Do the "Peppermint" Twist!

1962 Gretsch 6110 Corvette Twist.

This colorful and rare variant of the Corvette Solidbody weighs just 5.50 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of just under 1 3/4 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Solid mahogany body with bevelled edges. One-piece mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium-thin frets and clay-dot position markers. Headstock with gold silk-screened Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Dome shaped, two-layer, white over black plastic truss-rod cover with three screws. Kluson Deluxe open-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. One Hi-Lo'Tron single-coil pickup (near the bridge) with an output of 2.75k. Red and white candy-striped Lucite pickguard with eleven screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on pickguard. Red plastic knobs with ribbed sides and silver tops. The potentiometers are stamped "CTS 34-7604 6228" (July 1962). Gretsch bar bridge on height-adjustable ebony base. Gretsch trapeze tailpiece with original "Tone-Twister" vibrato,. Tailpiece with ridged bar and secured to edge of body by three screws and the strap button. The serial number "46446" is stamped in blind on the end of the headstock. This rare guitar is all original with the exception of a rectangular silver pad which has been affixed to the back. This is the 'second' version of the Corvette 'Twist' with the truss rod cover on the headstock as opposed to on the body at the end of the neck as on the very earliest examples (see in our vault inventory # 00249). There is some light finish checking and a few small surface marks on the body. The silver pad was almost certainly added to the back of the guitar to avoid belt buckle wear. This rare little guitar is in excellent plus (8.75) condition. Housed in the original black plastic gig-bag (8.75).

"The Gretsch Corvette family of solidbodies never became the Gibson and Fender-killers Gretsch had hoped, but they were offered in a wide range of styles and remain popular. They were intended to be a Gretsch's inexpensive solidbody models, and the first ones were seen in 1961. Unlike the Jets, they were true solidbodies, with huge, heavy-looking lucite pickguards and a large rectangular truss rod cover on the body, next to the pickguard, with an unsculpted body. The 6132 was cherry-red mahogany, and the 6133 was platinum grey. Both had one HiLoTron, near the bridge. It only took a year for Gretsch to offer a second-generation Corvette, with a sculpted body that was both easier to play and easier on the eye. Moving the truss rod cover (and truss rod adjustment) to the headstock later in the year, and fitting a less slab-like pickguard further helped the 'vette's looks...And in 1962 and '63 a Twist model was also offered. The 6109 had a Tone Twister and the 6110 had a Burns vibrato. Both were bright red with a candy-striped pickguard, hoping to cash in on the 'Peppermint' Twist craze" (The Gretsch Pages at http://www.gretschpages.com/models/6132vette/index.php).

"One more intriguing and rare, Corvette-style guitar to come out of the early-1960s was the Twist Solidbody finished in opaque, fire-engine Peppermint Red (Get it? Peppermint Twist -- like the dance that originated in New York's Peppermint Lounge.) The Twist Model 6109 with Tone Twister and Model 6110 with a Burns vibrato were offered in 1962 and '63. Their outstanding feature was the models' red and white peppermint-striped pickguard. The Model 6109 cost $149 and the 6110 $189 in 1963" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, p. 216).