ksdaddy Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 This is just a copy/paste from my facebook page but it sums it up quite well. I've come close to being a full blown cork sniffer (I was able to pull back from the abyss in time). Part of this epiphany comes from 'finally getting a Corvette and realizing I have more fun driving an old Ford half ton pickup'. I've typically spent more time making sure a guitar is 'just so' and bragging about it's lineage than I do actually playing it. I know I can't buy mojo. But it's authentic to the era I'm reaching for. Here's the paste (with expletives fixed): So I pulled the trigger on this old Gretsch. Any other time in my guitar snob existence I would have turned my nose up at it. In one sense I'm getting a vibe from it. It's just got SO much going for it from a hollow body freak's point of view. 16" body, 2-5/8" deep, a Patent Applied For Filtertron pickup in the neck position (I never use a back pickup on an archtop anyway!) Trestle bracing.... and it's either a '58 or '59 so I'm getting that Eddie Cochran mojo. All it needs is a Bigsby! (which I will likely install). As to the sh***y refinish.... I don't know. Wait and see. My gut reaction is to leave it alone. Any time I've refinished a guitar I've been afraid to play it afterwards, for fear I'd scratch it. I don't want a museum piece. The lack of original finish is liberating; I can put a Bigsby on it, slap a rockabilly cheesecake pinup decal on it along with flaming dice or something....and have fun with it. I'm so sick of having hothouse flower guitars. This old Annie has ALL the rockabilly sh** going on and clearly didn't spend it's life in a vault. And one sweet plum, I paid about 1/4 of the price of a late 50s Gretsch Anniversary. Yep. They go around $2500 and this one was marked $599. Spent Jack Squat and got something I'll USE? Yeah baby..... (end paste) I'm tired of being a steward or caretaker. I want to play. Loud and reckless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Nice catch. I hope she will ship soon and safely. I'm looking forward to your review and some more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 . Very tasty looking Gretsch. Play the hell out of it. . B) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I bought an old ('66) Guild Starfire IV a year or so ago, only because I used one (a '63) in the mid '60's. It's been a great guitar but I didn't plan on the "smoker smell". Other than that... So good luck on getting what you wanted, and HNGD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 I like this approach too. My main guitar is a '69 Epiphone solid body of the Coronet/Olympic/Wilshire type made by Gibson in Kalamazoo. It has just one 1960's Epi mini humbucker and a couple of cosmetic/reversible mods i.e. guard and knobs, and is otherwise all original but certainly not immaculate. Its a great workhorse and weighs next to nothing. I like having something beautifully made yet not the end of the world if anything bad happened. Best of both worlds to my way of thinking. As you note - loud and reckless is a lot of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Cool. Pick long and prosper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I pooped a little. And I don't even like Gretschii! Sweet! Enjoy that, it looks like fun. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 IMO that's just perfect as-is. Seriously; I wouldn't change a thing. For the Brits here I'll save you the trouble. $599 = £370. "Bargain" doesn't come close. VHNGD, ksd! P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I have to agree with pippy, and to paraphrase an often misquoted line, "Finish? We don't need no stinking finish." Crank her up and let her know who her ksdaddy is! Next thing you know there's gonna be a '63 "Split Window" callin to ya! Σß Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Uh Huh!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 This guy NAILS it. I know it's all in the hands but it's nice to have the right tool for the job too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Well... I wish I still had my old orange Gretsch. But... One comment kinda got to me about the smoky smell... most of us playing for money in the '50s-70s in saloons did smoke, tobacco for the country guys and unsure about off-stage for a lot of others... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 One comment kinda got to me about the smoky smell... most of us playing for money in the '50s-70s in saloons did smoke, tobacco for the country guys and unsure about off-stage for a lot of others... m And I was right there with you! Just been so long since I've been around a smoking environment that I've forgotten that some things just don't go away. The smell of tobacco smoke happens to be one of them. It's still a great guitar though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 ... I've forgotten that some things just don't go away. The smell of tobacco smoke happens to be one of them. I bought an acoustic that smelled like an ash tray when I got it. After repeated wiping down and a few months in my non-smoking house you wouldn't even know it. I also put a couple dryer sheets in the sound hole for a few days and sprayed some febreeze inside. This helped tremendously - same for the case, which now smells fine too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I still smoke. In fact, I think not having a cigaret or, nowadays a similarly-sized little cigar, stuck under the strings just above the nut means that I can't really do oldtime acoustic blues or cowboy stuff any more. Sure, the pickin's about the same, ditto the singing but... something's really missing when it comes down to "real" laid-back music the way it should be. Yeah, I'm showin' my age. But I'll match "sick days off" the past 50 years against just about anybody half my age. For the music... it's kinda like a Model A that doesn't smell like dust and oil - or a horse that smells like a perfume factory 'stedda grass and leather (and stuff). m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I bought an acoustic that smelled like an ash tray when I got it. After repeated wiping down and a few months in my non-smoking house you wouldn't even know it. I also put a couple dryer sheets in the sound hole for a few days and sprayed some febreeze inside. This helped tremendously - same for the case, which now smells fine too. Thx surfpup, I'll give that/those a try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 I quit (again) on July 9th. I did the patch for 2 days, then got sick as hell laying under my pickup. I blamed the patch so I took it off and went cold turkey the rest of the way. Turned out to NOT be the patch; I was having a bout of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. (It's only happened one more time so I don't know if it's a passing thing or what). Anyway, I can REALLY smell cigarettes now. Last week I walked out of work and could smell a cigarette. I was puzzled, as there was nobody around...just cars in the parking lot. As I pulled out of the parking lot I went by the Family Dollar, which is at least 300 feet away. A girl was outside having a smoke break! Penny and I bought the 'new' house in April of 2012 and decided to never smoke inside. We smoked out on the porch. She quit in January 2013. So in that sense it was easy for me to quit. I wasn't in that same dynamic, where I had smoked in the old house for 29 years and Tammie smoked non stop until lung cancer took her. I just decided I'm not invincible. I wanted to stop before it was too late and hopefully I have done so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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