The 6022 Rancher is Gretsch’s best-known and most recognizable acoustic. With its sunset orange finish, broad-shouldered body, triangular soundhole, unusual bridge and G-brand, it practically screams “Gretsch.”

Even so, the Rancher and its more subdued brother, the Town & Country, never caught on like Gretsch’s electrics did. To some, the Rancher sounds thin. Others may have avoided it in favor of more traditional acoustics from Martin or Gibson. For whatever reason, Gretsch’s flagship acoustic has rarely gotten the attention it deserved, even though Gene Vincent was often seen playing one.

On the other hand, Gretsch has never given up on Rancher, either.

Both the 6022 and the sunburst-finished 6021 Town & Country were originally introduced for the 1954 model year, and both derived from the earlier 125F flattop. As with the Chet Atkins series, more cowboy features were dropped from the Rancher with each passing year. The Town and Country was deleted altogether in ‘57.

Among collectors, the G-branded models from the ‘50s are most popular, of course.

In the late ‘60s the G-brand returned for a time on the lower bout of the guitar.

32 different models and 45 examples are in the Gretsch-GEAR database, including Rancher, Rancher Acoustic/Electric, Rancher Cutaway, Rancher Double Neck, Rancher Dreadnought , Rancher Folk, Rancher Jr., Rancher Jumbo, Rancher Jumbo Cutaway Electric, Rancher Orchestra, Sweet Sixteen, Town & Country, White Falcon Cutaway and White Falcon Rancher models.

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Milestones

2001

Sweet Sixteen Rancher models announced in September.

2003

Sweet Sixteen Rancher models dropped.

2012

5022CE introduced as part of new “Back to Roots” acoustics.

5034 Rancher Dreadnought guitar introduced.

5013 Rancher Jr CE introduced at Winter NAMM 2012.

3800 Rancher Orchestra introduced at Winter NAMM.

3500 Rancher Folk introduced at Winter NAMM