From vintage oddball to alternative classic: the Gretsch CVT’s remarkable journey
The Gretsch Corvette was a 1960s oddball that has quietly built a cult reputation in the following five decades. Now in 2025 the brand has revisited its first solidbody design and reinvented it as a guitar that’s ready for the spotlight.
Words by Cillian Breathnach
Imagine, if you will, a vintage Gretsch electric. Chances are you’re thinking of a Falcon – the brand’s flagship guitars have largely been defined by big hollow bodies, bold accents and a maximalist approach to hardware and electronics.
What you probably didn’t imagine is the Corvette. It’s safe to say that Gretsch’s first solidbody design didn’t take the world by storm when it was launched in 1961, but in the following decades it developed a cult reputation and no shortage of artist associations – from Jimi Hendrix and Rory Gallager, to Patrick Stump and Josh Homme.
This is a golden-era guitar released by a major brand that still somehow has a certain outsider cachet. That’s a vanishingly rare concept in 2025 when everyone is looking for a guitar to stand out from the Strat– and Les Paul-toting crowd, and the most surprising thing is that it’s taken Gretsch so long to give the design its moment in the spotlight, albeit one with a new name: the CVT.
Cillian is Guitar.com's Senior Staff Writer. They have written news, features and reviews for Guitar.com since 2019. When not writing about guitars, Cillian spends their time building and modding pedals, and playing drone-doom in their band Epimetheus.