A bad decision has been made

[blakejcan]

and we shall see what comes from it.

Later this week I am going to try and buy a gutted 1958 Gretsch Country Gentleman. No pickups, no hardware. Body and neck only with a previously repaired headstock break that looks a bit dodgy.

Plan is to retrofit it with all new but appropriate stuff and make it structurally sound. My biggest concern of course is the headstock but also that the neck itself doesn't need a reset. For the price though I think I'll still come out ok.

Plus it's a piece of history. I mean. C'mon.

 

[blakejcan]

Someone smart tell me how awful this looks

 

[ICTGoober]

Gonna be a LOT of work, but it IS do-able. Good luck.

 

[jeremy]

she aint purdy, thats for sure. seems like a fun project though!

 

[Wattage]

Game on!!!

 

[blakejcan]

haha yea, I may come to regret it but I think I'll have a better idea once I see it in person.

Sadly, the seller has all of the original wiring harness, pickups and hardware intact but is parting it all out. He wants $4k for all of that which is probably close to market rate given these are the first year runs of Filtertrons (or at least on the country gent). Way out of my budget right now.

Guessing I'll have to spline the neck and rebuild it a fair amount at the very least. Get the peghead back on there, bind the neck, add the gretsch inlay back in, hope it doesn't have terrible binding rot or structural issues.......and on and on.

Whatever. | like working on stuff so should be rad.

 

[GuitarDoc]

All that stuff you know you'll have to do, but you haven't even seen it yet!?!? You may get it and decide you'll need to just send it off to the trash heap...unless you've got a lot of time, enthusiasm, expertise, and money laying around. Could either be a nightmare or a fun project.

 

[Mincer]

Take a lot of pics of the process..I'd love to follow this.

 

[blakejcan]

All that stuff you know you'll have to do, but you haven't even seen it yet!?!? You may get it and decide you'll need to just send it off to the trash heap...unless you've got a lot of time, enthusiasm, expertise, and money laying around. Could either be a nightmare or a fun project.

I'm guessing at what I may need to do. I actually think the body and neck look to be in great shape other than the massive neck break.

I'll document this all so we can laugh/cry together

 

[jeremy]

look forward to the updates! the body and neck do look ok, that headstock is a mess

 

[GuitarDoc]

We always like to see progress pics and reports so we can more or less be in your shoes experience your challenges and successes and laugh and cry with you.

The main thing is to have fun and enjoy the process, and maybe even learn something new along that journey.

good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[blakejcan]

Totally get it. I like the same thing!

In fact, I found this blog series where a guy does some big work on a Gretsch that I'll be reading thoroughly. Pretty fun reading IMO.

https://guitar.com/guides/diy-works...ing-a-gretsch-anniversary-into-a-6120-beauty/

 

[ICTGoober]

Looks like the binding on the Gretsch is okay, but if it's crumbling or deteriorating one of my specialties is restoring it without replacing it. So if you need my solution, keep me in mind. Otherwise - tough row to hoe, but it's the best way to learn.

 

[blakejcan]

Thanks. Will do.

I pick it up tomorrow so I'll see how terrifying it is or not

 

[ErikH]

Good luck with this. That's something I certainly wouldn't take on myself. Though I did rescue an early 1992 USA Peavey Predator that was in dire need of work everywhere. Not a vintage piece like that Gretsch by any means. Still a lot of work though.

 

[blakejcan]

Just picked it up. It is a basket case but I’m stoked.

the good…body is solid structurally. Neck is super straight. Neck joint looks solid and at first glance don’t think it will need to be reset. Binding rot is minimal. Fretboard and dots are beautiful. Darkest black black ebony I’ve seen.

The bad…..ohh lord the neck repair is bad. Multiple inside nails. Weird dowels. Bondo. In looking at I what I can see of the crack it actually is in a decent spot…not too near the truss rod/nut and probably could have been fixed with a nice glue up.

this will test the limits for sure but I’m all in

 

[blakejcan]

the good parts ha

 

[ICTGoober]

I wonder why the hell they plugged the tuner holes? Did the seller know?

Suggest you laminate a thick backstrap on the back of the peghead running down to where the volute would be to strengthen the peghead repair.
Pick a nice piece of wood for the front of the peghead, too.

This looks very salvageable.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Well, that's not as bad as I was anticipating. I would probably just plane the front of the headstock smooth and flat and glue on a thin veneer of ebony, and plane 1/16-1/8" off the back and glue on a veneer of Pernambuco for strength and stiffness. The biggest esthetic problem is the bondo repair. If it's intact and functional, maybe just sand and paint black like a burst finish on the back of the neck.

 

[blakejcan]

Original owner was a good guy. He got this guitar from another local guy who had a huge storage unit absolutely full of old Gretsch guitars, early Fender amps and other goodies. Showed me some really cool pics. He did not do the shoddy headstock repair or plug the tuner holes. We were guessing at why they did it and the best we could come up with is that someone had put in different tuners at some point and enlarged the holes?

Looks like the neck pickup area was gouged out a bit so someone could put in a humbucker. Other than those two things it appears pretty darn close to stock.

He also gave me a new peghead veneer with the Gretsch logo inlay which is pretty rad. It's not the exact one that came on it. This is the one with the Gretsch logo and the horseshoe underneath but if I get the Chet Atkins little nameplace I can just put that right over the horseshoe part. I don't know. I'll think about that.

I think I'll scrape the bondo off to see what else I'm working with here. I want to pull all of the nails out too but that might get pretty messy since they are so wedged in there. I'd also have to figure out how to fill in all of those nail holes.

I'm not sure if the whole guitar is just dirty or if it has some weird overspray going. Finish is not too shiny.