(For those who may wonder if I retouch the guitars in the photos, check out those fingerprints!)

Del Fuego Specifics:

Body: chambered walnut with maple top. I love walnut. The
maple top comes from Medicine Bow Woods in the Pacific Northwest. It has a modest amount
of figure, but still really nice. The black aniline dye application and shading enhance the figure for a great effect, contrasted  by the faux "binding" - the unstained edge of the maple top.



 


Neck: this is a commercially made neck, most likely Asian made. It's not much different than
many Fender necks. I decided to use this particular neck because it has a fair amount of flame figure.
I was also excited to just bring this particular guitar into existence as quickly as possible in
order to refine it and develop it as one of the primary models of my line. I do build necks
to suit each guitar, however, and will never try to pass a commercial neck off as my own or
vice versa. This one worked out terrifically with some headstock shaping and
refinement to the neck shaft for an excellent play, sporting a 25.5" scale 21 fret rosewood fingerboard.
It's finished with Tru-oil and sanded to 2400 grit for silky smoothness. The peghead face
is finished in black and clear lacquer, buffed and polished.






Pickups: Kent Armstrong M213 neck and M214 bridge humbuckers. I don't attach them to the pickup bezels like most do. I prefer to rout the pickup cavities to the exact depth they need to be and screw the pickups down hard to the body, inside the cavity. That makes for a tad more sustain and a helluva lot more tone from the guitar itself.



Switching: volume and tone w/3-way pickup selector... my favorite switching setup for straight ahead playing. Knobs are ebony.


Bridge: black hardtail Strat-style - one of my favorite bridges of all time. It screws down tight to the body wood for lots of that sustain.



Tuners: Gotoh six-in-line.



Finish: lacquer top for a nice deep glossy luster over the aniline dyes and Tru-Oil back and neck.
Tru-Oil is the hands-down favorite of gunstock finishers everywhere. The transition from one to the other requires great care, but the result is a beautiful, lustrous figure and a microthin finish.




For pricing and a list of options, go here.