as what would appear to be a rather obvious rival to Gibson’s Les Paul/SG Junior, the Gretsch Corvette never really graduated to pro-player status like the guitar maker’s Duo Jet or 6120 models, but it makes a particularly interesting “B-list vintage” guitar. Gretsch first used the Corvette name on a guitar in its lower-priced hollowbody Electromatic series of 1954–’59. This was a non-cutaway archtop with a single DeArmond Model 200 (a.k.a. Dynasonic) pickup in the neck position and relatively modest cosmetics beyond the block fingerboard inlays. Shortly after, Gretsch headed back to the drawing
