Tennessee Rose tone from my VIP?

[arealken]

I have a very fine Warmoth VIP Semi Hollw ( one F-hole)with Lollar PAF's. Cost of parts alone was over 2 grand. I have been trying to deal it, mainly because I have an older Gibbo 335 type guitar that cover basically the same ground.

Now, I have always desired a Gretsch, in partucular the full hollowbody  ones, but something like a Tennessee Rose would do quite well.
Much as I would like, I cannopt just run out and buy one due to budget constraints.

My question is, does anyone have a VIP with Filtertrons, and if so, how do you like it, and how close does it get to a "Rose"? in tone. Playability isn't an issue because the VIP plays very well, and also the tone gives you plenty of interaction to make playability a non issue.

One of my main concerns is body thickness.The Gretsch has a thicker body, at 1.75 inches to 1.78 inches, whereas teh VIP is 1 & 3/8 inches IIRC, which would be, correct me if I am wrong, 3/8" more shallow.

Ideas?

 

[Fat Pete]

No useful experience/insight re the tone, but the VIP is thicker rather than thinner - 1 3/8" core plus a 3/4" top, so 1 1/2" at the edge and a full 2" in the middle.

[edit] Arithmetic apparently not the strong point I thought it was - that would make 2 1/8".

 

[TBurst Std]

I will say this, I have a center block White Falcon.  Amplified it sounds like the deeper non center block White Falcon minus the feedback issues. 

 

[Cagey]

There's a lot conversation and dogma regarding body wood and its affect on tone, but it's really not that dramatic with electric guitars. It has an effect, but it's minor. The pickups are the main thing, followed by the neck, followed by the bridge, followed by everything else as far as the guitar goes. If you want something to sound like Gretch's Tennessee Rose, basically you need some TV Jones® Hilo’Tron pickups, a Maple neck, and a loose, sloppy soft-mounted bridge. That won't be perfect, but it'll get you spooky close. It'll also save you about $2K.

 

[arealken]

Thank you everyone. Well, my VIP is all Mahogany -with Rosewood board( I think the top is all Mahogany also, but need to get a little mechanics mirror and look inside). It also has TOM bridge.
Does  anyone think I could get a great Gretsch like  tone with TV Jones Filtertrons in it?

 

[Cagey]

Gretsch site says hilo'trons. Don't know what the difference is between those and filtertrons.

 

[Fat Pete]

Hilo'Trons are single coils, but it looks like there are also versions of the guitar with Filtertrons. There are some sound samples on the TV Jones website that give an idea of the difference.

I suspect that while the pickups would get you a lot of the way there, it might still sound a bit 'solid', mainly, as Cagey suggests, because of the hardware rather than body construction. A rocking bridge wouldn't be a convenient mod, but I bet a Bigsby would introduce some of that rock n roll warble.

Whatever the difference the construction makes, it's not really worth thinking about details like body thickness or wood species because they're built so differently - the VIP is basically a solid with a lot of wood hogged out, while the Gretsch is a 'true' hollow-body - albeit one with 'trestle' bracing joining front to back - kind of a 'centre block lite'.

 

[TBurst Std]

Cagey already hit on the next point, after the pups , the bridge is probably the next contributor.  On the TR, your tom bridge is affixed to a wooden base plate that rests on the top. So it is not directly attached to the body, the way a VIP would be.  Do a search on my name and hollow and you see my thoughts in a couple different threads.  I have had a number of semi hollows, a full hollow and a hollowed out (like your VIP).
For the Gretsch, that bridge is a contributor.

 

[DustyCat]

What is this tone you speak of?
I found pictures of the Gretsch https://www.google.com/search?q=Tennessee+rose+guitar&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjxm_Okur_WAhVDVyYKHZ3IDF0Q_AUIDCgD&biw=1280&bih=739

but none of them play audio