1950s Gretsch New Yorker Electrified Archtop Guitar

This beaut is an early-'50s New Yorker and has the "old-style" body shape intact, a solid spruce top, and ply-maple back and sides. It's got a wide nut and bigger neck profile, too, which is in stark contrast to Gretsch guitars built just after this which feature almost '60s-style narrow and fast dimensions.

The acoustic tone is nice and punchy and reminds me a bit of old Gibson or Kalamazoo archtops while the electric tone is clean, up-front, mids-centric, and lovely. The owner of this guitar had me install that post-work so it's a "double-use" instrument -- an acoustic jammer and electric gigger. He also specified the cool, retro-style chickenhead knobs.

Repairs included: a neck reset, fret level/dress, replacement binding here and there, a new bridge, pickup install and wiring harness install, pickguard and nut modifications, cleaning, and setup work.

Body wood: solid spruce top with ply-maple back/sides

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 1x repro DeArmond "monkey on a stick" single coil

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights, half-round electrics

Neck shape: medium C

Board radius: 9 1/2"

Truss rod: non-adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: wide/lower

Scale length: 24 3/4"

Nut width: 1 13/16"

Body width: 16 1/8"

Body depth: 3 3/8" + arching

Weight: 4 lbs 12 oz

Condition notes: it's all-original save pickup, knobs and wiring harness, and bridge. The original bridge had been recut so poorly it was unusable. It has weather-checking and finish wear throughout.