How To Customise A Gretsch: The Second Step

There was no putting it off. It was time to take to the workshop once more and set about the unsuspecting Gretsch G5120 and put it on its way to becoming something approaching a Custom Shop G6120.

As I said in the first step, planning is vital so I started with marking the position of the hole that would represent where the tone switch would have been before it was removed. You know, if I´d actually had one in the first place! It´s all about being authentic...

So, I designed a full scale template from a standard Japanese G6120 and marked the spot where I´ll need to drill the hole...

Next was the first truly irreversible step - to begin relicing the body. The best method of doing this, perhaps surprisingly, is to use a set of keys and hit the guitar with them. Very scientific (!), but it does work really well - it's really loud too.

I decided to split the process into two sessions, one prior to sanding (which you see here) and the other once stripping and sanding has been carried out...

Before the key-led assault...

...and afterwards...

The culprits!

So, onto the preparation for stripping. I´m using the Setzer Custom Shop G6120SSC as the most basic of inspirations and, to that end, I designed two more templates to allow me to approximate the wear onto my G5120.

Finally for now, I wanted to get an idea of how the Cowgirl decal would look before I stick her immovably to the body. Again, planning is key, so it was back to Photoshop and two more templates for me to at least decide on the right area - rather than precise position - of the decal.

Xmas will force me to interrupt these regular Blogs, but we´ll continue the story during January: sandpaper content guaranteed...

Read the introduction here...

Read the first step here...

All photos by and (c) Rob 'Snap I Up' Antonello