two-year period on Duo Jet and 6210 models.
“I wanted to release all the new knobs at the same time, so when we got the Stills guitar in the shop, it was the last piece of the puzzle,” Sten noted.
Note photos of the new vintage correct knobs below.
