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Dylanphile · February 23rd, 2011, 05:54 PM

I'm starting my first "project guitar" very soon, and I'd love to hear your input and suggestions on what it should sound/look like when it's all finished.

First of all, I'm starting with a Silver Sparkle Double Jet. I originally wanted to find a white one, but that could take forever, and silver was a close second.

I've tentatively named it the Silver Finch (this baby is going to evolve

), but I'm open to suggestions.

Here are some of the mods I'm thinking about:

-Pickups: I'm thinking of NYIIs or Filtertrons. Different ends of the sonic spectrum maybe, but I like 'em both and am not sure which way to go.

-Bridge: I'm thinking of either a stainless steel Compton or a Tru-Arc.

-Tremolo: I love the B3G, but I'm not sure if it'll work on an Electromatic Jet. Any recommendations?

-Tuners: Not my area of expertise (not that anything else is either), so your help here would be appreciated, too.

Any other fun ideas are more than welcome. Like maybe a banjo armrest a la the White Penguin?!

Really looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. My ears are open. This is gonna be fun!

JohnnySlapback · February 23rd, 2011, 07:32 PM

How bout the "silver sparrow"? Just a little more pithy.
But you should get mr. paul setzer to make you a pickguard with something like this on it

Lizardkinged · February 23rd, 2011, 07:34 PM

You can drop dyna's/p-90 mounts right in on those things, so you can get Some TV jones in the T-armond/p-90 mounts and drop them right in. I would go with a SS compton if your looking for more rocky tones.

beatnik · February 23rd, 2011, 08:06 PM

b3g will go on there but thats a gold one u goin with gold hardware? otherwise u need b3 or b3c (one has gretsch branding one dont), compton, dont know what tuners are on there but i bought wilkinson tuners grover imperial style for my double cut jet build, u could upgrade the electrics either with a harness from tv jones or like im doing make one urself for a quarter of the price and u could add a tone switch

Dylanphile · February 23rd, 2011, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunsage

How bout the "silver sparrow"? Just a little more pithy.
But you should get mr. paul setzer to make you a pickguard with something like this on it

Ooh, the Silver Sparrow, I like that. Great alliteration. The evolution starts now; the Siver Sparrow it is. Thanks, Gunsage!

Dylanphile · February 23rd, 2011, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lizardkinged

You can drop dyna's/p-90 mounts right in on those things, so you can get Some TV jones in the T-armond/p-90 mounts and drop them right in. I would go with a SS compton if your looking for more rocky tones.

I would LOVE the T-Armonds, Lizard, but they might be a little outta my price range right now. $315 for a set TVs vs. $80 for the NYIIs. Maybe the NYs now and the TVs after some more cash flows my way.

And I am looking for a good rock tone, so you've confirmed that the SS is the way to go. Thanks!

Dylanphile · February 23rd, 2011, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beatnik

b3g will go on there but thats a gold one u goin with gold hardware? otherwise u need b3 or b3c (one has gretsch branding one dont), compton, dont know what tuners are on there but i bought wilkinson tuners grover imperial style for my double cut jet build, u could upgrade the electrics either with a harness from tv jones or like im doing make one urself for a quarter of the price and u could add a tone switch

Thanks, Beatnik, you're right, I meant the B3C, not the G. I'm not really a fan of gold hardware. And I'm thinking of the one with the Gretsch branding. I saw a champagne sparkle Jet yesterday with a Bigsby like that and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Thanks for the tuner input. I'm gonna check those out right now.

As for the harness, any idea how much of a difference it'll make in the sound?

beatnik · February 23rd, 2011, 08:29 PM

it will make a difference and its relatively cheap to do if u do it urself u could just start by upgrading the pots, but u could do that at any point i suppose, yeah the champagne sparkles are lovely pretty rare as well, im the same unless the gold hardware is on a caddy green guitar it doesnt float my boat, the b3c is harder to get hold of at least in the uk it is but then everything gretsch is harder to get here ive got the b7 for my build

MrBill · February 23rd, 2011, 08:38 PM

I thought the "Silver Finch" was gonna be a ukulele.

+1 on "Silver Sparrow"
Cheers.

beatnik · February 23rd, 2011, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBill

I thought the "Silver Finch" was gonna be a ukulele.

+1 on "Silver Sparrow"
Cheers.

ukuleles are cool when ive finished spending money on my build im gettin 1, may even make one

Dylanphile · February 23rd, 2011, 08:48 PM

I got started on a ukelele back in the sixth grade. We had a cool teacher who taught us some golden oldies like Rockin' Robin and "newer" stuff like Get Back. Very cool woman.

Lizardkinged · February 23rd, 2011, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylanphile

I would LOVE the T-Armonds, Lizard, but they might be a little outta my price range right now. $315 for a set TVs vs. $80 for the NYIIs. Maybe the NYs now and the TVs after some more cash flows my way.

And I am looking for a good rock tone, so you've confirmed that the SS is the way to go. Thanks!

Well What i was saying is that you can get any kind of TV-Jones Pickup in those mounting styles so there wouldn't be any routing, A member has a set with a powertron neck and a classic+ bridge for sale on here.

http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/bu...n-pickups.html

araT · February 24th, 2011, 01:52 AM

Silver Sparrow, I dig that, nice call Gunsage!

- Pickups: I vote Filtertrons, it's closer to what you'd get in a real Jet/Penguin

they're much better pickups than GFS IMHO & can be had for around the same price used on eBay. Change the rest of the electronics at the same time.

- Bridge: SS Compton, nuff said!

- Tremolo: A B3G will work fine, but as someone said, it's gold, are you going for gold hardware? if not then go the B3C instead.

- Tuners: The stock ones are just fine from what I hear, leave em & put the money into more important things.

LATS · February 24th, 2011, 03:13 AM

^^^ What she said.

The tuners are not likely to cause stability problems, but you should make sure that the string slots in the nut are cut properly. Especially with a Bigsby.

Dylanphile · February 24th, 2011, 08:25 AM

Thanks, Tara. I was hoping you'd have some good advice. The tuners on the first Electro-Jet I had were pretty decent, you're right, so putting that money towards pickups/electronics is a great idea.

LATS, it's coming with a B5, so I'm guessing the nut will be ok, but I'll check it out to be sure. Thanks!

Charlie Cash · February 24th, 2011, 10:46 AM

If the guitar has a B5 Bigsby, I wouldn't change it for a B3 because you will have the mounting holes from the B5 on the top of the guitar to deal with. If you really want a B3, try to find a guitar with a fixed tailpiece to start with. (Not sure from your post if you already have the guitar or not.)

Stingker · February 24th, 2011, 10:55 AM

'Ukulele'?

Kelvinj3 · February 24th, 2011, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylanphile

I'm starting my first "project guitar" very soon, and I'd love to hear your input and suggestions on what it should sound/look like when it's all finished.

First of all, I'm starting with a Silver Sparkle Double Jet. I originally wanted to find a white one, but that could take forever, and silver was a close second.

I've tentatively named it the Silver Finch (this baby is going to evolve

), but I'm open to suggestions.

Here are some of the mods I'm thinking about:

-Pickups: I'm thinking of NYIIs or Filtertrons. Different ends of the sonic spectrum maybe, but I like 'em both and am not sure which way to go.

-Bridge: I'm thinking of either a stainless steel Compton or a Tru-Arc.

-Tremolo: I love the B3G, but I'm not sure if it'll work on an Electromatic Jet. Any recommendations?

-Tuners: Not my area of expertise (not that anything else is either), so your help here would be appreciated, too.

Any other fun ideas are more than welcome. Like maybe a banjo armrest a la the White Penguin?!

Really looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. My ears are open. This is gonna be fun!

My favourite tuners are the locking Grovers. I prefer these to the much more expensive Sperzels actually, I like the 18:1 ratio and string changes can't get easier!
Hole size should be right too, but do check this yourself,

Regards,

Martin

calvin lee · February 24th, 2011, 01:46 PM

i think all gold hardware would look phenomenal with the silver sparkle. i don't think i've ever seen it before.

6stings · February 24th, 2011, 01:47 PM

Good luck with the Silver whatdidtyoucallitIforgot! Please post some pics during the process.

If you decide to change the tuners, the Grover Sta-Tite, as they call them, can be fitted. The same tuners they use on Japanese Jets.
The 'Chinese' bushings can stay. The screw holes will be little dislocated and the screws will go just a little bit angled, but they will bite nicely if you just widen the edges of the holes to avoid lack damage... It works.