A metal armrest is typical of the Penguin, though some lack the feature. The Falcon and Penguin models shared ornamentation with white finish, gold-sparkle edge trim, gold-plated hardware, Gretsch’s “Cadillac” tailpiece, and red rhinestones set into the volume knobs.Įarly Falcons and Penguins featured hump-top block inlays with engraving, and the vertical gold-sparkle-inlaid Gretsch peghead logo with wings to the side. The Falcon featured body and neck dimensions the same as the Country Club model, with the exception of a larger and differently shaped peghead, while the Penguin featured Duo Jet-type structural features with the exception of the peghead. The Penguin and Falcon evolved in much the same manner. New, the Penguin cost less than the Falcon, but today it’s much more rare, and viewed by many collectors as the holy grail of Gretsch instruments. Original list price is not necessarily a determinant of current value on the vintage instrument market. The Penguin, in spite of being cheaper than the Falcon, is extraordinarily more rare if only because it was not shown in catalogs and wasn’t promoted by the company to any significant extent. By comparison, in 1958 and ’59, a sunburst Les Paul Standard with patent-applied-for humbucking pickups listed at $265 and the Les Paul Custom with three PAFs listed for $375. List prices for White Penguins and White Falcons insured both would be extremely rare. The Penguin appears in no Gretsch catalogs or literature other than the 1959 price list (in which it was offered for $490, while the White Falcon was $675) and a ’58 flyer, which mentioned the White Penguin along with the introduction of Project-O-Sonic stereo electronics, FilterTron pickups, space-control bridge with rollers to adjust string spacing, and the “neoclassical” fingerboard with “thumbprint” inlays. It is estimated that no more than a few dozen were made from the introduction of the model in 1955 through 1964, when it was discontinued, though exact production totals for early Gretsch guitars are not available. There’s no doubt the White Penguin is one of the rarest Gretsch instruments.
We have opened a discussion thread in the Pub section discussing this. We will include a very detailed password checklist.1958 Gretsch 6134 White Penguin, serial number 26389. We want to highly recommend that members turn on and use TGP's two-factor authentication option. We highly recommend every member reading this change their passwords as a precaution. We have forced email revalidation for all members that have not signed on for a while. None of the accounts compromised were using two-factor authentication. Talking to one member as I am working through getting his account back in order, he informed me that his Apple password manager had been compromised and made available on the dark web. In today's world, that is false confidence you can no longer afford.Įvery account that I've restored so far to the original owner was using compromised passwords. It is heartbreaking to see that the lure of saving some money will still fool people into using those methods to save a few dollars.
Unfortunately, we cannot control how members do deals. However, the best way to prevent this is for members to exercise proper password hygiene (which I'll detail below), turn on two-factor authentication, and - I implore every single person here - only use payment methods that have buyer protection. We've made security changes that I don't want to detail here to stop them. They have scammed members in the Emporiums by creating ads with stolen photos and requesting Paypal F&F or Venmo exclusively for payment. Some fraudsters have compromised TGP accounts have in the past few days.