ShortScale.org

I started to get itchy again and wanted to fix something. I poked around on ebay and landed a cheap (24.5 scale) 63 Gretsch Corvette carcass. It's not an archtop, but it's also back in production, so there is plenty of info and parts to be had. It needs to be finished, tuners, nut, TRC, pup, guard, knobs, wiring, bridge, and trem, which are all on order. (Ordering the parts is a lot of the fun). It seems like the model in between 61 and 64 where they went from a tailpiece to a Burns trem, to a Bigsby. I can't seem to find any Burns parts, so I think I am going to switch to Bigs. As you can see, during the same period, they changed the headstock, and a few other things.

Most of these were cherry red, like an SG. Stewmac does sell a cherry nitro. A few others were red with a candy-striped guard (which would be impossible to find). Another model for teh wimmins market was painted white with gold trim. This was called the Princess model. I was able to track down a black guard and TRC, so any of these colors would work. I think white would look slick, and a lil red corvette (Dakota?) has a ring to it. I am not crazy about cherry and there will be a big mahogany patch under the bridge. The reissues are either cherry or the G. Love green with a racing stripe. I am not interested in that at all. The scumbag sparkle makes it look Gretschy, but a little too pimp. It ain't Fender, but it fits my oddball tastes!

I do like the shape, but the pickguard is awful.

oh man, green with racing stripe and bigsby, so hot, so nice,

Oooh, I love those :D

i actually like the pg, it fits the odd gretsch 60's shape

This will be cool project for sure. I LOVE THAT PICKGUARD SHAPE.

i like the pg shape on the brown and black one

I defo dig the look of those. interesting project.

Good fun and nice to see you're up for the challenge.

Those are darling little things and the 3+3 'vette headstock is surely the better of the two. I strangely dig the innovative scumbag with the lone 2k in this scenario but anything pastel should be sublime. Salmon-shell pink maybe?

My barber used to cut G. Love's hair.

Anyway, I'd vote for Dakota red. The white does look pretty slick, though.

Wow... I really like that pg shape too... and I hate to say it... but scumbag silver actually looks ok on this guitar!

I love that green one with the stripe... I would go for that if this were my project.

damn where did you find a guard! I've been looking for ages. I have a slightly later model with the 2+4 headstock and bigsby.

my old guard rotted to pieces and corroded some of the electronics. its a really weird two ply black and white guard. These guitars sound bad ass!

i wanted one of those a while back, but i decided i wasn't keen on the lower horn shape. there's a shop in london that has the candy striped guard one for something like £1850 and the princess one for something ridiculous, £2650 or thereabouts. them's crazy prices.

I love the look of that. If you don't mind me asking - how much was it?

That looks very nice; not sure if this helps, but Eastwood are shipping loads of their guitars with a reissued Burns trem on them - try speaking to Mike (the owner bloke); also, they quite often auction off spare bits on eBay (yarddoggolfer, I believe is his eBay handle).

EDIT: seems he's stopped using the Burns now on all but the Savannah, but I'd bet he had some if you contacted him.

TRILL

Looks like a fun project, I love the body shape.
I really like dark wood guitars and would probably not paint it if it was my project. Like the 3rd picture, sweet.

stewart wrote:i wanted one of those a while back, but i decided i wasn't keen on the lower horn shape. there's a shop in london that has the candy striped guard one for something like £1850 and the princess one for something ridiculous, £2650 or thereabouts. them's crazy prices.

The Peppermint Twist and the Princess were extremely limited production models and as such are very rare. In London, they would prolly be even MOAR rare (although they are one of the few countries that has a princess). The Princess model had some kind of weirdo padding on the back like the Country Gentleman.

plopswagon wrote:damn where did you find a guard! I've been looking for ages. I have a slightly later model with the 2+4 headstock and bigsby. my old guard rotted to pieces and corroded some of the electronics. its a really weird two ply black and white guard. These guitars sound bad ass!

Plops, here is your GUARD. If you only need one pickup guards, they make those too.

James--it was $200. That may sound cheap, but when you add parts, you take it up to about the same price as a RI. Both will have the same parts, but I can choose my own color and accessories. IT JUST ARRIVED. I haven't opened it yet, but it feels like an air guitar. I will never get used to mahogany after 1970s ash.

the reason i wanted a corvette is visible from 4:25 onwards on this clip. apparently johnny marr asked to buy it from her and she told him to git tae. i've seen the padded bit on the backs of the princess guitars, obviously it was to stop girls hurting their wombs or something... odd little things (the guitars, not wombs. although now i come to think about it...)

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I love the g-love corvette. I love it to pieces, but I could never imagine myself playing one.