My ES175 Build

[gavinturner]

hi guys,

Today I finished my ES175 build. It wasn't a pitbull kit, (I didn't know about Pitbull when I ordered it) but from a supplier in the USA. I thought I'd share the results with you as I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's a full hollow body with just a bridge post in the centre behind the bridge pickup hole. It has a flame maple cap front and back.



The guitar has a B70 bigsby, bowtie bridge and GFS Retroton Nashville pickups. These sound really nice - twangy as hell but also dripping with tone. I installed a freeway 6-way switch to allow single coil combinations on the two pickups as well as the standard two-humbucker options.



The finish is Colortone orange dye with tru-oil over the top. The mahogany neck was pore filled with timbermate and then it got the tru-oil as well.



cheers,
Gavin.

[wokkaboy]

wow that looks amazing Gav, bet it sounds sweet too. See if you can get a sound or video demo on the new demo section.
The finish looks superb, another great axe for your growing collection !

[WeirdBits]

Very nice... with a touch of Setzer.

[stan]

awesome job Gav, it looks top notch!

[adam]

Wow, gorgeous guitar Gav. Can I ask which supplier you bought it from and what it cost (for comparative purposes). Also, did it come with the Bigsby? Is the Bigsby authentic or Chinese "licensed"?

[gavinturner]

@adam: the supplier was RM Olson. http://www.rmolsonguitars.com/
He calls the kit a Florentine single cutaway. It cost me $280USD plus $88USD shipping (ouch).
I bought the bigsby and bridge after market. It's one of the cheaper cast aluminium models.

Cheers,
Gavin.

[Tim]

very nice Gav

[Scott J.]

That really is an oh so sweet axe, Gav! ... I just love the big old hollow-bodies (I'm a bit of Gretsch-man from way back!) and you've done one excellent job on that baby! You've just got post a sound track on the site so we can all enjoy its dulcet tones!

[gavinturner]

@scott: thanks dude. Yeah I was going for the look of the orange gretsch G5120 electromagnetic. Have Always loved the way they look. I'm really happy with the way it's turned out. Those GFS Retrotron humbuckers are really sweet.. Now if only I could play well enough to do it justice!

cheers,
Gavin.

[lawry]

Gav, that is gorgeous! A true hollowbody it is stunning and I am very envious . Please put up some audio of it. For me, the jazzier, the better.