Gretsch BillyBo Jupiter Thunderbird
DECEMBER 2005 111
GRETSCH ‘BILLY-BO’ JUPITER THUNDERBIRD £2,099
ELECTRICS
CD TRACKS 6 & 7
It’s late September, and Liverpool’s Cavern
Club is rockin’ to the sound of Gretsch. No,
it’s not the early sixties (or indeed the
original location), and we’re not listening to
The Beatles: it’s earlier this year, and
Gretsch’s Mike Lewis is fi nishing a
punishing tour of the UK promoting the
sound and history of Gretsch guitars, past
and present. Long-time Fender veteran
Lewis is a fi ne player, and puts numerous
new Gretsches through their paces. There
are snippets of George Harrison, Duane
Eddy, Pete Townshend, AC/DC, Brian
Setzer, not to mention a little Diddley beat
and zesty Texas boogie. With the show over
and refreshed by some of Liverpool’s fi nest
ale (Guitarist, that is, not Mr Lewis) we just
about manage to turn our tape recorder on.
How did you establish the link with Billy
F Gibbons?
“Well, we’ve known and been good friends
with Mr Gibbons for years. One day he
called me when the band was in town and
said, You gotta come down here, I have
something to show you. When I got there,
he showed me this nutty Gretsch guitar
and said, You HAVE to do this thing! And
I said, Yeah, but we should make it a Billy
Gibbons/Bo Diddley model. He thought for
a second, then smiled and said, Hmm…
the Billy-Bo! That’s how it got started.”
Billy reckons Bo’s original was made
around 1959 – is that the case?
“It’s pretty sketchy, but somewhere around
1959-1961 sounds about right. There are
also photos of Lady Bo [Diddley’s backing
guitarist] playing the Cadillac model. You
see, there were actually three different
‘custom’ Gretsch ‘Bo’ models: the
rectangular one, the Thunderbird, and the
Cadillac, which was similar to the
Thunderbird but with bigger fi ns. An
accurate count of how many were made
remains a mystery.”
We’re not aware that the Jupiter
Thunderbird has ever been offered as
a production model from Gretsch before.
Strange really; any idea why?
“No, but as the story goes, Bo was playing
a Gretsch Duo Jet and had some ideas for
body designs, so he went to Gretsch and
asked them to make them for him. The
rectangular model has been in the line for
a while now, but I couldn’t tell you why the
others were never reproduced.”
We know you’ve spent some time
restoring some original details across the
Gretsch range. Could you give us some
specifi c examples?
“Everything ‘classic’ has a recipe. In this
case, it was fi guring out why the original
models sounded so cool. We went out and
got some vintage Gretsch models and really
studied them. We even ran a 1961 6120
through a CAT Scan!”
The Bono Irish Falcon is another new-for-
2005 model – and yet it’s probably easier
getting to the Pope than it is to Bono.
How did that relationship come about?
“Fred Gretsch has had a connection with
him for some time. But making it an offi cial
model was actually Bono’s idea. A
percentage of each guitar sold goes to the
DATA program to help Africa – you can visit
www.data.org if you want to fi nd out more.”
Gretsch guitars aren’t cheap, but the
demand and desirability is as high as
ever. How do you explain that?
“Well, there’s a price tag for everything.
If you want a bowling alley in your house,
you’re going to pay something for it. But
Gretsch goes beyond that. It’s like a Harley
Davidson. The Harley rider knows he can
get a bike for less that will get him from A
to B just as well, but he doesn’t care. He’s
got to have a Harley because of how it
makes him feel. It’s not just a motorcycle,
it’s a Harley. It’s the same for Gretsch
players. It’s not just a guitar, it’s a Gretsch!”
Rocking the Cavern
Gretsch may be one of the oldest established guitar brands, but
keeping it alive requires considerable effort. We track down
marketing manager Mike Lewis in Liverpool. Where else?
Words and pics Dave Burrluck
Gretsch’s Mike
Lewis shows off
a ‘Billy-Bo’
Lewis twangs a
Brian Setzer
Signature Gretsch
Legendary brand,
legendary location:
Gretsch’s Mike
Lewis in Liverpool’s
Cavern Club
GIT271.rev_gretsch 111GIT271.rev_gretsch 111 11/11/05 11:06:19 am11/11/05 11:06:19 am