A bad decision has been made

[blakejcan]

Added some meat to the top so I could make it all flat and level. Looking pretty good now. Just need to get it back a little bit more so I can put the headstock veneer on.

Then the real test.....stringing it up and see if pieces go flying or not. Pretty excited to be close to this part. If I can make it through this then the worst is over.

 

[Mincer]

Wow, this is really looking great. I appreciate you sharing the process.

 

[jeremy]

very good progress! hot thick is the headstock veneer?

 

[blakejcan]

about 3mm or so.

When I add that on it will get it to about 15-16mm in total thickness which is what I'm aiming for.

 

[jeremy]

sounds like a good plan. id keep it as thick as ya can while still having the tuners thread properly

 

[blakejcan]

Absolutely agree. I'm like Arby's. We need the meats.

 

[blakejcan]

I slapped on the headstock veneer. Probably one of the easiest parts of this whole thing. It slipped while I clamped it and I didn't notice so it's off-center to the right. Ha. Oh well. I don't think these original early Gretsch guitars were perfect either so it will just be yet another quirk.

Now I need to figure out where to drill holes for tuners and I can test this thing out. Dont' worry, it's not quite as wonky as it looks. I still need to sand off some overhang on the sides and true up the headstock lines a bit.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Hey man, you're doing a great job on a huge undertaking.

 

[blakejcan]

Thanks. All of the encouragement and guidance has been great. Appreciate the kind words.

 

[blakejcan]

Put a couple strings on it after getting the tuners on to see what would happen. Looks pretty fuzzin solid so far. Stoked.

 

[ICTGoober]

Out-frickin-standing!

 

[solspirit]

Excellent man!!!

 

[blakejcan]

I have a unique challenge right now. Headstock shape is great...it's just a bit too thick from top to bottom. It's about 17mm and it needs to be closer to 15.5mm.

At some point I stopped being a patriot and used the metric system cause I got sick of trying to stretch my old brain to do fractions.

The tuners work and poke thru but don't look quite right. They are short. Now I'm stuck because i don't want to take more meat off the back and weaken the repair and I don't want to take more off of the top because the Gretsch inlay is pretty darn thin and I don't want to shred right through it. I might have to just live with it but open to ideas.

 

[ICTGoober]

Counter bore the washers into the face of the peghead to buy some more height on the posts. It's tricky, but can be done.

 

[blakejcan]

ah that's an interesting idea.But at some point I'd have those washers or whatever they are really called below the level of the actual headstock surface?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Inlays are usually 2-3mm thick. If the headstock veneer is 3mm thick, then the inlays are probably 1.5-2mm thick. You could probably thin the faceplate .5-1mm more and be pretty safe not going through the inlays. Then remove about .5-1mm from the back and you should be good to go. I really don't think removing that little from the back is going to weaken it and for sure removing some from the front won't weaken it any (because the front is under compression).

Countersinking the tuner washers is a way to solve the problem, but it will be very tricky since the tuner holes are already drilled. I'm not saying it can't be done, in fact before I read Chris' post I was going to suggest that as an option. It would be pretty easy if the tuner holes hadn't been drilled yet, but now it's going to be very difficult to make them perfectly concentric with the existing holes. If you opt to do it this way, I'd recommend using a milling bit (flat end cutting) and clamp your headstock to the drill press so it doesn't move AT ALL.

But hey, you've done a great job so far and whichever way you decide to fix this, I'm sure you'll be able to do it.

Good luck.

 

[ICTGoober]

Use a piloted counterbore. Pick the right pilot size for the hole in the peghead, and the correct size for the washer.

51u3tEgK1IL._AC_SL1001_.jpg (832×485)​

 

[blakejcan]

Thanks for the ideas. I took the front and the back down very slowly and precisely and got it to about 16mm which is still a bit thick but the tuning pegs don’t look weird.

cleaning up the nut shelf and a few other minor bits on the headstock and then I’m calling it done.

other structural stuff is super minor for the most part

picking off that cruddy old finish is the biggest booger left

 

[jeremy]

great news and good progress, your patience is paying off

 

[blakejcan]

I built back up the nut shelf so I think I will try and get it fully strung up sometime tonight to verify that it will hold at full tension even after I shaved it down a bit.

While we are waiting for that I am mapping out some next steps. The fretboard, at least right near the nut, is pretty darned lopsided. Way lower on the low E string side. If you just look at it you can see what I mean. Also.....goodness....never look at anything this close up. It makes everything look terrible. I promise it's not that bad.

My plan on the board was to pull the frets, get the correct radius block (I think this is 12") and then do my best to sand it till the high E side of the board is about even with the low E side. It's a decent chunk of wood to take off but not sure how else to do it. Any ideas from brighter minds are welcome.



And then the frets.....I think they were super tiny when they were fresh out of the factory. I was planning on replacing them with something bigger and a bit more modern anyways but open to any feedback after you look at them. I usually like 6150 wire but not sure if that would be weird on this guitar?