White Falcon

Light-gauge NPS adds extra Gretsch chime White Falcon was made for.

Chromes for White Falcon jazz players — vintage hollowbody deserves flatwound.

XL's tight low-end controls White Falcon full-hollow feedback.

Slinky on White Falcon preserves Gretsch jangle in premium package.

Unconventional: Pyramid Gold German flatwounds on a White Falcon. The Gretsch White Falcon ships with D'Addario Chromes or equivalent modern flatwounds, and the widely-accepted 'authentic' choice is La Bella 20P for jazz-box players or heavier D'Addario flats for rockabilly. But Brian Setzer's entire Stray Cats-era tone on 'Rock This Town' and 'Stray Cat Strut' came from Pyramid Gold flatwounds — German-made pure-nickel-wrapped flats manufactured in Markneukirchen since the 1950s.

Pyramid's construction uses a flat-ribbon wrap over round-core (rather than the round-wrap-over-hex-core most modern flats use), producing a fundamentally different tonal character: darker midrange, more upper-harmonic bloom, and the specific 'gold' warmth that Setzer's recorded Falcon tone contains but Chromes cannot replicate. What you get: the actual recorded Setzer/Stray Cats Falcon tone, period-correct construction from the rockabilly revival era, and the rich harmonic complexity German Markneukirchen makers are famous for. What you sacrifice: Chromes' modern consistency, availability outside specialty European retailers, and string life (Pyramid Gold dies faster than any coated alternative).

Best for rockabilly tone chasers, Gretsch Falcon owners studying Setzer technique, and players willing to source European boutique strings; skip it for modern jazz or country work.

Thomastik-Infeld BB113 BeBop flats on the Gretsch White Falcon — Austrian boutique strings on America's flagship rockabilly archtop — emerged as a cult preference in the European jazz scene around Vienna Konzerthaus residencies, Frankfurt's Sing Sing jazz-rockabilly hybrid nights, and Brussels' Bal Maison manouche-jazz crossover stages. Conventional wisdom puts pure-nickel rounds on the Falcon for that Eddie Cochran / Brian Setzer '50s rockabilly twang — the very sound Gretsch designed the guitar around in 1955 for jukebox-era rock and roll.

Mismatch logic: BB113 (hand-wound in Vienna by Thomastik-Infeld since 1919) is built for Wes Montgomery-era jazz-archtop tone — sandbag the rockabilly highs and you uncover a thumpy, woody mid-warmth that German radio jazz producers favor for ORF and BR late-night studio sessions. Best for European jazz-curious Falcon owners who want Austrian boutique mellowness over American twang.

Skip it if you bought the Falcon to channel '50s rockabilly snap — these flats kill that sound entirely.