1930s Gretsch NY Mini-Jumbo Flat-top

By the mid-1930s, Gretsch's New York production line included a full range of instruments. At the time, the company was in a state of exploration, so a lot of Gretsch designs were strange and inventive. Interestingly, some of their ideas—such as an X-braced, mini-jumbo flattop guitar—were ahead of their time.  This Gretsch flattop was made in Brooklyn, New York in the mid-'30s. It was originally constructed with normal flattop X-bracing, but it had an archtop-style trapeze tailpiece and an adjustable archtop bridge on threaded studs set into the top. Whacky! But when you think about it, Gretsch was really the only factory making mini-jumbo, x-braced guitars in the '30s (the Gibson J-185 didn't come out until 1951). Most of these Gretsch creations were 12-fret guitars intended for Hawaiian playing, but the headplate on this mini-jumbo reads "Gretsch American." In the decades after it was made, a guitar like this would be practical for any genre of American music. In 2018, this guitar