Tenor guitars were prevalent in the 1930s as they provided tenor banjo players with as easy way to switch to the increasingly popular guitar. By the 1950s most companies would still make almost any model as a tenor, but only by custom order.

This Gretsch electric tenor is a Synchromatic 6031, featuring the cat’s eye soundholes that appeared on the Synchromatic acoustic series in 1939 and were the first of many design flairs that would set Gretsch apart from it’s competitors. Although this instrument is technically an acoustic model with an added pickup, the pickguard has the shape and tortoise pattern of a standard Gretsch guard, and the cutout for the pickup is bound, indicating that it was probably original, factory-installed equipment on this guitar.

As part of Gretsch’s across-the-line overhaul in 1955, the Synchromatic 6030 (sunburst finish) and 6031 (natural) received a new name – the Constellation – but Gretsch’s focus was almost completely on electrics by that time, and the Constellation only lasted to the end of the decade.