Kent and I have made some material decisions on the design of #99. Like many of the furniture pieces of Gustav Stickley, KC#99 will emphasize the textures and straight grained beauty of quarter-sawn woods, honest functionally joinery simply ornamented with simple abstractions of nature.
Aside from the Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) top and Wenge back and sides that I communicated last time that posted, we have decided upon:
1) Using Wenge (Millettia laurentii) for the fingerboard,
2) Belizean Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) for the neck.
3) The body will have Sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum) binding
4) For fingerboard inlays, we may either use green abalone (Haliotis fulgens) or Flamed Catalpa (C. speciosa & C. bignonioides)
5) The Chasson logo will be inlayed in tightly Flamed Catapla.
6) No glossy nitro or poly finish, but a hand rubbed, lower gloss, Tru-Oil finish to show off the textures of the wood.
Kent also sent me an image to show how he structurally reinforces his neck heel with a cross-grained maple insert. This along with the longitudinal carbon fiber neck inserts provide additional rigidity for the cantilevered, elevated fingerboard.
The final design for rosette, end graft and back-strip are still being refined.
More to come soon...
