Chinese Les Paul hollowbody Freedom cheapy becomes a Gretsch LP

Before – this was a very average hollowbody Les Paul-shaped axe sold under the “Freedom” brand name. I picked it up for around $200 AU new. But, it took a lot of work to get it to play decently – needed nut and fret work and the original tail piece rattled a lot; hence the blue tape in this pic. Tuning pegs were replaced with Wilkinson items as the stock ones would not hold tune.

After - I had been lusting after a Gretsch for Rockabilly tones and I turned to the somewhat neglected Freedom axe to fill the void. In the pics below I have added GFS Memphis Retrotron-style Humbuckers + a GFS roller bridge + a satin black paint job via my airbrush + a Bigsby (licensed) + all new and more shielded electronics; full sized Alpha 500k pots, knobs are from Jaycar electronics. Head stock logo came from a German World War I model airplane kit’s decal sheet.