Well, its surprising how events turn out ...

I had been planning to spend most of this season getting my head 'round my current Uni subject (re: previous post) ... but with an unexpected crash of the HDD in my PC there was just no choice but to spend some quality time on the GR-1SF ("oh, what a shame" he says ... but knowing that I'll pay for it later come exam-time!) ... and with the missus away with her parents for a few days I had the bonus of no interruptions! (woo hoo!)

Anyway, here's the run down so far ...

1. Got the body "plugged" ... seeing as though I'm using a floating bridge the post-holes were redundant (actually counterproductive is probably more accurate) ... and using only two "master" pots, a 3-pos selector (on the lower horn) switch and two 3-way micro-switches (on the upper bout) the big hole on the up side had to go (to be drilled out later for the smaller diameter micro-switch) ... got the plugs trimmed and first round of sanding completed

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2. Got the Head "plugged"... suffering the fate as Kells with his GR (and as noticed by Patto) the headstock was asymmetrical and the tuner machines' holes were all out of alignment (Ok, one of them was in alignment, but I couldn't decide which one! ) ... so I plugged 'em all and got them trimmed

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3. Squared up the symmetry of the headstock and refined the shape (which just consisted of getting rid of the centre "curve" in the top of the headstock and cutting for the correct "straight vee" for a Gretsch) ... only rough-shaped in this pic and still needs a good sanding

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... and bonus of bonuses ... the Aussie Post Santa must have been working over time 'ços the gold-plated Bigsby B6 I'd ordered from the US only 3 weeks ago was sitting on the doorstep this morning ... very "bling" and I've been drooling over it for last couple of hours ... and a must have, considering I've replaced all the other hardware with gold-plated goodness (I'm not usually a g-p hardware person, but this kit just seemed to scream for it to go with the DT Orange that DB's mixing for me ... that's a hint DB, I think I wont be far off being ready for it!)

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... anyway, after finishing sanding the body, head and neck to ready-to-varnish stage, the next step before varnishing will be to install some White/Black/White binding 'round the headstock. It's a bit of nervous decision as hand cutting the channel (with the proper tool of course) and gluing the binding will be a first for me ... but this axe just seems to be asking for this too (and what's the worst that can happen - a complete and utter failure! )