An Original '65 Corvette

This Cherry Red Mahogany Corvette Solidbody weighs just 6.50 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of just under 1 3/4 inches and great thick profile neck with a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Solid mahogany body with bevelled edge, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and pearloid dot position markers. Headstock with gold Gretsch "T-roof" logo decal. The serial number ("87843") is stamped on the back of the headstock. Individual open-back tuners with white plastic oval buttons (two on the bass side, four on the treble side). One Hi-Lo'Tron single-coil pickup (near the bridge) with an output of 3.16k. Two-layer plastic (black on white) pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on pickguard. Chrome "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. The pots are dated "137 6523" (June 1965). Gretsch bar bridge and trapeze tailpiece with horizontal lines on cross-bar. This is a very nice example of this "budget" guitar in totally original and excellent plus (8.75) condition. The back of the guitar has a minimal amount of belt buckle scarring and there is some surface chipping to the edges, especially on the bass side, but overall, this is certainly the cleanest example of a mid 1960s Corvette that we have seen. Housed in the original Gretsch black hardshell case with green plush lining (8.00).

"In the early 1960s, Gretsch attempted to move into the inexpensive solidbody market primarily controlled by Gibson's Les Paul and SG Junior and Special Models. If the Model 6128 Duo Jet, Model 6129 Silver Jet and Model 6131 Jet Firebird were the upper part of the range, like Gibson's Les Paul Custom and Standard Models, the Corvette Solidbody Double Cutaway guitar covered the bottom part of the specturm [sic]. In 1961 the denizens of these lower reaches were non-contoured, slab-bodied solidbodies reminiscent of the Les Paul Junior in cherry red and TV finish. 1961 Corvettes (not to be confused with the 1950's, not-cutaway, hollowbody, DeArmond-equipped jazz guitar Models 6182, 6183 and 6184 which bore the same name) were available in two colors: the $148 dark cherry red-stained Model 6132 in Mahogany and the $185 Platinum Grey...At 13 1/2-inches-wide and 1 1/2-inches-deep with a 24 1/2-inch scale on a full-access neck, you'd swear the Corvette was a Les Paul Junior. A plain headstock with a 'Gretsch' decal, unbound, dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard, one chrome-plated Hi-Lo'Tron pickup, large pickguard to cover the electronics routing, body-accessed truss rod with a square truss rod cover, small, chrome trapeze-type tailpiece, movable ebony bridge and chrome 'G'-indent control knobs are standard on the unobtrusive little slab. The 1961 Corvettes represented a wonderfully affordable option to Gibson's Les Paul Junior. As was too often its habit, however, Gretsch proceeded to maim the model and completely changed the body style of the Corvette in 1962 solely to mimic Gibson's move to the SG body shape. This second version Corvette persisted, without major change, until 1968 or '69 when it was removed from availability. SG-like right down to its scalloped, sculptured cutaways and body edges, the 1962 Model 6132 in Cherry Red features a 3-on-side headstock, usually body-accessed truss rod (later in the year, headstock-accessed) with a bullet-shaped, not square, truss rod cover and a small trapeze tailpiece. The Platinum Grey Model 6133 is no longer offered...In 1965 the 'reverse', 2-plus-4 headstock appears for the first time on all 'vettes" (Jay Scott, The Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, pp. 212-213).

"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" (The Gretsch Pages at http://www.gretschpages.com/models/6132vette/index.php).