Project guitar for Prismatone: Gretsch

[Roger Pratt]

In one of the earlier pictures it looked to be 25 1/2 in with the old bridge still in place.

[George Beasley]

It was just over 25.5"....If I had to guess, I would say this guitar was done in mm, as 650 mm comes out to 25.59 inches, which is about what this guitar is.

[George Beasley]

Well, I think I am finally finished.

The bridge is glued on, and top cracks glued. I have strung it up, and it holds on at full tension. It turned out reasonably well. There is a slight footprint from the previous bridge, as well as some glue residue that seeped out. That being said, I am happy with my first effort.


I did have to shim the pickup, even with leaving Phil's bridge unmodified in the pickup cavity. The guitar in it's original state must have had a serious shim, because the original bridge was completely cutaway under the pickup. I used a bridge saddle blank from StewMac, and put a router bit on my dremel, set it to the correct height in the drill press rig, and cut it down.



I've attached the battery and the preamp to the upper side of the guitar, using velcro:



After much debate, I decided to go ahead and drill a hole to mount the volume knob...like Jerry's guitar.



New tuners were installed (screw holes didn't exactly line up, so I glued in plugs, and redrilled).



I used very fine sandpaper to get the green off the frets, oiled the fingerboard, and her she is:




I will be stringing her up later today. Any suggestions for strings? When I strung her up the first time to check action, and make sure the electrics worked, I was using LaBella Folk Singers (just for the convenience of having ball ends...as well as for the Willie factor.) They sounded pretty good, but I was wondering what else you folks us.

The only other thing I plan to do to this guitar is glue in the nut, and add strap buttons.

Since this guitar has no real value, other than parts, I may make this my autograph guitar. I'll decide before CAAS if I want to do that.

[BillB]

Good work, George!
Man, that guitar certainly has some character.

Bill B.

[craigdobbins]

George-

Looks good. For the Reed sound, use LaBella Red Nylon flamenco strings. I'd definitely stick with low tension, whatever you use.

Don't think I'd want folks writing on that one. Buy yourself a cheap clunker that you're not going to play for those signatures.

Craig

[Roger Pratt]

Man that guitar looks rougher than a weekend in jail but I bet it sounds GREAT!! Some really professional work there George! Ya done good son!!!

[Richard Hudson]

That's something to be proud of, George. You brought something lifeless back to life.

[George Beasley]

All strung up with LaBella Folk Singers (the store did not have LaBella Flamenco, so I have ordered some). The guitar sounds good, but I am still trying to get the right sound. It is too bright for my Standel 25L15, even with the treble on the amp turned completely off. I am running it through my Schertler David amp, and getting a good sound, though I still need to tweak it to find the right setting.

The guitar plays great. The neck is absolutely straight, and there is surprisingly no obvious fret wear. The nut still needs attention. After I got it put together, I could hear the bass strings hang when tuning up. Which makes sense, as I did not clean up with fine sandpaper after my final filing. Also, wouldn't you know, as soon as I got it strung up, the battery housing came unstuck from the velcro, and now I have that thing flopping around inside until the next time I change strings!! Oh well...it is what it is.

Roger...you are correct. Whoever owned this guitar must have kept it in a burlap bag in a barn loft. I'm surprised they didn't step on it.

Richard: Thanks. I feel good about giving this guitar a second life.

Craig: Maybe I wont let people sign it....but I am tempted.

[PhilHunt]

Holy Crap! Nice Job George. I just recently checked Craigslist in my area the other day and there was a Gretsch classical just like the one you just refurbished in MINT condition...I forgot how much it was.
By the way...how is the action?

[George Beasley]

The action was low. The neck is dead straight, no there is no sag in the top, and I still had to shim your bridge without having taken any wood off. This guitar must have originally had a quarter inch shim under it, because the original bridge was stock, and was completely cut away under the Prismatone. This was probably one of the first guitars...maybe one of the only guitars...they stuck a Prismatone on after Baldwin bought Gretsch. If they did anymore on a production basis, I bet they changed the neck angle.

The neck itself is big, but comfortable....not like a 2x4. I like it.