Haven't updated in a long time.

Since my last update I finished a second Gretsch Corvette project. Unfortunately, I did not blog about it. But, I'll post a synopsis of my work with some before and after photos here.

Back in the summer of 2008, I noticed a ebay auction for a project Gretsch from a seller I had dealt with before, gravitymusicgear. Great folks to deal with, BTW. I tracked it in my ebay and figured out what I was willing to bid and in the end on May 29th, was the victor! It was pretty much a basket case from the photos...but it was also not quite what they thought it was. They had it listed as a 60's Gretsch Corvette, but evidence indicated it was actually a Gretsch Twist! Total, with shipping, was $308.00. For a one piece 40+ year old Honduran mahogany body and Brazillian rosewood fretboard! Amazing (to me anyway).

When the guitar arrived, I assessed the situation and determined it had indeed been a Twist and was going to be a lot work work to bring back. The serial number on the edge of the headstock did not conform to Gretsches usual practice and placed the guitar as a 1961. It was clearly not your typical 1961 Gretsch Corvette as it had the carved contours. My best guess is it is a very early example of what most people would call a 1962 or 1963 Corvette....perhaps produced as early as late 1961, but who knows.

Here are some pictures from the auction and the small handful of in progress pictures I took. Wish I had taken more, obviously. I'll describe what I found and what I did to get it back into shape.

1962 Gretsch Twist before/during

I was happy to find it was structurally sound when it arrived. A number of holes (something like 13!) had been drilled all over it, some of them inexplicably. I set about plugging everything with some mahogany dowel rod I had acquired and getting the plugs flush with the body. I used Citrus Strip to strip the varnish or shellac it had been coated with and was able to get it down to bare wood without too much trouble. One of the items I was missing was a original trapeze tail piece. Luckily Paul Setzer from the Gretsch pages sold me a spare he had ($45). Parts where acquired, made and fabricated, re-finishing undertaken and by early fall (I cannot remember exactly when, late August/early September) I was finished. I'm very pleased with the outcome. I've gigged the guitar and it performs admirably and elicits comments from the other players in the audience.

Here are some after shots:

1962 Gretsch after

Lastly, the pickup it came with...that thing that looks like a icecream sandwich in the before gallery...I'm not sure what that is. I have yet to install it in something to hear it, but it does register on a ohm meter, so I think it works. I suspect it might be the original Hi-Lo Tron that someone made upper and lower bobbin plates for and then "potted" it in something akin to Millput, or a plumbers type putty. Sometime I want to throw it in a guitar and see what it sounds like. The pickup in the guitar now is a TVJones Powertron. The volume pot is a push/pull affair that allows me to coil split for a single coil tone.