Gretsch launched it’s first archtop electric guitar, the single-pickup, maple-bodied Electromatic Spanish, in 1940. Gretsch enjoyed more success with it’s post-war electrics, and it’s popular Country Club model, which debuted in 1954, was an updated version of the Electro II, a model that had appeared three years before.

This Country Club was made in 1956 and it has a spruce top, maple back and sides to go along with twin single-coil pickups called “Dynasonics”, which were invented by an early pioneer of transducer design by the name of Harry DeArmond. They were manufactured in Toledo, OH.

It is fitted with a “Melita” bridge, first introduced in 1952. This was the first such Gretsch unit to allow precise adjustments.