Pretty much all done...

I'll eventually post something about the final assembly process and the minor pitfalls (and pratt falls) I had along the way, but for now...how bout just some pictures:

Gretsch Complete

Whew!

OK...amazingly enough, the guard came yesterday. Terrapin did a fantastic job. The metallic silver is a bit bigger flake than I wanted, but I can deal....it was cut and finished out perfectly....well, the pot holes were too small, but that took a few minutes with a rat tail to remedy, no biggy.

So..needless to say, I stayed up waaaayyyy too late getting it back together. The one shortcut I took was to shim up the original bone nut until I get time to cut a new one. It's got a quick and dirty set-up and I've only played on her for around an hour....but my oh my.....this is niiiice.:)

More details and pics this weekend.......

The great cop-out?

I dunno...maybe it was a cop-out...maybe a pragmatic decision..maybe just an artistic change of course...but after eight coats of tung oil, I decided I wasn't liking the finish and feel of the guitar, so I bought some True-Oil last monday:



I steel wooled everything down and started applying True Oil with small squares of cotton rag. I did the back and neck first...about 5-6 coats....steel wooling in between. Then flipped it over and did another five or so coats on the front and sides. This was mostly trough last week.

This stuff has a lot of varnish in it as well as some raw linseed oil. It's made for gun stocks and is quite hard and pretty durable. It goes on easy and after a couple coats dries glossy enough to almost look like lacquer. I steel wooled the final coat and then buffed with a piece of cashmier scarf...it gave it exactly the feel and look I wanted. Not fully grain filled and smooth, but better than the tung oil, and just a nice satin finish. Perfect! Pictures soon. Still have to do the back of the neck and the headstock sides and back tonight.

Mean time, I masked off most of the neck and headstock, except the very face. Next I grain filled the headstock face, hit it with some Deft sand and sealer, then sanded smooth. Cleaned that off and primed with some black Duplicolor lacquer automotive primer. After it dried overnight, I carefully wet sanded the headstock dead smooth and then cleaned again and shot it with some gloss black acrylic lacquer. Once it had dried a couple days, I applied one of the Gretsch masks and shot some metallic gold lacquer I got at the auto parts store. It's Duplicolor touch up paint...I can't remember exactly what for, but will post that detail later. Then it was five good coats of acrylic clear lacquer and let it sit for a bit again.

Tonight the plan is to finish rubbing out the True OIl, buff out the headtsock, then take care of a couple other small things before starting assembly.

The pickguard shipped tuesday....be nice if it was here by friday, but I doubt it will be. More soon...including, finally, some more pictures! The end is in site!

Slow progress

Hard to get more than three coats of tung oil on a week due to my schedule. I managed to do that much though, so I'm up to 7 coats thus far. It's looking very fetching too. I'm going to shoot for three more coats next week, then step back and evaluate where I'm at in the refinishing. I have a feeling I'll be happy with 10 coats and will start on painting the headtsock.....but I wanna see what that 10th coat looks like before I commit.

About the only other thing of note for the week....aside from landing two more 60's vintage American made guitar projects (more on those later)...and landing a cheap and cool early 80's Matsumoku made Vantage Avenger (Japanese ash body!).....was my order from TV Jones came in on...I think it was monday? Anyway, I sit here at work just about ready to leave and start my weekend....typing this...and wearing my new charcoal gray TV Jones t-shirt!:) Below are two photos of the Powertron. It's so hard being patient...I just want to throw all the parts together and see how she sounds and plays. Can't do that though...gotta make her look nice and protect the wood....

Refinish progressing nicely

Just an update on refinishing the Corvette. Monday I sanded down the whole body and neck, starting with 100, then 120, 150, and finally 220. Afterwards I used a paint brush to wisk all the sanding dust and ditrious off the surface and prepare it for the first coat of tung oil.





For that, I followed the manufacturers recommendations and thinned it 50/50 with mineral spirits. Then I rigged up a hanger system using coat hanger bits I cut and bent, and applied a liberal coat by brush. After it sat for 15 minutes, I wiped it down and rubbed the tung oil in good with a clean soft cotton rag. Subsequent coats have followed the same procdure, except they've been full strength and not diluted.

Here is the fourth wet coat applied thursday evening after work. Shortly after this, I wiped it down and hung it up inside to cure over the weekend. I will apply additional coats all next week.....I've not yet decided how many. Perhaps 8-10 in total. The first coat so dramitically changed the appearance of the wood, I was a bit surprised. It is gorgeous. Additional coats have just added to the richness of the woods color and really popped the grain. This is a terrible photo, because it was getting late and the flash kicked in. It's actually more subtle in person, darker and not as red. I think ultimately, it will have a beautiful satin finish when I'm done.




WooHoo! Udate to add...just got this e-mail from TV Jones!:

"Your order was shipped to you on 08/03/2007 via U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail"

Pickup ordered

I got impatient. Hadn't heard back from my e-mail, so I figured I'd give a phone call a try. Spoke with a nice guy named Chris, basically told him what I said in my e-mail. From his descriptions, it sounded like the Powertron Plus would venture a little too far into humbucker territory, especially on the treble strings. So I opted for the regular Powertron. I placed the order on line and have posted a screen shot of it below. Woohoo!

Going to put coat #2 of tung oil on tonight when I get home....

Tung Oil & Pickups

No photos yet, but I finish sanded the entire guitar after work last night. It felt good to sit outside in the sun with the orbital whirring away and working with a sanding block again. Only took a couple hours, started with 80, then 120, 150 and finally 220 grits.

After that, I rigged up a coat hanger device for one of the tuner holes and broke the seal on my Rockler tung oil and the can of mineral spririts I bought at Home Depot sunday. Made a 50/50 mixture in a plastic up, grabbed a small cheapo brush and started to apply the first generous coat of tung oil to the Gretsch (outside, naturally).

It really seemed to soak this up and the wood turned a absolutely gorgeous dark mahogany color. The grain really popped too. I was very pleased. I let it sit, soak (and runs drip) for about 15 minutes, then proceeded to wipe the excess off and rub the oil in with a clean, soft cotton rag. Took the guitar back inside and found a secure location to hang it up to cure till I have a chance to apply another coat (probably wednesday or thursday, as we jam tonight).

I'm curious to see how many coats it's going to be before I'm at a point I'm happy with the finish. Will I want more on the back of the neck then elsewhere? Be interesting to figure this out as I go along.

The templates for the headstock logo came over the weekend. They look great and should serve their purpose admirabley. I still need to hit the auto touch-up paint section of whatever store strikes my fancy and see if I can locate some lacquer that looks to be a suitable color.

Given the time difference between here and Washington, it's somewhat difficult to coordinate that phone call I wanted to put into TV Jones, so I thought I would try their info e-mail address first, just to see if I can get advice that way. I just sent this off an hour ago:

Hi,

I need to purchase a pickup for a guitar I am
refurbishing. Here are the specs:

1961 Gretsch Corvette
solid mahogany body and neck
one bridge pickup
trapeze tail piece
converted to tunomatic bridge (body drilled for studs,
so it's fixed)
I'll be buying what ever TV Jones pup in the Gretsch
style English mount (the guitar was routed for a
humbucker long ago).

Other Gretsch guitars I own:

2005 6120-DSW
2005 6118 (Filtertron Tennessee Rose)
2006 Electromatic Pro-Jet

I play mostly music in the realm of The White Stripes,
Social Distortion with the occasional rockabiliiy,
surf and blues style tunes thrown in.

In the past I have had hi output humbuckers in guitars
(like Duncan Distorion) and haven't cared much for
their versatillity and tone.

I'm thinking a PowerTron, but perhaps a PowerTron Plus
might be better?

Also, the route is about 3/4" to 7/8" deep, and I am
unsure if I need to specify the short pole piece
screws, or if that's deep enough to accomodate the
standard ones.

Thanks for any help you can provide. If it's better
that I call, I'd be happy to do it.

Thanks,

That's all for now....