This one came in for a refinish to the back and some electrical work

this one is a real player with Di armond pickups, has a beautiful tone and has been used for recording work, the owner thought it deserved a makeover.

the back is a mess the heel plate is missing the cavity plates are held in with wood screws, it has some major dents and the non original solid sunburst is wrecked.

similar story with the neck

First things first a Cover is made to protect the top which will not take tape at the moment as it may remove the sparkle.

The paint is sanded back to reveal a beautiful highly figured one piece Brazilian Mahogany but it has some issues

Two drill holes need to be plugged so a piece of off cut mahogany with the same colour and grain pattern is

selected to make the plugs

these are glued in and sanded down

Now lets tackle those dents

despite its age the wood fibers respond to the process and pop back out

Gone after only a light sand, this is testament to the quality and durability of the woods selected by Gretsch in the fifties

A piece of 1.5mm single ply scratch plate is used to make a new heel plate.

In the paint booth for the Nitrocelulose lacquer and the real beauty of the wood is revealed

Electrics

The Bridge pickup is not working and there are a number of earthing problems, the switch is not passing any current and has shielding problems, luckily these older switches respond well to cleaning and the original wiring has plenty of slack, look how thick the wires are these things were built to last.

now just this lot to sort out!

After putting the cavity wiring straight the bridge pickup is still not working and I fear it may be all over for the Diarmond Pickup, but the fault is traced to the end of the tail wire where it joins the pickup in a solder joint. the heat from soldering makes the rubber on the hot wire crumble after 60 years or more which earths out on the shielding. Ive now got to get this off without disturbing the fragile wire which leads onto the coil itself, one slip and it is curtains for the Di armond

After careful deliberation and the go ahead from the owner I’m going for it,

New tail fitted with Gibson braided cloth, the cloth will not react like the rubber, so shes good to go for another 60 years, and registering a very hot and healthy 9.5 DC line resistance.