Don Grosh Retro Classic (Maple & Alder, oil neck finish, nitro body finish)

Description

Here is an excellent condition custom Don Grosh Retro Classic. These guitars are meticulously crafted in Broomfield, Colorado using tone-tapped wood for resonance.
This Retro Classic has a near mint condition neck as the original neck was damaged by an aftermarket luthier during a scalloping job in 2020. In January I commissioned Don Grosh to make a replacement neck, sent him the body with damaged neck, and he matched the replacement neck to this body with tap tone and neck pocket fitting. We chose similar specs to the original but with a natural oil finish, abalone dots and a slightly thicker neck profile (Don's "50s Carve", which is a very subtle soft V to C, probably his most comfortable profile with a little less shoulder than the "Roundback" D type standard option). The tone on this neck is actually
better
than the original, possibly because this neck has a "vintage style truss rod" from Don's NOS Retro model line, which was selected for warmer tone, whereas the original was a double action rod (2 rods, more metal, and brighter tone). This truss rod is single action in design but stronger than actual vintage rods, so it is straight, solid feeling and sounding, and can support heavier gauge strings if desired. The fretwork is as good as it gets and can play clean with low action.
Other neck specs
:
1-5/8" Graphtech nut
50s Carve .85-.95" (1st fret, 12th fret neck thickness)
Jumbo 6100 nickel frets (excellent fretwork)
10" radius
Kluson Deluxe tuners (my favorite light weight vintage style tuner with easy restrings)
Other body features
:
Nitro Lacquer gloss black body finish, in very good condition with mild wear from play (slight pick marks, subtle clouding near arm contour, slight finish dent near bass side of bridge (not very noticeable)
Shielded control cavity (very cleanly done with the conductive paint)
Universal pickup rout (good resonance and allows multiple wiring options depending on pickguard)
Gotoh 510 tremolo bridge with steel block and upgraded Raw Vintage saddles (my favorite bent steel saddles). This bridge has excellent tone, enhanced tuning stability during normal vibrato use, and a pop in arm.
Additional modifications to this guitar are the mint 3-ply pickguard, black knobs, and Fender Texas Special single coils and Atomic humbucker (these pickups are very balanced and versatile). I'm a long time guitar tech and installed these pickups along with a blender pot (2nd knob) and master tone with custom shop "greasebucket circuit" (3rd knob). With the 5-way selector switch, this is a very versatile setup. If you've never had an HSS setup with blender pot, it allows the neck or bridge pickup to be gradually blended into the other positions. For example, when in the bridge position of the switch, it starts to add in the neck pickup as you roll the blender down from 10, adding neck position warmth with single coil clarity. In the neck/middle position (RWRP hum-cancelling on this guitar), it starts to add in the bridge pickup as you roll the blender down from 10, which is a very full sound and remains hum-cancelling.
The listing of this guitar includes the original custom G&G Hardshell case, COA with original specs, COA for the replacement neck, and original parchment knobs, backplate & pickguard with S/S/S routs. The low profile metal volume knob is a knob used on some Jazzmasters but can be used to get the volume out of the way for muting the high strings (see pictures). But I will also include the standard strat black plastic volume knob to match the tones. The original Grosh pickups and parchment covers were sold previously.
Note to potential buyer
: As a guitar tech feel free to request action preferences (low, med/low, med, med/high, etc.), and I can ship this setup with Daddario 9-42 or 10-46 strings by buyer's preference.