1964 Gretsch Viking Hollowbody Electric Guitar

Update October 2023: my pal Charlie is downsizing so this guitar is now available for sale. It was the queen of his collection for a bit...! Now back to the description...

I'm a SuperTron fan and this one has that thick, sweet, clear, jazzy-ish tone to a T -- with just a bit of snarl from the bridge pickup.

Suffice to say, this early Gretsch Viking is a winner. It has unusual features that set it apart from more-typical Vikings, including no "tuning fork" bridge, and a Webster-style, Gretsch-brand whammy (with telescoping arm). Said whammy is a bit more stable and fluid than a Bigsby and reminds me a bit of Jazzmaster-style action.

The pickguard is not original but is cut from original period stock and, like the original (damaged) pickguard, doesn't having "Viking" script on it.

Work was typical -- a level/dress and seating of the frets, new foam pad for the bridge mute (lever-action, very cool, gets you some of that "rubber bridge" damping in a pinch), restring, and setup. The fretboard (with its tilted frets from fret 12 and on to aid intonation for the treble strings) was dried-out and pretty quirky at first. Intonation is actually pretty good despite the wonderful/terrible roller/spacer bridge, too, but I did string it with a wound G string (50w-11) set because I knew that it would be a mess to listen to without a wound one on there ("as God intended it" on Gretsches).

Amazingly, the binding on this one is in superb shape. The guitar apparently survived a house fire, so the owner is wondering if maybe that "set" the celluloid to keep it from the usual celluloid rot death of '50s and '60s Gretsches (I hate fixing that).

These play fast and easy, though the wide (but thin front-to-back) body can be a bit to handle for some. They definitely make an impact on stage. The wider 1 3/4" nut width and long scale makes this quite a different beast handling-wise compared to some of the other period Gretsch models with their almost Jaguar-like handling.

Setup notes: action is 1/16" overall at the 12th fret with room to adjust. The neck is straight and strings are 50w-11 with a wound G-string.

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 3/4"

String spacing at nut: 1 3/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2"

Body length: 20 3/4"

Lower bout width: 17"

Side depth at endpin: 2" +arching

Body wood: ply maple

Fretboard: ebony

Bridge: MojoAxe relic'd lightning-bolt wraparound/compensated

Neck feel: slim C-shape, 10" board radius

Neck wood: 2-piece maple

Weight: 9 lbs 4 oz

Condition notes: clearly it has finish wear including weather-checking and usewear throughout. The metal hardware (especially pickup covers) have de-plating and a little oxidation from use. The pickguard is a NOS '60s replacement, the mute pad foam is replacement, parts of the telescoping whammy arm are replacements (but right), and the white backplate for the control cavity access is a replacement (but original Gretsch). The serial number dates it to 1964 per normal charts, but features date it to 1965 per some of the net's Gretsch collector knowledge. We'll call it a '64. The owner said he talked to a fella who placed it at number 50 of this type off the line.

It comes with: its original hard case in great shape and with the remains of the original pickguard.