Gretsch Camp Uke and Long-Neck Soprano Uke

By Ken Hughes

Like a handful of other storied, American instrument manufacturers, Gretsch participated in the first uke boom nearly a century ago, and the fact that the company is still around to take part in the current surge in ukulele popularity is itself noteworthy. Now under the Fender umbrella, Gretsch earlier this year revamped much of its acoustic-centric Roots Collection, which includes banjos, guitars, mandolins, and, of course, ukuleles. Among the new ukes is the very modern Gretsch G9100-L soprano with a longer, concert-sized neck, and the G9101 Camp Uke, a circular-bodied throwback to Gretsch’s earlier uke-making ventures in the ’20s and ’30s.

Excerpted from Ukulele No. 7, Winter 2014