Do the "Peppermint" Twist!

This colorful variant of the Corvette Solidbody weighs just 6.50 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Solid mahogany body with bevelled edge, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and white dot position markers. Headstock with gold silk-screened Gretsch "T-roof" logo. Kluson Deluxe closed-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. One Hi-Lo'Tron single-coil pickup (near the bridge) with an output of 2.90k. Red and white candy-striped Lucite pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on pickguard. Chrome "Arrow-through-G" knobs with cross-hatch pattern on sides. Gretsch bar bridge and Burns flat-arm vibrato tailpiece. The serial number ("43803") is stamped on the end of the headstock. This very early example of this very rare guitar is totally original and in excellent plus (8.75) condition. The back of the guitar has some belt buckle scarring, there are a few chips on the edges, three small chips on the back of the neck (behind the 7th, 10th, and 11th frets), a little bit of wear around the edge of the headstock, a few small scratches on the top, and some slight discoloration of the red and white stripes under the Lucite pickguard. Housed in a non-original black softshell case with black felt lining (9.00).

"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).