Well, Gretsch is Fender's company, so they might as well use the Fender Custom Shop. I live about 40 miles north of there. (Nope...never visited it, but I have a friend who worked for BC Rich until Bernie Rico died & they sold out who works there)
It's like Kat says...like Tokai, Peerless aren't directly marketed to the USA. But they make a lot of USA Companies' imports for them.
This Irony of Ironies occured to me while I was out doing some errands today:
Gibson sues Ibanez back in the 70's when Ibanez uses FujiDen Japan to make killer Les Paul Clones that start taking a big bite out of LP sales.
Twenty-something years later, Gibson hires FujiDen (who still make top-end Ibanez models) to make Elitists. The Elitists get too good, so this time, instead of suing, they just fire the bastiches. Hah! that'll stop them!
:
Until FujiDen figures it out, and starts marketing to the USA....like Cort Korea, another Ibanez OEM contractor, did/does.
Until then, I'm guessing they're making the high-end Gretschs Kat mentions, and maybe that's another reason why Gibson cut them off at the cajones.