Schulte Archtop 1980's - antique sunburst

Eric Schulte was a well known luthier in the Philadelphia area from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s. His forte was building replicas of iconic guitars (like ’59 LP’s, Synchromatics, and Zephyrs) and sometimes building new necks for existing archtops.

This guitar is a great example of what Schulte liked to do. It is a Kay 17” acoustic archtop (K1 1952-1956). The top, back, and sides are laminated. The top is parallel braced and the body is 3 1/2 “ deep. It has been fitted with a one piece maple neck with an inlaid ebony fretboard (mother of pearl and abalone). It is 25 1/2" scale and 1 11/16th” at the nut. The bound headstock is reminiscent of an early Epiphone Emperor with the “clipped dove wings” shape on top, but with Schulte’s unique inlays. The tuners are Grover Imperials with an attractive patina. 
Schulte has added binding to the f holes. A vintage Framus pickup has been mounted to the fretboard with a custom mounting ring. The two bonnet knobs are light gold with reflector tops that read “Volume” and “Tone”. The pots are dated 1982, so I am guessing this build was done in the mid-1980’s when Schulte was in his 60’s.  It has a Gibson ES-350T style gold tailpiece without the acorn nuts found on newer versions and no engraving. 

The single coil pick up sounds very similar to a Gibson P-90 and works well. This mash up is very unique and sounds beautiful. It comes with a really cool vintage soft shell gig bag.