Gretsch Traveling Wilburys Guitar
Gretsch TW-100T
The Traveling Wilburys were the ultimate super group. The band was formed in 1988 and included some of the most successful rock and roll artists of all time. George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. During their time together they recorded two albums. The first reaching #3 on the U.S. pop charts. Roy Orbison died shortly after the release of that album. The remaining members stayed together for a little while and made a second record in 1990. The band went their separate ways after the second album. Mostly because of Orbison’s passing, but also because the Wilburys were never really meant to be more than a side project for its members. Just a couple of good friends writing and playing some songs together.
When the band first got together, George owned a guitar that was given to him by Tom Petty. A 1950’s Danelectro model U2. George was the most active in promoting the band. As part of his efforts, in 1988 he reached out to Fred W. Gretsch, gave him the Dano guitar and asked him to make some promotional electrics for the Traveling Wilburys based off of its design. This was before Danelectro started reissuing their guitars again in the 90’s.
The guitars were made in Korea by Cort under the Gretsch name. 6 models were produced. The TW-100 and 100T, TW-200 and 200T and the TW-300 and 300T. This guitar is the TW-100T. The T stood for tremolo. It has a single coil pickup in the bridge position. The TW-200 came with 2 single coils and the TW-300 had a single humbucker pickup in the bridge position.
They all came in an aged white finish and had custom graphics. The back of the guitar featured signatures of the band members. A few thousand were made. It’s hard to say exactly how many. Available information is pretty limited, but supposedly no two of the guitars had the exact same graphic. It featured a short, 24” scale length and had a small, solid wood body likely made of maple. The bolt-on neck was also made of maple with 18 frets, a rosewood fretboard and dot inlays. The neck has a U shape, 7.25” radius, a 1 11/16” nut width and a fairly slim profile. The headstock is very similar to the Danelectro that it was based on and features vintage style, 3 on-a-side tuners on ornate metal strips.
These TW’s were inexpensive, promotional guitars but are pretty good for what they were and are not bad starter instruments. I bought this one used. It looks like the fret ends were filed at some point to take out some sharpness and the nut was replaced. It has a truss rod in the neck which is something the original Danelectro did not have, but allows you to set the action and intonation up fairly well. The tremolo is very “Fender like”. It works fine and surprisingly doesn’t pull the guitar out of tune easily. The bridge position single coil pickup reminds me of a Gibson Melody Maker style sound.
Here’s George playing his TW-300T in the video for Handle with Care.
Each guitar came in a cool promotional, Traveling Wilburys box. These guitars sort of look like toys but they play and sound good for what they are. I like them for their nostalgia. They commemorate a time when rock and roll’s greatest talents got together and made some excellent music. Positive, upbeat and catchy songs about life and love. I remember watching their videos in the 80’s on MTV and thinking that they looked so happy playing together. It’s nice to have a guitar to remember them by.