| The Solid-bodied Corvette (not to be confused with | | | | color was officially discontinued in 1963. Also in 1963, |
| the Corvette hollow-body arch-top electric, produced | | | | Gretsch started beveling the edges of the guitar's |
| from 1955-1959) was Gretsch's answer to the Les | | | | body and sharpened the cutaway points. |
| Paul Jr. by Gibson. Introduced in 1961, the Corvette | | | | Variations of the Gretsch Corvette were the Silver |
| Solid-body was a small, light-weight, comfortable | | | | Duke (1964-66) which was sparkle silver, the Gold |
| electric guitar that was just right for the budding | | | | Duke (1964-66) - you got it - in sparkle gold, and lest |
| musician. | | | | we forget, the Princess (1963-64 - made for the ladies) |
| This killer guitar, with a solid mahogany body, solid | | | | which was available in many color combinations such |
| mahogany set neck, and a rosewood fret board with | | | | as white with purple sparkles, blue with white sparkles, |
| pearl dots, originally came with a single HI-Lo 'Tron | | | | pink with white sparkles, and white with gold sparkles - |
| pickup. The earliest examples had a trapeze tailpiece. | | | | phew! The Princess also differed from the others in |
| By 1963, the Corvette was sporting a Burns' flat-arm | | | | that it had a Palm vibrato tailpiece rather than the |
| vibrato tailpiece. (Yes! That Burns! Good old Jim Burns | | | | Burns', gold-plated hardware in lieu of the standard |
| from England), and came with a choice of either one | | | | nickel/chrome hardware, and a shiny belly-pad on the |
| or two of those Hi-Lo 'Tron pickups. By mid-1963 to | | | | back. |
| 1964, Gretsch changed the standard 3/3 headstock (3 | | | | By 1968, you could no longer get single pickups on the |
| tuners on each side) to a scooby-rific 4/2 headstock | | | | Corvettes, the Burn's vibrato was replaced with a |
| design (4 tuning keys on one side, two on the other). | | | | Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, and the HI-Lo 'Tron pickups |
| Most Corvettes were finished in "cherry" red | | | | were replaced with Super 'Tron pickups. Production of |
| mahogany and had black pick guards. Some came | | | | the Gretsch Corvette wound down in the early 70's. |
| with red and white striped pick guards and a more | | | | (The Corvette did make a brief reappearance from |
| opaque red finish to the body. This version is known as | | | | 1976 to 1978 with different specs - humbuckers, etc. It |
| the "Twist" model. Early Corvettes were also available | | | | was not the same. |
| in platinum gray finish with black pick guards, but this | | | | |