1987 - Final Photos

So 1987 has now been completed. I began building this Steinberger copy over two years ago. I worked on it between projects. Once plugged in, the sustain is incredible. For such a small body this guitar really has a strong punch. I can not pinpoint the exact reason for the resonance of this build. The neck is a fat D-shape. The neck fits tightly into the body. And the pickup are Seymour Duncan Alnico II's - according to the SD website they are slightly weaker, allowing the strings to vibrate longer.
Here are my studio shots of the guitar:

Here's the Stats:
25 inch scale
2 piece Ash back
Curly Maple top with a Pau Ferro stripe
Thin Mahogany veneer separating the Ash back from the Maple top
Pau Ferro fretboard
3 Piece Set Maple Neck
24 fret neck
Zero fret
Thick D Profile Neck
Seymour Duncan Alnico Humbuckers
3-way On/On/On DPDT selector used as a mini pickup selector

Carved Tele

Not much to add here. Just a couple of new photos. The shellac spraying method worked amazingly well. No bleeding or running of the dyes at all. A couple more coats, then I'll sand with 320 grit. Then spray a couple more coats before I move on to lacquer.

Reverse Strat and Tele Staining

I've stained the Strat and Tele bodies. I've opted for a red sun-burst on the Tele and a simple blue on the Reverse Strat. The sides on both bodies are stained black. On the Tele body, I worked amber dye into the center and red between the amber and the black. The next step will be to spray a couple coats of shellac.

Progress

Today, I worked on the fret board for the Red Special, sanding the 18" radius to 400 grit. sorry, no pictures. it really wouldn't look all that different from the last images. I'm debating putting a thin coat of shellac on fret board. Something similar to what Fender does with most of their maple fret boards. I'm worried that if I just leave it bare, the fret board will discolor too easily. Where as with the finish, it will take longer for it to get that more vintage well played look. I just have to find out if I shoul rub the shellac on first, and then put the frets on, or the other way around.

In additions to working on the neck I;ve also, sanded the sides of the Red Special smooth. taking out all the band saw marks.

On a different front I got back to work on the Reverse Strat and the Carved Tele bodies. I sand off all of the excess grain filler an put on the first stain coats. They are a combination of Black and the likely base color. Red on the Tele and Blue on the Strat. The Tele is looking a bit more purple than I was hoping, Will see if that looks any different after my first sanding. The reason for staining and then sanding that first stain to help bring out a more 3-D look to the grain. The first coat gets absorbed more along the grain lines than the rest of the wood. At least that's what I've read somewhere on the interwebs.