Tour Gretsch’s Corona, California, custom guitar building operation with company master builder Chad Henrichsen and PG’s own John Bohlinger.
“We get a lot done in a small amount of space, but this is where it all happens,” Henrichsen says. It starts with the wood—mahogany, maple, and spruce body blanks; mahogany and maple neck blanks; rosewood for fretboards—and so does our tour. It also begins, of course, with specific orders from dealers, artists, and individual players, commissioning instruments."
Henrichsen describes Gretsch's process of making hollow- and semi-hollowbody guitars first, which uses pressure and heat to form tops and sides from wood laminate. The plant also uses old-school craftsmanship—a copy carver, for example—to cut wood tops and more to shape.
One of Henrichsen’s fortes is necks, so he explains the process of creating necks for Falcons, Duo Jets, 6120s, etc., in detail, and we see the neck shaper machine in operation. The evolution from wooden block to smooth, finished neck is fascinating! And some of the machinery, jigs, and other tools are older than your Uncle Billy. After inlays comes binding—gold sparkle for a Penguin, white for a Duo Jet, for example. And, by the way, all work in the Custom Shop is done by hand.
Master builder Gonzalo Madrigal makes a cameo to explain the step-by-step process of fitting a guitar’s neck to its body. The example here is one of the super-colorful, intergalactically shaped Billy-Bo models—half Diddley and half Gibbons. Madrigal also displays the process of setting a tortoise shell binding in place—a method that takes about 45 minutes overall, and then must sit to set.
In the final assembly department, we see a 12-string Country Gentleman turning to life—tuners, bridge, electronics, tailpieces and everything else comes home to roost. The grand finale? Dig a killer 3-pickup Penguin in a black paisley finish with Super’Trons, cats-eye f-holes, and a Bigsby. It’s gorgeous! And, in a sense, the culmination of Gretsch’s 140-year history of craftsmanship.
Check out brand-new Epiphone collaborations with the Gibson Custom Shop, including a '59 Les Paul Standard, Wilshire P-90, and Fluence-equipped Prophecy and Extura models.
1959 Les Paul Standard
Made in partnership with the Gibson™ Custom Shop, the Limited Edition 1959 Les Paul™ Standard is Epiphone's stunning recreation of the rare vintage classic. Featuring a mahogany body with a AAA figured maple top, comfortable 1959 hand-rolled neck profile with long neck tenon, aged gloss finish, Gibson USA BurstBucker™ 2 & 3 humbucking pickups, Switchcraft® selector switch and output jack, CTS® pots, 50s era wiring, Mallory™ capacitors, non-beveled pickguard, new Epiphone Deluxe vintage tuners, and a vintage-style brown hard case. It also comes with an Epiphone Limited Edition metal medallion toggle switch plate and a Certificate of Authenticity. Available in Aged Dark Burst and Aged Dark Cherry Burst.
Wilshire P-90s
From its first appearance in 1959 the Wilshire has been one of Epiphone's most successful original solid body electric guitar designs. The Wilshire P-90 brings back many of the features of the earliest Wilshire models including the symmetrical double-cutaway mahogany body with dual PRO P-90 Soapbar pickups, three on a side reduced sized Kalamazoo headstock with Epiphone Bikini badge and ivory button Epiphone Deluxe tuning machines, and a butterfly tortoise shell pickguard with foil E logo. The Wilshire P-90 comes equipped with a glued-in mahogany neck with a medium C profile, Indian laurel fretboard with 12" radius and 22 medium jumbo frets, 2 volume and 2 tone controls and an Epiphone LockTone™ Tune-O-Matic bridge and Stop Bar tailpiece, and is available in classic Cherry and Ebony finishes.
Extura Prophecy
The Epiphone Prophecy Extura combines the elegance of the Explorer™ with the improved upper fret access of the Futura in an Epiphone exclusive design. Upper fret access is further enhanced by the mahogany neck's modern contoured heel, while the mahogany body is capped with a stunning AAA flame maple veneer and thinner Aged Vintage Gloss "Tiger" finish. The SlimTaper™ asymmetrical mahogany neck features a 24 fret ebony fretboard with jumbo frets, Block and Triangle pearloid/abalone inlays with abalone selected to complement the body finish color, Grover® Locking Rotomatic® tuners, and a black Graph Tech® NuBone® nut. The Extura comes with brushed nickel hardware, and is equipped with a pair of proprietary Fishman® Fluence® pickups with three voicing options that are selected with the push/pull volume and tone controls - high gain, classic humbucker, and hum-free California-style single coil tones are all here. Optional EpiLite™ case available.
Three bold projects for DIY-ers tired of the tame.
Three years ago PG launched our “No-Brainer Mods" concept—an annual endeavor where we take a few of the most compelling affordable instruments on the market and see what we can do to make them competitive with much pricier guitars in terms of tone and performance. Our first outing refined four inexpensive versions of classic designs—a Jaguar, a Les Paul, a P bass, and a Gretsch Jet—and the second took a similar approach with semi-hollow, extended-scale, and shred-optimized 6-strings. This year, however, we thought it would be a trip to take advantage of all the well-built, low-cost guitars on the market and, instead of just making them a bit better via electronics and hardware upgrades, use them as low-risk springboards to something truly different.
Be forewarned though: Conceptually, this year's batch of mods is kind of out there. So much so that it may strike some as a stretch to call them “no-brainer." But in our eyes what makes these projects worthy of the descriptor is that, for those of us who are decidedly not wealthy, the wealth of quality entry-level guitars on the market presents an obvious impetus to experiment. Even those on a modest gear budget can save up and use instruments like these—plus a few extra bills—to indulge what if… epiphanies previously only practical for those who can afford custom builds.
This year's trio of mods ranges from one that's easy and reversible to one that's moderate in both difficulty and invasiveness to something only experienced woodworkers are advised to undertake without help from their local guitar expert. But don't let that scare you off. These projects will stock your rig with tones you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
To execute these projects, we've enlisted ace guitar repairman Dave Helmer, a two-time Red Wing lutherie graduate who works full-time at Musician's Pro Shop in Iowa City, Iowa. Okay, let's get started. —Shawn Hammond
New to modding? Check out this DIY article for a comprehensive guide on soldering techniques and tips.