1961 Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary

This guitar was purchased from a heroin junkie who played Psycho-Billy rock in Virginia Beach.  It was stripped of original paint and all original parts (previously sold for numerous fixes), and had crudely chiseled pickup openings to accept humbuckers.

The pickup openings were subsequently professionally patched to accept P-90 pickups, which rode onboard for a number of years before a 1958 Dearmond Dynasonic pickup was installed in the neck position. 

The entire body and neck was repainted using nitrocellulose lacquer.

The nickel tuners are from an early '60s Martin D-18.

The Bigsby B6 vibrato came off a 1962 Gretsch 6120.

The pickguard is hand-crafted plexi, which was sent to John Greven for a Tor-Tis treatment, then sent to Craig Lavin for a MOP Gretsch logo inlay.  

The wiring harness was reconfigured to a M/V/V format with a 3-way pickup selector and a kill switch.  Aged nickel skull knobs invite the player to adjust the controls.  The skulls are a nod to the junkie, who originally adorned the headstock with eight various types of skull medalians crudely squashed on with Elmer's glue.