GRETSCH MODEL 50 Description
- carved spruce top, arched maple or avoidire back, figured maple sides, two f-holes, triple-bound top and single boudn back, three-piece maple neck, 14/20-fret bound ebony or rosewood pointed end fingerboard with pearloid diamond inlays, black plastic veneer peghead with pearl scroll inlay and vertical lines, three-per-side nickel tuners with tortoiseshell or white buttons, adj. maple bridge, trapeze tailpiece, raised triple-bound bakelite black pickguard, available in Brown Sunburst finish, 16 in. body width, 24.5 in. scale, mfg. 1936-1949.
This model also available with a round soundhole (Model 50R), which was produced between 1936 and 1939. In the late 1930s, avoidire replaced maple in the back, a rosewood fingerboard replaced the ebony, white tuner buttons replaced the tortoiseshell, and a crosspiece was placed in the middle of the tailpiece. By 1940, dot fingerboard inlays were replaced by diamonds.