212Mavguy Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 This guitar was discussed in the Bay Watch section...Had almost more than I could handle with this one, I'm the third owner...also my third Heritage. When it arrived it appeared to be as described, but the one thing that surprised me was the condition...it looked like it had only been played a few times. Issues: The pickguard rattled against the top The master volume pot barely passed any signal at all and was attached with what turned out to be a cross threaded pot nut The volume and tone pots were reversed, neck was lower pair, and the volume pots had a jump in the taper between 9 and 10 Pickup heights were off, neck way too low especially on treble side Neck had a touch too much curve, like the truss rod needed tightening. This boogered and neglected instrument needed some serious unconditional love! Got the pickguard to quit rattling by paying some attention to the mount bracket. The hole cut out and cover in the back turned out to be quite useful! Plugged it in to my Frank-en-champ, a gutted and redone silverface Champ I did up as a sleeper amp with the only Fender parts being the pots, chassis tray, input jacks, and cab. Runs user choice of 6v6, 5881/6l6, el33/kt61, kt66, el34, 6bg6 with adapter. This thing keeps up easily if not cleanly with a full band with only one 6v6 hooked up to a 16 ohm semi closed back 2/15 with JBL g135's. Surprisingly loud through an 8 inch vintage CTS organ speaker I stuck in the amp's cab, too. Volume output from the guitar was very, very low, kept on playing and turning the master volume pot back and forth 50-100 times, bit by bit through tons of static it kept trying to open up and let some sound through and finally it did, especially after sitting in front of that 2/15 and getting some serious top shakin' goin' on. Put the guitar down came back in a couple of hours and it did it all over again. Went to bed, picked it up the next AM and it was fine. Went to a buddy's new year's eve party that night and it did it all over again, but I was playing through my 2/12 Mesa Maverick and it opened up again after a few minutes. Had some Jiffy Bath lubricated pot cleaner laying around so thought I'd remove the pot and clean it the next day...NO WAY! The pot just spun with the socket wrench...AAAAAUGH! To make things worse, the washer/pointer underneath the pot nut threatened to spin and deeply scratch the instrument top in a circular pattern. So I thought I'd just use an open end wrench and grab the pot shaft with a pair of pliers, well, I succeeded in only snapping the travel limiter and half of the split top off, so now i had a 360 degree spinning half topped pot shaft...AAAAAAGH again! Finally, in an act of true desperation I sprayed some of the pot cleaner into a teaspoon and carefully decanted it down the shaft two or three times and spun that shaft a ton. Then I had the thought that maybe the lube in the pot cleaner might help with that damn pot nut, so I reached for the socket wrench again. What happened I think was that the soldered wires wrapped around the pot, holding it securely or the now wetted inside plywood wood surface sofened and grabbed the inside lock washer more firmly, bit by bit the damn thing finally came loose, there was a bit of staining from the lube soaked into the wood around the hole under the top finish, but not so much that a normal pot nut washer couldn't cover it up, so I quickly grabbed some buttwipe and blotted the wetted inside of the hole right away. Noticed that the pot nut would not go down very far at all, cross threaded by the first owner or his tech... Got a different, brand new nut and it wouldn't start on the threads. Sprayed some more pot cleaner inside the pot and spun it some more to finish the cleaning thang. Got a crescent wrench to rest that damn pot in for a secure grip and grabbed the socket wrench again and cross threaded or not, got the f-ing nut to spin freely up and down the shaft after some repeated brute force applications. Solder joints were still all good, so reinstalled the pot using a length of solder removal braid fed through the hole and tied to the pot shaft in order to pull it through the length of the body into place without losing the lock washer. Stuck the broken half of the split end back into place, reinstalled the knob, it had a set screw so it worked but now wobbled. You can bet I did not tighten that pot nut very much! Ordered a new 500k Super Pot from RS Guitarworks, now waiting for it to arrive. Will wait and see about whether to spend the large to get a new prewired super pot 335 harness from those folks after I install the new super pot in the master volume position. Wiring was very neat inside, can live with the reversed controls for now. Removed the 11's that were on it, stuck on some 10's, first time experience with restringing a Bigsby, using a needle nose to pre bend the ball ends was a new experience, truss rod was now just a tiny bit too tight, adjusted it and lowered the bridge, intonated it, tweaked the pickup heights. What a fun date she is to play out with now!, Purty looking, cleans up pretty and sweet sounding enough to take to church on Sunday, crank up the gain and she's nasty, snarling, groaning, and squealing as a drunken gutter slut on Friday night! WOOOOOEEEE! She's the perfect woman for me! Any name ideas for this girl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 pictures? before and after? Is that the heritage Gretsch tribute thing that was up a while back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJLII Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Without pictures none of the above really happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Without pictures none of the above really happened. +1. I read it, but.... Really did like that guitar when I first saw it. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 What a fun date she is to play out with now!, Purty looking, cleans up pretty and sweet sounding enough to take to church on Sunday, crank up the gain and she's nasty, snarling, groaning, and squealing as a drunken gutter slut on Friday night! WOOOOOEEEE! She's the perfect woman for me! It's wonderful when a bit of (frustrating) work pays off.. as this has. Congrats. I remember that being a bit of a unique axe. Of course , we'd all like to see her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark555 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulk1 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Always works for me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoslate Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 This guitar was discussed in the Bay Watch section...Had almost more than I could handle with this one, I'm the third owner...also my third Heritage. When it arrived it appeared to be as described, but the one thing that surprised me was the condition...it looked like it had only been played a few times. What a fun date she is to play out with now!, Purty looking, cleans up pretty and sweet sounding enough to take to church on Sunday, crank up the gain and she's nasty, snarling, groaning, and squealing as a drunken gutter slut on Friday night! WOOOOOEEEE! She's the perfect woman for me! Any name ideas for this girl? "Gretchen"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LH575 Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Did I hear "drunken gutter slut"? Now, we really need photos! Or is this the Courtney Love signature model? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212Mavguy Posted January 9, 2010 Author Share Posted January 9, 2010 here she is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212Mavguy Posted January 9, 2010 Author Share Posted January 9, 2010 here she is... The hole in the top is where the master volume pot was, I got a spare pot and soldered the wires to it but the threaded part was a RCH too short. and thanks huge to yoslate for getting me started on the name... Retchin' Gretschen she is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212Mavguy Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 The RS guitarworks superpot came in, I soldered everything in place, the threads were long enough to install it and I made sure not to crossthread that pot nut. Plugged it in, and there was a jump in the pot taper going from 9 to 10... then I turned it back and forth a few times and the jump disappeared. Retchin' Gretschen is one very bodacious sounding lady! Pic is a couple posts back (without the master volume pot installed.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chico Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 nice axe, you did well. welcome to the HOC too. I think the Servicemaster slogan applies to this.. "like it never happened" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212Mavguy Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 nice axe, you did well. welcome to the HOC too. I think the Servicemaster slogan applies to this.. "like it never happened" Thanks to all of you for being so nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Thanks to all of you for being so nice. Good job and welcome to the club. I've always wanted a Gretsch, love those tones Brian Setzer gets. Any of you more knowedgable members care to comment on the main source of that tone other than the amp? Pickups maybe? Reproducible with a Heritage to any extent? I've got two hollow bodies a 575 w Seth Lovers and 535 w SD Antiquities. The few recent gretsches I've seen in the stores didn't exactly bowl me over though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 here she is... Really a sweet looking axe there.. That one should be a keeper..!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212Mavguy Posted January 17, 2010 Author Share Posted January 17, 2010 Really a sweet looking axe there.. That one should be a keeper..!! She is quite the keeper...(Thank you!) I think that part of the overall sound comes from the construction and woods, very nice acoustic tone, and a lot of the amplified sound comes from the TV Jones PU's, filtertron bridge and powertron neck, very lively and detailed. The Bigsby is like the icing on the cake, but best not as a steady diet. Setup of the instrument is very important to the desired tone palette, as well as having the right amp and tubes in that amp in order to get the goods, I am a tube collector and have too many nice amps and speakers for my own good. Besides the great price, I got her to complement my smooth, middy sounding 555/Seth Lovers and the very lively Millie Limited Edition Ultra 2000 (#11) with Lindy Fralin HB's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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