Roy Orbison with Gretsch white falcon guitar. A rock n roll & rockabilly guitar.
Roy was probably the first famous person to play one.
Neil Young’s first concert was to see Roy Orbison in Canada. Roy was playing the Gretsch white falcon. It made such an impression that Neil still plays a white falcon to this day. Onstage he sometimes tells the story of his first concert and the guitar. He put Roy Orbison on one of his album covers and mentions him in a few songs.
This model is from the year 1959. It has “thumb-print” fret markers and no tremelo arm. Roy plays it in a 1960 tv appearance of “Uptown”. He later knocked the headstock off with a rubber mallet, reattached a Gibson headstock, and painted it black.