Gatsby! - Vintage Advance AV1 – Black & Gold Single-Cut Electric Guitar

Vintage Advance AV1 Electric Guitar in Black with Gold Hardware

Meet Gatsby, a discontinued Vintage Advance AV1, an unusual British-designed single-cut combining a mahogany body, carved maple top, set mahogany neck, Wilkinson WVC humbuckers and Wilkinson's distinctive Roll Control.

Finished entirely in black with cream binding and contrasting gold hardware, Gatsby arrived at The Stray Chord carrying remarkably little evidence of his approximately 26 years beyond some honest buckle wear to the rear.

Following extensive fretwork, servicing, finish care and a complete professional setup, Gatsby was successfully rehomed for £225.

About Gatsby

The discontinued Vintage Advance AV1 takes the familiar carved-top single-cut formula and adds several characteristically Wilkinson touches.

A mahogany body with carved maple top is paired with a set mahogany neck and bound rosewood fingerboard, providing the traditional construction associated with this style of electric guitar.

Gatsby's black finish is contrasted by cream binding and extensive gold hardware, giving the AV1 an appropriately decadent appearance.

A pair of Wilkinson WVC humbuckers provides the core sound, covering warm clean tones, blues, classic rock and higher-gain lead sounds.

Where the AV1 becomes considerably more interesting is its Wilkinson Roll Control.

Rather than simply switching between conventional humbucker and split-coil sounds, the Roll Control provides progressive adjustment away from the pickups' full humbucking voice towards a brighter, more single-coil-like character.

The result is substantially more tonal variation than Gatsby's traditional single-cut appearance initially suggests.

Restoration & setup

Gatsby arrived as a fundamentally sound older instrument requiring careful rehabilitation rather than reconstruction.

During his time at The Stray Chord he received:

• Complete professional setup
• Body and neck thoroughly cleaned
• Gold hardware carefully cleaned and detailed
• Rosewood fingerboard deep-cleaned
• Fingerboard thoroughly conditioned
• Complete fret level
• Frets recrowned and polished
• Fret ends individually dressed and rounded
• Fingerboard edges carefully rolled
• Wilkinson WVC humbuckers checked
• Wilkinson Roll Control checked and serviced
• Electronics and controls inspected and cleaned
• Pickup heights balanced
• Neck relief precisely adjusted
• Action optimised
• Full intonation
• Black finish carefully cleaned and polished
• Final electronics and playability inspection

Gatsby retained some light buckle rash to the rear. Much of this improved naturally during the normal cleaning and polishing process, but no unnecessarily aggressive finish correction was undertaken simply to remove evidence of the guitar's previous life.

The remaining marks did not break through the black finish and formed part of an honest presentation of an approximately 26-year-old instrument.

Specifications

*Use an exact 2000 date instead if Gatsby's serial number or other evidence confirms it.

Gatsby's adoption

🖤 REHOMED 🖤

All black, dressed in gold and carrying just enough evidence of a previously extravagant life, Gatsby left rehabilitation ready for another great chapter.

He has now found his new home and is no longer available for adoption.

His page remains permanently in The Stray Chord Rehomed Archive, documenting this discontinued model and providing a reference for players researching the Vintage Advance AV1 and its unusual Wilkinson electronics.

He may not be the green light across the bay, but Gatsby remains very definitely black, gold and gloriously excessive.

Rescue • Restore • Rehome