I built my first guitar a few years back, a hollow-bodied bass inspired by the discontinued Rickenbacker 4005, and have been itching to build a 6-string ever since. I recently took a fancy to the Gretsch 5622 but figured I'd have a go at building one, with a few twists, again inspired by my love of Rics. Hence, the concept for the Gretschenbacker came about. Essentially, the tail is to be profiled in a Ric 330/360/4005 style with a chromed tailpiece. The sound holes are to be more in keeping with the Ric cat's eye shape instead of the Gretsch flavor of the 5622. Probably the final Ric influence will be twin low profile truss rods. The rest of the guitar including body silhouette, neck and headstock shall be more reminiscent of the Gretsch. The electronics, including the pickups, shall also be genuine Gretcsh
Instead of a traditional arch-top build, I decided to route out the hollow body from a solid chunk of maple... or rather 2 chunks of maple to achieve the 17" wide body. I also had the thought of increasing the depth of the body to approx. 3" without really considering if I could lay my hands on a router bit that would plunge to that depth. Luckily, I found one and it's on its way as I type. In the meantime, I've planed and glued the body halves and cut the rough profile. I've also spent some considerable time recreating the "Mickenbacker" tailpiece from my first build. This time, I'm using brass instead of steel to make life a little easier.
Progress so far is documented in the photos below...