The Gretsch Pages: Discussions: Modern Gretsch Guitars: Stuffing the inside of a hollowbody Gretsch

Stuffing the inside of a hollowbody Gretsch

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- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 7:54 a.m. jose:

BillyZoom said: There's a lot of technique involved

BillyZoom;

Could you explain the technique? According to the pics Paul posted it seems just a matter of cutting a couple of blocks and fitting them inside.

Does the block need to be very tight?
- Rated: 102 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 10:32 a.m. Setzer:

Hey Jose, I got my info from Don Butler, the Toneman, a fellow GDPer in a email a long time ago. His version is to use a block of maple or another hardwood that is almost as wide as the pickup cavity and say about a 1/2" thick. This single bar is to fit between the top bars connecting the top and back only. To get the desired height, insert the trimmed to width piece of wood into the cavity till it rest on the back and then mark the top of the block just a fraction above the top's underside. Cut and test fit it by wedging it in. I don't recall Don's actual words but I did save the email. I'll have to dig it up.

I opted to do it another way and decided to use two blocks under the bars as seen in my photos. I cut each one taller than the actual measured area and slipped each next to the the top bar and made a mark a little higher than the bottom of the brace. Each one was different so I labeled one "T" for Treble and "B" for Bass. I trimmed each post then test fitted each by gently pushed the back and top apart enough to slip each post in one at a time. I used my hammer's padded handle(it has a rubber padded grip) to push the back away from the top. After setting them close to my desired zone I tapped them into the position I wanted, which was under the bridge area. I strung it up and tested the guitar. With the the guitar up to pitch and playing I would pause and tap the post(thru the pickup cavity and sometimes through the F hole with a mallet and a small long wooden rod with a bevel cut on the tip) until they where directly under the bridge area and transfered the tone the best. You'll feel it on the top and through the back. I tried to keep both post in the same area in relation to each other. After I felt satisfied I left them wedged in dry and mounted the pickup and tuned the strings and ran it though the amp. I played it like that for a couple of days and then marked the positions of the post and knocked them out dipped the ends in water and added some tite bond wood glue and reinserted them as close as possible to the marks I had made. Installed the pickup, restrung and tested again. I did not have to adjust them as the glue dried. I used a long Q tip swab to clean up the glue that pressed out from under the footings.

Hope this helps.
- Rated: 53 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 10:43 a.m. Ratrod:

This is great info, Setzer. If I ever get a RHH, I now know how to turn it into a 'trestle braced' guitar.
- Rated: 30 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 11:00 a.m. JazzBoxJunky:

Here's a glimpse in to the the soundpost fitting method and tools used. Not exactly how you might do a guitar, but these guys know the way around the inside of a instrument.

Soundpost
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 11:35 a.m. jose:

Paul, thanks for your great explanation

In the case of my pre-fender Tenny, I think that it would be quite hard to move the post once it is placed inside because the back of my guitar is not even, as you can check in this picture;

http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/3507/img1976yy8.jpg

I wonder what are those squared wooden blocks.

Besides, you can notice a shoddy paint work of the mounting rings.
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 11:45 a.m. jose:

JazzBoxJunky said: Here's a glimpse in to the the soundpost fitting method and tools used. Not exactly how you might do a guitar, but these guys know the way around the inside of a instrument.

Without any opening for the pick ups this work must be completely insane. I remember having a very bad time when I replaced my old wiring harness.
- Rated: 54 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 12:38 p.m. tartan phantom:

jose said: Could you explain the technique? According to the pics Paul posted it seems just a matter of cutting a couple of blocks and fitting them inside.

Does the block need to be very tight?

I agree with Billy. You can do it yourself, but experience is preferred.

Here's a link to basic violin soundpost installation and theory. The same basic principles apply to an archtop guitar.

Soundpost installation
- Rated: 212 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 12:54 p.m. Proteus:

UNstuffing a non-Gretsch

Here's the stuff I dug out of an Aria FA-80, and the tool I used to do the digging through a pickup hole. It was squirtable expanda-foam which was in there when I bought it. After awhile I dug it out. No ill effects, and tone was improved.
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 1:28 p.m. jose:

Thanks for the link, tartan phantom .

Just to have it clear; if I'm not wrong, all Gretsch guitars come with soundposts somewhere behind the bridge zone, right? When installing aditional posts as Paul did, they must go around the same zone or to the sides of the bridge pickup?
- Rated: 102 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 1:57 p.m. Setzer:

Jose, that is what we call a "waffle back"..the photo you linked us to of your Tenny. That would be a pain to try and soundpost. You would not get a chance to relocate the post very well once they where in. You could however install or cut some wider footings on the post. Kind of like the later 58 stlye bracing has. Plinths I think somebody called them?
- Rated: 54 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 1:57 p.m. tartan phantom:

NOT all of them... have soundposts. However, a soundpost should be installed somewhere in close proximity to the bridge footing, since that is where the maximum amount of string energy is transferred to the body.
- Rated: 102 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 2:00 p.m. Setzer:

Jose, that is what we call a "waffle back"..the photo you linked us to of your Tenny. That would be a pain to try and soundpost. You would not get a chance to relocate the post very well once they where in. You could however install or cut some wider footings on the post. Kind of like the 58(?) stlye bracing has a "Plinth" under each brace(front and back in this case).
- Rated: 102 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 2:00 p.m. Setzer:

This post has been deleted
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 20, 2008 3:05 p.m. jose:

Clear then, close to the bridge.

Regarding the picture of my Tenny, what's the object of a "waffle back"?
- Rated: 53 ↑
Nov 21, 2008 5:11 a.m. Ratrod:

Hey JazzBoxJunky, That's exactly how I did the soundposts in the custom Dean Psychobilly I sold to Rocketman. Only I used my fingers and a long allen key.
- Rated: 53 ↑
Nov 21, 2008 7:15 a.m. Ratrod:

Here's a usefull link. This guy modded an Annie.

Upgraded Anni

There's some clear pictures and drawings concerning trestle bracing.

And here's a pic I found.
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 23, 2008 8:28 a.m. jose:

Thanks for the link and picture Ratrot

As far as I understand, trestle bracing was first installed in 1959 Nashville.

Do all Nashville models have a trestle bracing since then?
- Rated: 12 ↑
Nov 23, 2008 9:15 a.m. Chonny:

I love cranking my amp and turning my 6120 toward it and getting this really amazing feedback and running that feedback through a couple of delays and a moogerfooger ring modulator.
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 23, 2008 10:43 a.m. jose:

BTW, will additional soundposts stay in place with no glue?
- Rated: 7 ↑
Nov 23, 2008 11:56 a.m. fauves:

Ratrod, great pic of the trestle bracing!

I know they are a different animals but, A upright bass player and a fiddle player that I know both recently had the sound post "adjusted" by a luthier. and a noticeable improvement in volume and tone in both instruments. The Englehardt bass picked up a full 1/3 in acoustic volume.