"Gretsch-ifying" a 335?

willo

I have an old Navigator 335, which is a wonderful guitar and one I have toured and recorded with, so is sentimally important to me.

But I don't play it so much these days and want to do something different with it.

I like the 'Gretsch' sound and am thinking of doing the following changes to the 335:

- Adding HB-sized Filtetrons (Lollartrons, Mojo, TV Jones)
- Adding a Bigsby
- Adding a roller bridge

(All of which would be quite similar in spec to the Chris Cornell 335, although I'm not playing anything like Soundgarden).

My aim would be to capture a fair bit of that Gretsch sound, and create something unique and different from my other guitar.

Any thoughts/past experiences welcome!

TheMarlin

It will likely cost you around £400 to do that, and it won’t change the value of the guitar. 

Or…
you can buy a Gretsch Electromatic for £400 with all of that already on it, and keep the navigator as is.  And, when you’re done, sell it back on for what you paid for it. 

My recommendation, G5410 Rat Rod or plain old G5420 (but try to get one made in the last few years, the older they are, the more problematic they are. 

These also are great.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226194804393?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=eL0lk70vQ0q&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Love the neck on these. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285911315959?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6kOSQ1BMQYi&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=3gw4Mp6ER2O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

willo

Thanks - yeah, I've thought about buying an Electromatic as they are good, but I just don't want another guitar in the house (heresy I know).

Petepassion

@ 1.45...
https://youtu.be/3l9Zjn-n7zo?si=cbD6MYmCxtRj6_CO

english_bob

willo said:

Thanks - yeah, I've thought about buying an Electromatic as they are good, but I just don't want another guitar in the house (heresy I know).

Should you even be here?  


I've got an Epiphone Sheraton with a Bigsby and a roller bridge, and the tuning stability still leaves something to be desired. A pickup swap and a Bigsby installation with a Vibramate kit is probably doable at your kitchen table if you're confident, but maybe factor in the cost of a proper setup if you go ahead with this.

TheMarlin

english_bob said:

willo said:

Thanks - yeah, I've thought about buying an Electromatic as they are good, but I just don't want another guitar in the house (heresy I know).

Should you even be here?  


I've got an Epiphone Sheraton with a Bigsby and a roller bridge, and the tuning stability still leaves something to be desired. A pickup swap and a Bigsby installation with a Vibramate kit is probably doable at your kitchen table if you're confident, but maybe factor in the cost of a proper setup if you go ahead with this.

Two questions.  In your nut properly setup/lubed? 

99% of all Bigsby tuning instability is nut related. 

Often the angle of the string into the nut can cause binding, particularly with large headstock 3-a-side tuners.  Round those edges, but of nut sauce or graphite, and you should see an improvement. 

The other issue is with break angle over the bridge (with tension bar Bigsbys). 

I’ve got loads of guitars with Bigsbys, all very stable tuning.  

english_bob

^^^ I'm almost sure it is the nut that's causing the problem.

At the moment I'm playing so little that there doesn't seem to be much point getting it sorted. 

guitargeek62

I've got SD Psy'Clones in one of mine currently, they're rad...  I've been toying withy bigsby'ing this one too, as I have a second (proper) Trini with HB's.

Seziertisch

english_bob said:

^^^ I'm almost sure it is the nut that's causing the problem.

At the moment I'm playing so little that there doesn't seem to be much point getting it sorted. 

If it has a Tuneomatic-style bridge then that is also a potential cause.

Conventional wisdom amongst Gretsch owners is that it is always the nut, which is likely true if you have a rocking bar bridge or similar on your guitar and not a Tuneomatic.

This can be further complicated by the fact that depending on how the Tuneomatic is mounted it might already have a small bit of tilt either on the posts or the bridge as it sits on the thumbwheels. 

I recently replaced the Mastery on my JM with a tuneomatic using adapter studs from Rockinger and because both the posts and the bridge itself have a little bit of play to tilt with the movement of the vibrato the tuning is as solid as it was with the Mastery. 

By contrast when I put a Bigsby on my Les Paul it went out of tune with the slightest of use, and not just a little bit sharp or flat across all the strings but the relative tuning between the strings was all off. Closer examination showed that the bridge itself was sliding back and forth across the surface of the thumbwheels and the strings were sawing across the saddles. A set of domed thumbwheels cured this issue. 

By contrast I played a couple of CS Les Pauls with Bigsbys and no tuning problems and discovered that the posts themselves were tilting back and forth ever so slightly in the bodies as you used the vibrato.

Winny_Pooh

Do it, get a Towner bar and a non tension bar bigsby (easy to revert to stock later)

TheMarlin

I have a Towner and B30 spare. 

And a B7, vibramate, and string spoiler also spare.