For all of Gretsch’s flash and fanfare, when it came down to basics, Gretsch followed Gibson – in entering the solidbody market, enlisting a famous endorser, implementing humbucking pickups, and finally, adopting a double-cutaway body shape.

Gibson had given it’s lower Les Paul Junior and Special a boost with double-cutaways in 1958 and 1959, respectively and, in 1961, Gretsch followed suit, changing all the Jet-family models to double-cutaway. A year later, the Silver Jet became the patriarch of an unofficial sparkle family, when Gretsch officially made all their sparkle drum coverings available as guitar finishes. Champagne Jets and Gold Jets were the most popular choices after Silver; Burgundy and Tangerine were also listed. The flash of notoriety was shortlived, however.

In 1963, Gretsch stopped listing the Silver Jet as a separate model and made all the sparkle finishes optional on the basic Duo Jet models. Three years later, Gretsch stopped offering sparkle finishes officially, but this 1969 example shows that sparkles were available until the Duo Jet was discontinued in 1971.