The Astro Jet Build Thread

Elias Graves

Elias Graves

Common misfit
Some of you may recall that I picked up one of the old 65 Gretsch Astro Jet bodies a while back.
For those who don't, a brief explanation. Gretsch needed a good solid body in the 60s and they came up with the budget line Corvette and the upscale Astro Jet. You may have never heard of the Astro Jet, since nobody bought them. The model was cancelled and the bodies bounced from one warehouse to another and finally to a barn in Tennessee. This is where I got mine.

For reference, the original Astro Jet.
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Perhaps the ugliest guitar ever inspired by LSD.

And here's what I bought.
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Also ugly.
But it's a 75 year old piece of very light weight Honduran mahogany.
 
After researching the cost of making it all original, I've ruled that out. Gretsch parts are more expensive than Gibson parts. :embarrassed:

So, I've decided to reshape the body into something kinda like this.
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And turn it into a telecaster of sorts.

I started shaping the body today.
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A long way to go yet, but I can see the shape in there.
 
Guitar Heel said:
Love the Les Paul Sig. :thu:
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It's a cool shape. We're using the same body style on Foo's 5 string bass.

Anyway, I have more mahogany for a neck. I'm planning to fill the neck joint that's here and re-cut it for a tele neck. I'm raiding a lot of the hardware from my blue telecaster to make this one. It'll have a traditional tele bridge, a mini humbucker for the neck pickup and probably a rosewood fretboard.
My buddy is in Mexico this week and he's shopping for some rosewood. We'll see if he comes up with anything. He knows a guy in Nuevo Padilla...
 
dodgechargerfan said:
Nice!
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Thanks. I think I can revive this thing into a decent shape.
What's wild is the size of these things. It's 14.5" wide. There's a nearly 1" ring all the way around a Les Paul body it's so much bigger. It's wider than my 339 even. The interesting thing is the weight, though. Despite being 1.8" thick and 14"+ wide, it's still no heavier than my 1.5" thick walnut tele body. It's an exceptionally light piece of wood. I took a chance ordering it, as some Astro Jets were reported to be very heavy...in the 10-12 pound range. The piece I received has gorgeous color, is one piece and weighs just under 4 pounds.

With some mineral spirits on it, you can see the color.
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Taken before shaping began. Note the giant blob hanging off the lower right. It's as bad as the humpback on the upper left.
 
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